Tag / Townhomes

by Leo Suarez

Peace Street Townes Breaks Ground

Peace Street Townes under construction

Corner of Peace and Person Streets

Continuing the conversation around Blount Street Commons this week, the project at the corner of Person and Peace Streets broke ground over a few weeks ago. Peace Street Townes is an 18-unit townhome project that should pop up fairly quickly because of the smaller scale of the project. Seems there are still developers delivering outside of the crazed rental market these days.

On a walk this past weekend, the sign near the site said that 10 units were under contract which is great momentum and clearly enough to start building. Looking back, this project was announced over a year ago around the summer of 2012.

Fans of urban transition should be cheering for this project as it somewhat steps down from the denser government buildings to the single-family homes in nearby Oakwood and Mordecai.

by Leo Suarez

Plans For 220 The Saint Bring Condos and Townhouses To Glenwood South

Rendering of 220 The Saint

There’s a development plan on the city’s website that shows some new residential in the works for Glenwood South. 220 The Saint as it’s called has a combination of 49 condos and townhomes for an awkward lot on the block bounded by Jones, Lane, Boylan, and St. Mary’s Street. (see the map)

Map of the proposed 220 The Saint

Indeed, the tetris piece you see there is one lot and is currently very underutilized. The development will replace two houses along St. Mary’s street in exchange for on-site parking and 49 units spread across three buildings, some being condos and others townhomes.

The renderings in the submitted site plan are very preliminary but do show something that’s less dense than what we may have been used to in Glenwood South. I’m referring to the nearby apartment buildings at 712 Tucker and St. Mary’s Square.

Rendering of 220 The Saint

If you look at the proposal on the city’s website, you can see that a new driveway on Lane Street will be built for access into the development, the larger building includes the parking underneath.

Other things to note from the development proposal are that the units will be 1 bedroom and the density is now raised to about 30 units per acre. (up from just 1) There are two houses that will be demolished for the development that front St. Mary’s Street and no historic significance seems to exist.

Houses along St. Mary's Street

Houses currently along St. Mary’s Street.

While not too exciting on paper, this is infill development that Glenwood South continues to attract and we may see more and more of this if the larger apartment developments continue to be successful.

by Leo Suarez

Townhomes Coming To Peace Street, Can Smell The Doughnuts

Corner of Peace and Person Street, August 2012

Little activity has been going on in the Blount Street Commons area of downtown over the past year until recently. Peace Street Townes is bringing 18 townhomes to the corner of Person and Peace. If all goes according to plan, we’ll see dirt moving this fall and owners can move in Spring of 2013.

Peace Street Townes is a scaled down version of what was originally planned for this plot along Peace Street. If you take a look at an older post in 2007, the plans called for “live/work over retail” development as well as a rendering of what it could look like. Things have changed since 2007 and while not as dense as planned five years ago, Peace Street Townes looks to deliver some new options to those interested in buying downtown.

by Leo Suarez

Hinsdale Row Nestles Into The Neighborhood

The Hinsdale Row project is on the edge of our downtown but is still important none the less. It borders Glenwood South and if built, will no doubt influence the area around the Peace and Glenwood intersection. For those that like to dive right into a huge pile of details, click here for links on the Glenwood/Brooklyn neighborhood website.

The original plan, according to this presentation, will consist of 29-31 townhouses with pedestrian entrances street side and a garage in the rear. There will be a mix of 2 ½ and 3 ½ story townhouses which will blend in with the surroundings. The Peace St. side will have some retail to stay in tune with the Streetscape Plan. Offices and residential units are planned for the spaces above the retail. The inner space of the block will also have a raised courtyard.

A rezoning proposal on the lots on Hinsdale St. is currently being pursued. If approved, it will allow a reduction of the setbacks. The data is in the presentation, page 14, and clearly shows how this change would continue to blend in with the neighborhood.

More key points to highlight:

  • New sidewalks will be built and trees planted
  • New street lights will be installed, matching the ones currently on Glenwood South
  • Streetscape will also creep down Boylan Ave.
  • There will be no parking in front of buildings on Hinsdale St.
  • Materials will predominantly be brick, no vinyl siding
  • All residents will have a covered porch or entranceway
  • At least 5 commercial spaces will be available

To further the developer’s point that this project will play nice with the neighborhood, two key items were highlighted in the Standards for site plan approval document:

(4) The plan contains adequate measures to mitigate the impact of the development on nearby residential neighborhoods from incompatible characteristics such as:
a. Building scale;
b. Architectural character;
c. landscaping;
d. amount and placement of impervious surfaces;
e. placement of structures and vehicular surface areas; and
f. orientation of uses and entranceways.

(6) The plan provides for a unified development within the site and with adjoining properties when such properties are either:
a. under similar ownership as the site,
b. are being developed in a coordinated manner with the site, or,
c. the site shares a common relationship with the surrounding properties, where establishing similar architectural elements, landscaping, shared access or signage will promote good order, convenience and safety.

So while this project gets tweaked to satisfy the neighborhood and the city council let’s take a look at what is currently on the block. Here is the list of the nine properties that will be affected by this project. I did not see any plans for relocation, sustainable demolition, etc. so their fate is yet to be determined.





I am very impressed with the extreme attention to detail that the developer has taken with making this project blend in with the neighborhood. This is certainly a quality development we have on the horizon.