I think that the family is doing the work with no schedule as many days go by with no one working there. It is kind of a small building so maybe they are building a secret underground complex for the "Deep State"!:} this has been going on for so long it's hard to imagine what's going on in there.
Some news on the Deluxe Inn site. According to next months Planning Board agenda, the owner is finally requesting a rezoning of this site. From "DM-4" Residential & J "Parking" to "G-1" Business. G-1 Business is the downtown zoning of the city, and allows for the highest densities along with no setback and parking requirements.
I guess the big change is that there are now plans for residential units in addition to the earlier plans of hotel and retail usages. There will be two buildings: a 5-story, 112-room hotel on the corner parcel and fronting Malcolm X, and a 2-story, 40-unit apartment building on the parcel to the east. Despite no parking requirements, the hotel will include a 128-spot surface lot that backs onto the river; the apartment building will include an unspecified number of underground spots.
BTW, one of the developers is the guy renovating the old warehouse on Hazel Street (The Wing).
Map:
Hotel will be on the larger parcel and stretch along Malcolm X; apartment building will stretch north-south along the side parcel.
I noticed a great depiction of the new brewery being built on S. Washington in the City Pulse. They finished re-bricking the facade a few weeks ago, but there are still boards on the windows and char stains on the front so there is a way to go.
I am glad to see that the developers are including the former print shop property, and now I can understand why they cut down all the trees there.
Yep, looks like a step in the right direction... except for the surface lot. I really wish the state or city would require a riparian buffer to help minimize runoff pollution into urban waterways...
Yeah I wish the developer used the presence of the river to the site's benefit. It might be really nice to have a back porch overlooking the river in the middle of the city. That could fetch higher rent than a parking lot.
Plans are still super-early, and they say that in the agenda document. Given that this is the same folks who are redeveloping The Wing, they are really open to urban development. For instance, one of the partners was the one that pushed the permit parking downtown so that he would have to build less on-site parking at the Lake Trust site. I'm also not 100% sure, but I think there has to be some requirement for stormwater run-off for projects of a certain size. Either that, or it's for planned residential developments, which this one isn't being developed under.
I was a little surprised given that the apartment building will have underground parking that they didn't extend the underground to include even a quarter of the spaces for the hotel given how tight a fit the residential garage will be otherwise. Putting even some of the hotel parking underground would allow them to do a bit more with the site. The parking for this one isn't excessive or at least unusual - probably around one space per room and then some for the employees and/or retail customers - so I'm not as annoyed as I'd usually be. But hopefully they find some way to get rid of some of the spaces or put them underground so they could do a bit more at the Washington and river frontages to buffer the lot.
When I looked at this site for a multi-use project years ago it just seemed to make the most sense to utilize the river as a focal point and gathering spot while connecting it to the river trail system. The site is large than it really appears in person. I ran intersecting, narrow, pedestrian focused roads through it to utilize some on street parking and located the rest underground. The project I had proposed was much larger and still was able to keep the parking non-surface lot.
In reality I know there are other hurdles they may be having to deal with but it just seems ridiculous to use the river front as the backside of a parking lot. Hopefully they are conscious of this and revise plans.
Comments
I think that the family is doing the work with no schedule as many days go by with no one working there. It is kind of a small building so maybe they are building a secret underground complex for the "Deep State"!:} this has been going on for so long it's hard to imagine what's going on in there.
Some news on the Deluxe Inn site. According to next months Planning Board agenda, the owner is finally requesting a rezoning of this site. From "DM-4" Residential & J "Parking" to "G-1" Business. G-1 Business is the downtown zoning of the city, and allows for the highest densities along with no setback and parking requirements.
I guess the big change is that there are now plans for residential units in addition to the earlier plans of hotel and retail usages. There will be two buildings: a 5-story, 112-room hotel on the corner parcel and fronting Malcolm X, and a 2-story, 40-unit apartment building on the parcel to the east. Despite no parking requirements, the hotel will include a 128-spot surface lot that backs onto the river; the apartment building will include an unspecified number of underground spots.
BTW, one of the developers is the guy renovating the old warehouse on Hazel Street (The Wing).
Map:
Hotel will be on the larger parcel and stretch along Malcolm X; apartment building will stretch north-south along the side parcel.
Great news, people living there will be better for the community.
I noticed a great depiction of the new brewery being built on S. Washington in the City Pulse. They finished re-bricking the facade a few weeks ago, but there are still boards on the windows and char stains on the front so there is a way to go.
I am glad to see that the developers are including the former print shop property, and now I can understand why they cut down all the trees there.
It's great to see that hotel moving forward, I was worried it was another dead proposal.
Yep, looks like a step in the right direction... except for the surface lot. I really wish the state or city would require a riparian buffer to help minimize runoff pollution into urban waterways...
Yeah I wish the developer used the presence of the river to the site's benefit. It might be really nice to have a back porch overlooking the river in the middle of the city. That could fetch higher rent than a parking lot.
Plans are still super-early, and they say that in the agenda document. Given that this is the same folks who are redeveloping The Wing, they are really open to urban development. For instance, one of the partners was the one that pushed the permit parking downtown so that he would have to build less on-site parking at the Lake Trust site. I'm also not 100% sure, but I think there has to be some requirement for stormwater run-off for projects of a certain size. Either that, or it's for planned residential developments, which this one isn't being developed under.
I was a little surprised given that the apartment building will have underground parking that they didn't extend the underground to include even a quarter of the spaces for the hotel given how tight a fit the residential garage will be otherwise. Putting even some of the hotel parking underground would allow them to do a bit more with the site. The parking for this one isn't excessive or at least unusual - probably around one space per room and then some for the employees and/or retail customers - so I'm not as annoyed as I'd usually be. But hopefully they find some way to get rid of some of the spaces or put them underground so they could do a bit more at the Washington and river frontages to buffer the lot.
So... how is the City's new water runoff management plan likely to affect this development then?
When I looked at this site for a multi-use project years ago it just seemed to make the most sense to utilize the river as a focal point and gathering spot while connecting it to the river trail system. The site is large than it really appears in person. I ran intersecting, narrow, pedestrian focused roads through it to utilize some on street parking and located the rest underground. The project I had proposed was much larger and still was able to keep the parking non-surface lot.
In reality I know there are other hurdles they may be having to deal with but it just seems ridiculous to use the river front as the backside of a parking lot. Hopefully they are conscious of this and revise plans.