Derek Lacey|Asheville Citizen Times
A new hotel set for an old downtown building, and new residential developments on the north and south sides of Asheville all got the go-ahead March 2 from the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.
Developers Hatteras Sky can move forward with plans to rehabilitate the existing 35,430-square-foot, 110-year-old Star Building into a 35-unit hotel with 4,500 square feet of retail. Meanwhile, apartment developments in Montford and on Long Shoals Road advance to the next stage following positive votes from the commission.
It's the last needed approval for the hotel, but the conditional zoning requests for developments on Broadway Street and Long Shoals Road will still need to clear Asheville City Council before work can begin.
Historic Building, new hotel downtown
The Star Building, on a 0.3-acre parcel, has frontages on both Broadway and N. Lexington streets downtown, and plans on file with the city say historic tax credits will be used for renovations complying with Secretary of the Interior standards.
Located inside the city's hotel overlay district permitting small hotelsand providing public benefits, the project needs only a Level II review and won't need to go before City Council for approval.
Planning and Zoning Commission March 2 was the final approval it needed. At the outset of the ministerial public hearing, Chair Joe Archibald explained the commission was only reviewing the site plan and specific technical requirements.
Urban Planner Will Palmquist noted brick and glass will be restored on the building, as well as removing stucco and returning the Broadway Street façade of the building to its historic character.
More: Vacant downtown building proposed for renovation into 35-room hotel
According to information included with plans, developerswill provide $3,000 per room to the city's Housing Trust Fund or Reparations Fund, for a total $105,000 and 100 points toward a needed 140. Fifty points from the adaptive reuse of a historic structure gets the project over the threshold.
The plans passed the city's Technical Review Committee in January and the Design Review Committee in February.
Plans show street-level retail along both street frontages, with the hotel lobby and bar planned for Broadway, and hotel rooms on the upper floors of the building, which due to topography is four stories on N. Lexington and two to three stories on Broadway.
Seventeen parking spaces are required, according to the staff report, which developers plan to supply via a lease with the surface parking lot adjacent to the building along College Street, where hotel users would access the building, Palmquist said.
More: Hotel renovation of historic homes on Biltmore Avenue an homage to Zelda Fitzgerald
Staff, he said, found that all the technical standards either had been, or were able to be, metand recommended approval.
Archibald asked, though, what happened if those leased spaces became unavailable in the case of development of that lot.
Planner Shannon Tuch noted recent changes to city code requiring hotels to have on-site parking, though this application predated that change and can continue as proposed.
If in the future, that parking was no longer available, she said, the property would be out of compliance with its permit and would have to find a suitable replacement.
Apartments, townhomes on Long Shoals
Julian Shoals, a project from Charlotte developers Lat Purser & Associates hoping to bring more than 200 units in apartments and townhomes, also cleared the Planning and Zoning Commission without a nay voteMarch 2.
The vote from Planning and Zoning isn't the final stop for the project, which needs a conditional zoning due to its size, a decision ultimately made by City Council for the 11-acre parcel bordered on two sides by CP&L Drive near Ingles and Lake Julian.
Developer Adam Purser has said townhomes will be designed with contemporary, "mountain-modern" architecture aimed at filling the "missing middle" of the housing market, for residents between renting and owning.
"(It's) attainable for young couples or young families with children," Purser said in December.
A total of 218 units will be split between 20 townhomes and 198 apartments in six buildings: 132 one-bedroom, 76 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom units for a total 314 bedrooms.
According to the staff report, the proposed Residential Expansion zoning district would allow a maximum of 20 units per acre, slightly over theproposed density.
The existing Community Business II district would allow for 25 units per acre, or 50 if 20% were deeded affordable, according to city ordinances.
Tuch noted that the applicants sought rezoning only for the Lake Julian side of the five total lots that comprise the site, with the frontages on Long Shoals remaining Community Business II.
Plans before the city nowadjoin previously approved plans for the Long Shoals side of the site, a mix of retail and residential uses in 2016 and 2019. That project is about a year ahead of the Julian Shoals multifamily project, said Engineer Marty Kocot, for which developers already have grading permits and morein hand.
More: South Asheville development: 218 units planned on Long Shoals hope to fill 'missing middle'
Plans include 10% of the proposed units, a total of 22, to be deeded affordable at 80% of the area median income for at least 20 years, 11 of which will accept Housing Choice Vouchers.
Asheville lists 80% AMI at $42,100 for a one-person household and $48,100 for a two-person household, for which rents are set at a maximum $1,128 with utilities included for a one-bedroom, and $1,353 for a two-bedroom.
A traffic study completed for the project recommends a number of improvements in the area, the report says, including a 100-foot right turn land on Long Shoals for one driveway, restriping two northbound lanes on Long Shoals to allow for a dedicated left-turn in lane and shared through-right turn lane, and a new traffic signal east of CP&L Drive at Bojangles.
The state Department of Transportation, as part of its work widening I-26, has improvements planned in the area as well, it says, and if its project doesn't add a second right-turn lane on the northbound off-ramp fromthe interstate to Long Shoals, then developers will have to.
