Conventional wisdom says: the neighborhood.
My experiences of the last week says: the developer.
Yup, twice in one week two major developments in the 2nd district have reduced the height and the density of their projects – not because of the neighborhood, but because of the developer! And I’ve had neighbors asking questions like . . . “can you add back some of the height?” . . . and, saying things like “we liked the 10 story building!”
“What’s going on?” you might ask. Seems as tho conventional wisdom has been turned on its head. However, the explanation is pretty simple, and consistent. The cost of the type of construction is limiting the projects, building with wood is cheaper than cast conrete and steel. In both cases, the tallest buildings/portion of buildings are now 5 stories which is the breaking point for using more expensive materials.
The Gorman project on the 800 block of E Washington had the most dramatic reduction in both height and density. The original project had one 10-story building, five 5-story buildings and three 3-story buildings and had 309 residential units. Now it has three 5-story buildings and sixteen 3-story buildings and only 176 residential units. The project maintains the 13,000 square feet of retail and loses the community space. As a result, the TIF request is now less than half of the original projected request.
The Great Dane Development project at 627 E Mifflin took two stories off the highest portion of the building. It had 80 units in a building that had heights of 3, 5 and 7 stories. Tonight, the developers told us that the 7 story portion of the building would be reduced to 5 stories and there would only be 66(?) units. Some of the units from the top floors were moved to the bottom level and replace some of the parking. These developers are not asking for TIF for this project.
Interesting turn of events. The developer mantra of “we need more height/density to make the project work in the downtown area” has been turned on its head.
p.s. This would be a good time to remind folks the height does not equal density. Tall buildings with small footprints and large units can be the same density as shorter buildings, with larger footprints and smaller units.
