Posted Oct 12, 2016, 1:15 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Tuscaloosa
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Two residential developments OK'd by Tuscaloosa City Council
Quote:
Two residential developments gained unanimous approval from the Tuscaloosa City Council on Tuesday.
One project will bring a five-story, 104-bedroom project to 2525 Sixth St., the former site of the city's Fire Station No. 1.
The other, called The Hub at Tuscaloosa, will bring a six-story, 485-bedroom project to Red Drew Avenue between Sixth and Eighth streets.
In addition to the six stories above ground, The Hub project will also add two stories of below-ground parking along with a dedicated parking lot across the street for a total of 412 parking spaces.
Both developments gained recommendations for approval by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission before going to the City Council for a final vote.
On Sixth Street, developer Clayton Hudson of Allied Realty is planning a mixed-use project with about 7,500 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 84 residential units of one- and two-bedrooms on the four floors above.
The project will feature 66 off-street parking spaces and 11 on-street spaces along Sixth Street to accommodate the residents.
Stucco and fiber cement siding with wood accents, decorative railing balconies and storefront windows and doors are among the materials that will be used.
Hudson won a bid process to develop the old Fire Station No. 1 site on Lurleen B. Wallace Boulevard South between Sixth and Seventh streets in June 2015.
The land, part of which has been owned by the city since the 1920s, was most recently appraised at $1.17 million.
Hudson had previously proposed a five-story, 128-bedroom development called Cotton Street Lofts for the site.
But complications with power line easements and locations forced him to move the building's footprint and, subsequently, reduce its bedroom total.
On Red Drew Avenue, this marked the second attempt by the landowner, Dr. Wesley Spruill, to develop this tract after being denied in March 2015 by the City Council.
Then, the council unanimously denied the Rock Point Row proposed by Spruill, who also serves as the medical director of the DCH Health System's SpineCare Center on Ruby Tyler Parkway.
That seven-story project was slated to have 20,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and 266 bedrooms in 120 apartments, but it failed to conform to the recommended standards of the Student Rental Housing Task Force, adopted by the City Council in February 2014.
Particularly, these policy recommendations said the City Council would not consider any rezoning that would allow for developments of 200 bedrooms or more.
His redesigned project by development company Core Spaces of Chicago, which was approved as a planned unit development, does fit with that recommendation. It does not need rezoning, making the task force's recommendations not applicable, and it also fits the height and open-space requirements of its current zoning.
The only snag came from the parking requirements, but the Zoning Board of Adjustment granted the project a special exception to allow the ratio of .85 parking spaces per bedrooms.
Also, with the planned unit development, the City Council will get a say-so during each stage of the construction.
It contains no retail space and instead acts as a purely residential complex.
"This is textbook for what we're looking for in Tuscaloosa," said Councilman Matt Calderone, who represents this area as part of District 4. "Although it is large and it's something that's different, it's spot-on for what we're looking for."
The current design calls for 50 efficiency, or "micro" units, where the bedroom and living room act as one; 15 studio units; 39 two-bedroom units; five three-bedroom units, 64 four-bedroom units; 14 five-bedroom units; and a single one-bedroom unit located on the second floor.
Materials include red and stressed white brick, glass, fiber cement siding and wood.
Its construction will replace a series of aging apartment structures, some of which are now in use on Red Drew Avenue.
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