Kocot said at Bojangles, which will be the main intersection for the project, a signal will be added to control the entrance. He noted the other entrance will be off CP&L Drive, which already has a signal at Long Shoals, which will be upgraded to compensate.
The same goes for extending the existing right turn lane on the southbound off ramp and improvements at the intersection of Schenck Parkway and Long Shoals at the entrance to Biltmore Park, including a second left turn lane on eastbound Long Shoals coming from I-26, and turn lanes on Skyland Inn Drive and Schenck Parkway onto Long Shoals.
More: Ingles' new store, Long Shoals complex pass technical review
Some diversions from technical requirements include 6-foot sidewalks instead of 10, no bike lanes, and smaller, compact-sized parking spaces, though Tuch noted the city usually tries to put the project in context with surrounding locations when reviewing those changes.
Unable to meet the 15% tree canopy preservation requirement because of rights of way that don't allow planting, she said, those areas were eliminated from the calculation, bringing the overall requirement of tree plantings to make up for net canopy loss down by 2%.
Attorney Wyatt Stevens, representing the developers, said the "mountain-modern"design will be different and fresh compared to a lot of the recent multifamilyproposals in the city in the past five or 10 years, calling it "an exciting change on a cool piece of property."
On tree canopy, he said, "you're going to see a ton of landscaping ... and it's really going to make it come alive," but meeting the requirements on limited available land would result in the plants crowding themselves out.
"That's a missing product in our community," Stevens said, of the townhomes. "In that you would rent them, but you don't have anybody on top or below you. We're envisioning that would be a great place for young families to live."
“This certainly checks a lot of boxes for me in this area and I live right next to this site, I see it fairly often,” said Commissioner Brenton Faircloth.
He asked about green building certifications, for which developer Adam Purser said builders will seek a Green Globe certification.
“We can’t guarantee we’re going to get one, but we’re doing everything we can,” he said.
Faircloth also commented, on the tree canopy requirement, that developers were able to fit a pool, and there's no pool requirement.
Kocot said they looked at the entire 11.09 acres, looked at sewer and water lines, as well as stormwater areas, easem*nts and more, said trying to fit in trees where they could left only about 15 feet between trees.
Developers sought instead to see 40 feet between trees, he said, to create a more sustainable treed area for residents.
"Essentially it's the same amount of trees, but they're spaced out where they'll actually grow healthy," Kocot said.
Commercial, affordability on Reed Creek Greenway
On the other side of the city, developers are seeking a conditional zoning as well for 49 apartments and added retail space at the corner of Broadway and Cauble Streets on a total of six parcels.
Owner Reed Creek Greenway Plaza LLC and developer Hans Doellgast plan three buildings including an existing vacant gas station, including thenew four- to five-story apartment building where 20%, or 10 total units, will be deeded affordable.
Archibald noted those would be restricted to 60% AMI or below for a period of 30 years.
Asheville's matrix lists 60% AMI for a single-person household at $31,575 and for a two-person household at $36,075. Maximum rents with utilities included tied to 60% AMI are $846 for a one-bedroom and $1,014 for a two-bedroom.
Doellgast, owner of Jade Mountain Builders, said affordable housing is an important issue to him, as carpenters he hires usually have to live 30-45 minutes out of town.
According to the staff report, the project will be built in two phases, starting with the 45,000-square-footapartment building and associated parking, followed by a new, 7,400-square-foot, two- to three-story commercial building at the corner of Broadway and Cauble proposed for office space, Tuch said.
More: 49 apartments, commercial buildings in the works along Reed Creek Greenway in Montford
The current Neighborhood Corridor zoning district would allow 35 units per acre, compared tot eh the 32 proposed in the development, the report says.
Tuchsaid developers were requesting to rezone to a Neighborhood Corridor District - Conditional Zone because developers sought relief from some city requirements around the Neighborhood Corridor District and setback requirements.
It initially started as a Level II application, but going through the process a few things cropped up that caused the applicant to seek the rezoning instead, she said.
One of those was a required 40-foot setback from residential properties for four-story buildings, Tuch said, butthe adjacent property is city-owned and designated for future parkland with no potential for residential development.
Another is the requirement of a fence between the properties to reduce a property buffer, but she said developers didn't want to build a fence, and the city didn't want to wall off a new residential development from parks or open space.
Developers are also working with the city to create a parking area on the other side of Cauble street, Tuch said, where some spaces will be leased to the development and others public.
Doellgast said the property, including a contaminated parcel where gas tanks were housed for the former gas station,was purchased from the city and NCDOT with agreements for apartments, including 20% that would be affordable.
After a five-year ordeal of working that purchase out, the properties were then deemed to be undevelopable based on their plans without the conditional zoning, he said.
Developers will build the parking lot for about $168,000, Doellgast said, from which the development will use half for about 10 years with the rest used by the city for the greenway.
Derek Lacey coversenvironment, growth and development for the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at DLacey@gannett.com or 828-417-4842 and find him on Twitter @DerekAVL.
