Loving the Loft

13 Comments

1. 

   Jason

    /  February 28, 2012

   Can someone tell me the make up of Shortbread units in terms of BR sizes? Based on the unit to parking spot ratios I assumed that most of these units had to be smaller. $724 a BR is not market rate. Across the street in Northside, you can easily rent a house with a yard, porch and parking for 600-650 per bedroom.

2. 

   Ed Harrison

    /  February 28, 2012

   The summary from the applicant was:
   “Shortbread Lofts is proposed to be an urban mixed use rental residential development in
   Downtown Chapel Hill. It will contain 85 rental units ranging in size from 800 square feet to 1700 square
   feet. It will contain 6,459 square feet of street level retail and commercial space and
   1,068 square feet of other space for services and entrance foyers for a total of 142,438
   square feet.”

   Here’s what the Council voted for:
   Land Use Intensity: This Special Use Permit authorizes the following:
   Use: Retail and Residential
   Total Maximum Floor Area Allowed 142,438 s.f.
   Vehicular Parking Spaces 121
   Bicycle Parking Spaces
   37 spaces, including 4 near the
   northwest corner of the building
   Impervious Surface 50,126 s.f.
   Recreation Space 6,841 s.f.

   Also, the maximum height, allowed by giving an exception to the limits in the Town Center-3 zone.

   Nothing about external color, interior design, etc.
   The Community Design Commission has that job.

3. 

   C K Hope

    /  February 29, 2012

   Shortbread Lofts has presented more detail information to staff and Council which wasn’t talked about Monday night. The rent of $724 per month includes utilities. A house rental in Northside for $600-$650 does not include water, electric and gas, which could easily cost another $100 per month year-round. Also in the staff material, Shortbread will offer a shared bedroom rate (bedrooms are generously sized at 12′ X 12′ and each has its own bathroom) of half the per bedroom rate which is affordable to someone making the minimum wage of $7.50 per hour. Most people living there won’t need a car, the parking ratio is .48 spaces per bedroom.

4. 

   CitizenWill

    /  February 29, 2012

   If you followed most prudent budget guidelines and spent the maximum of 1/3rd your gross income on housing, a person would need to make about $13/hr to afford a 1 bedroom.

   The 1/2 bedroom rate plan just underlines how much this project is more like an off-campus dorm than workforce housing.

   This project will appeal to a different segment of the renting public than Northside’s homes in-spite of all the testimony to the contrary last Monday.

   Larry and crew did a good job working their project through the process. They also listened and responded well in dealing with some of the project’s more difficult design issues.

   That said, I liked the smaller footprint version of this project better than what was approved. I expect that its location in the dip on Rosemary St. will kind of even out its visual impact from nearby neighborhoods unlike the hulking Greenbridge.

   Hope they sort out the color scheme and design to be more in line with West End. Chapel Hill deserves a Downtown design paradigm that honors its unique place in North Carolina history. Shortbread’s architecture and style is a kind that says nothing about the place itself (like its brethren Warehouse).

   The way things are going, we’re turning Downtown into bland neo-urban landscapes, clones of what you find in Atlanta, Austin, etc. Kind of a shame to see us rushing towards Anywhere USA.

   With this approval and Council’s fairly enthusiastic acceptance of the University Square redevelopment project (and, of course, their own West140 boondoggle), I expect that its open season now on both sides of Rosemary St. from Carrboro to the historic district. Expect more student-oriented housing proposals to roll in over the next couple years.

   Is Rosemary St. going to become a bit of a concrete canyon lined with these type developments In the rush to cater to that segment? Will anyone care?

5. 

   DOM

    /  February 29, 2012

   …Will –
   “Is Rosemary St. going to become a bit of a concrete canyon lined with these type developments In the rush to cater to that segment?”
   …Chill.

6. 

   CitizenWill

    /  February 29, 2012

   Dude, I’m always chill.

7. 

   Joe

    /  February 29, 2012

   “The way things are going, we’re turning Downtown into bland neo-urban landscapes, clones of what you find in Atlanta, Austin, etc.”

   Chapel Hill isn’t a clone of any city that I can think of. I don’t know of any city in the United States with a similar sized population with such a thriving downtown.

   The alternative to building dense housing is skyrocketing property prices/rents.

   Chapel Hill is doing just fine.

8. 

   Jason

    /  February 29, 2012

   CK Hope – an average per person utility bill for gas, elec and water in Northside for a 4 BR house is about $50. $724/month will appeal to those students whose parents can afford it but to conclude that this is affordable housing is laughable. Pine Knolls is affordable student housing at $400-500/ BR. And do you think the tenants are simply going to live with half a parking spot per bedroom. Students are a resourceful lot and if they want a vehicle at school with them, they will find somewhere to park it. Maybe they’ll just park on the streets of Northside. Approval of the project was the right call, but let’s just call it what it is: High priced student rentals

9. 

   Linda Convissor

    /  February 29, 2012

   Will,
   If you could design the project, what would you want to see there? Or generally in terms of housing and new development downtown?
   Linda

10. 

    CitizenWill

     /  March 1, 2012

    You mean if I could wave a magic wand?

11. 

    Linda Convissor

     /  March 1, 2012

    No magic wands allowed. I’m asking you for a reality-based answer to what you’d like to see in downtown generally and this site particularly. I’m sorry I didn’t make the “reality” part clear. I mean, you don’t need to run the numbers to make sure it’s financially viable etc. but I think you have a pretty good idea of the constraints all these projects are designed around. Those constraints are the reality I’m talking about.

12. 

    CitizenWill

     /  March 1, 2012

    Linda, your request deserves a thoughtful and worked out response. Let me put together something and publish it on CitizenWill.org.

13. 

    John Kramer

     /  March 2, 2012

    I think if there was a yellow brick road leading to a development in Chapel Hill, SOMEONE would have a problem with it. Sheesh!