Council reviews project designs

The development company charged with designing two multimillion-dollar mixed-use developments that could reshape the downtown's face now are completing their final project drawings.

The Chapel Hill Town Council got a chance Monday night to review a few possible designs for mixed-use developments slated to be built on lot 5 and the Wallace Deck area with Florida-based design consultant Ram Development Company.

Lot 5 is at the corner of Franklin and Church streets and the Wallace Deck sits on East Rosemary Street.

The town chose Ram Development to head the project's first phase, which will include efforts to create designs for lot 5 and the Wallace Deck that council member Mark Kleinschmidt said he hopes "bleeds Chapel Hill character."

The town's part of the bill eventually could top $8 million.

The lot 5 sketches presented Monday night feature a tower about 120 feet high - more than eight stories - coupled with two retail spaces and more than three parking levels underground.

"We've made minor changes from the last sketch," Ram Vice President Susan Tjarsken-Russos told the council. "There is a synergy between lot 5 and the Wallace Deck."

The company designed the buildings to be friendly to residential areas and accessible to pedestrians, Ram representatives said. They also revised the parking area to more closely follow the infrastructure of the edifice atop it.

The disparity between the centerpiece structure of lot 5 and its four-story counterpart, sitting adjacent on the corner of Rosemary and Church streets, brought up some debate.

Kleinschmidt said he was opposed to Ram's decision to locate nearly all the affordable housing units it has scheduled for the development in the Rosemary building.

"I'm not saying you need to make a penthouse affordable, but you don't need 18 of the 21 units of affordable housing (grouped together)," he said. "I would like to see them spread out."

Council members also reminded the company of the town's general disapproval of retail space looking like its chief competitor - The Streets at Southpoint in Durham.

The Wallace Deck also saw changes, including a more efficient parking system within the garage.

"It hasn't changed much from the (request for proposals)," Tjarsken-Russos said. "What's important for people is to fit it in context with the rest of the buildings in the area."

John Felton, senior principal of consulting firm Cline Design, said the new drawings reflect a simple but effective design for the deck.

"The layout of the Wallace Deck is very straightforward," he said. "It's packaged in a form that is a little more period-oriented."

But council member Sally Greene directed Ram not to go for an industrial appeal. "We don't want to look like a warehouse," she said.

The design plan most of the council seemed to agree on has a historical look but retains an urban feel.

"It may speak well to an urban - 25- to 35-year-old market," Tjarsken-Russos said.

 

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