The PILOT for the project in Old Town got rejected and the lawsuit over its rejection is related to the income levels of the tenants. The counter argument from the Council was that it was only related to income levels in that neighborhood, or something like that. I think these proposals for PILOT projects by the VOA are just being presented to catch the council members up in a tight spot.
I seriously doubt these proposals are related to the Old Town PILOT conflict. I looked these parcels up, they're owned by Eyde. Given that it's likely Eyde behind this my money's on this being a serious proposal and it being good all-around quality.
Cool, that's good news. 77 or 144 units would be great, and having an active developer with money on the line will probably help the VOA around the corner to provide sitting areas or some other additions to give people a place to hang out that's not a parking lot or sidewalk.
Hood, I did a little further research of the specific parcels. It seems that the Shiawassee Street Lofts is oriented more length-wise along the railroad tracks and extends from Shiwassee to the "Back 40" behind the VOA. Specifically, it will fill the entire parcel behind the VOA and use part of the two parcels on the Shiawassee Street frontage. The Crossings is more oriented on the corner of Larch and Shiawassee fully using the two parcels in that area and then extending onto part of the two aforemention parcels. Sounds like maybe the two projects would share some connection? Either way, that pretty much confirms we're talking about two projects.
So parcel at the corner of Larch and Shiawassee was listed as part of one of these projects? That would certainly add to the potential impact of this project.
Yes, and it's actually two parcels: a parcel right at the corner of Larch and Shiawassee which used to house an old building, and then a bigger parcel surrounding it, which includes the one-story VOA office building to the north. These two parcels actually have Larch addresses (400 & 414), and together it's a bit over an acre of land. The three Shiawassee oriented parcels are around 5.4 acres.
LCC is building a six-story clock tower on the Washington Square mall at Shiwassee Street. The Grangers are donating the money for it.
It'll be completed by the end of the year. They mention the/an existing tower, and the rendering seems to show it near the location, but I'm not sure if that means they are going to tear that down. I'm not even sure quite what that one's use is.
It's nice to have landmarks like this but I don't know why they chose a traditional brick clocktower design. It doesn't fit in with anything on LCC's campus.
Comments
It'll be completed by the end of the year. They mention the/an existing tower, and the rendering seems to show it near the location, but I'm not sure if that means they are going to tear that down. I'm not even sure quite what that one's use is.