Builder switches hotel plan to student housing

A 700-bed student housing development, once destined to be a hotel, could be built on Route 1 as soon as 2009.

Local developer Mark Vogel last night presented the city council plans for the still unnamed development, which may also include a bank, coffee shop and restaurant. Located on the site now occupied by Jerry's Subs and an abandoned lot, the building is the third major student housing project proposed to the city in the last six months.

Most of the units in the building would be either three or four-bedroom apartments, Vogel said, but an architect for the project stressed plans are still in "very early stages."

While city staff rejected a neighboring student housing project's plans two weeks ago, the city council generally supported Vogel's proposal at a meeting last night.

However, they still expressed several concerns, most notably over parking. County development standards would prevent the building from having more than 250 parking spaces, but District 2 City Councilman Jack Perry questioned how 250 spaces would serve 700 students.

"I'd like to live in the dream world you're living in," Perry said.

Council members also requested the building meet LEED standards, which hold developers to a various requirements aimed to minimize new buildings environmental impact.

Architects presented two drawings for the building, and the council strongly preferred the one with more brick, both for the environmental benefits of using the material and for the aesthetic qualities.

Terry Schum, the development planner for the city, said that the early plans presented were promising, saying the development had the right mix of residential and retail space.

Despite the council's blessing, a county development board will have to give it the final stamp of approval in a series of hearings that have taken other recent buildings in the area almost a year to clear.

Vogel said he hopes that the restaurant on the ground floor of the development will not be a standard fast-food place, a sentiment council members echoed. Before the meeting, Vogel mentioned several possibilities, including a Panera or an upscale burger place.

In the previous plan, a more upscale sit-down restaurant was planned, but due to space limitations, Vogel said that wouldn't be possible.

Although the site was previously proposed to be a hotel, Vogel said he switched the plans after the county council denied his requested to fund it with tax increment financing, a deal in which the county would advance the developer money they would later collect off property taxes.

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