Broad Avenue project approved amid concerns from neighbors
A planning board Wednesday approved the proposed development blending 414 apartments with 10,000 square feet of retail under Broad Avenue’s iconic water tower.
The Board of Adjustment voted unanimously in favor of the $50 million project despite concerns — but not opposition — expressed by business neighbors over parking, public access to the development’s amenities, and the effect on views of the water tower.
Despite its questions, the Historic Broad Avenue Arts Alliance voiced its support for the Board of Adjustment to grant the zoning variance requested by developer James Maclin of 3D Realty and property owner Loeb Properties.
Maclin and Loeb Properties’ Bob Loeb said they will continue to work with neighbors to address their concerns.
Construction could start as soon as September on the development that has not yet been named, Maclin said after the vote.
The only appeal of a Board of Adjustment decision is to the courts. However, Maclin and Loeb have said they intend to seek a public tax incentive to help finance the project. Such a request would create a different kind of leverage should opposition emerge.
The development would rise on 8.8 acres following the demolition of the 73year-old, 210,732-square-foot industrial warehouse most recently used by Power & Telephone Supply Company (Power & Tel).
Maclin and Loeb plan to preserve and incorporate into the development the 140-foot-tall water tower. The structure in recent years has become a colorfully lit beacon for public art as well as the symbol of the resurgent Broad Avenue commercial district.
The mixed-use development is at 2542 Broad, and extends northwest from the corner of Broad and Bingham. The building would front more than 800 feet of Broad and over 300 feet of Bingham.
The plan includes ground-floor retail or restaurants on the east and west ends of the building facing Broad, and a linear park and plazas between the street and the front of the building.
“We are supportive of density,” Pat Brown said after the board’s vote. She’s project director for Broad Avenue’s 20/ 20 Strategic Plan.
But dwellers of 414 apartments using 403 on-site parking spaces, 15 public parking spaces along Bingham and 36 public spaces along Broad will stress already tight parking in the district, she said. The plan calls for 224 studio units, 140 one-bedroom units and 50 two-bedroom THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2018 units.
The development’s planned spaces exceed the zoning requirements.
The project creates green space such as interior lawns and courtyards, “but it’s all private for the residents,” Brown said. “If you’ve been to Broad Avenue, it’s an oasis of concrete. So we would really like to see some of that space brought forward and connected with the street so that it would become more shared use green space.”
Another concern is the possibility that erecting a four-story, 42-foot-high building at the base of the water tower will block views of the colorful tank from parts of Broad Avenue.
“I think it will still be seen from Sam Cooper (Boulevard), but it is such the iconic (structure) we want it to still be seen from Broad,” Brown said.