140 West project has funds, still waiting on building permits

After seven years of planning, the 140 West Franklin project has acquired the funds it needs to move forward but is still waiting for the town’s final stamp of approval.

Town Engineer Jay Gibson said the project still requires approval for a general building permit.

“140 West has received a permit to build a new sidewalk on Church Street, but there have been no other permits issued,” Gibson said.

As the only officially approved portion of the project, a new sidewalk will be installed on the west side of Church Street so pedestrians can safely move around future construction. Vehicular access will still be restricted during construction.

“They are converting a gravel stretch to a concrete sidewalk. It’s really an off-site improvement,” he said.

But before on-site construction can begin, Gibson said the town needs more information from Ram Development Co., such as a potential traffic plan.

The more than $55 million project will replace Parking Lot 5 at the intersection of West Franklin and Church Street with condominiums, retail space and parking. The structure will be eight stories tall at its highest point.

Chairman of Ram Development Peter Cummings said the company has told the town it’s ready to move forward with the project.

“We want vacant possession of Lot 5 as soon as they can give it to us,” Cummings said. “We gave notice to commence from our general contractor to begin last week on off-site construction.”

Development Manager Jon Keener said on-site construction is scheduled to begin in November and last through the summer of 2012.

During this time, parts or all of Church Street will be shut down.

Town spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko said it is too early to speculate when construction on the project will begin.

“We need to give adequate notice to residents as to when Parking Lot 5 will close. The parking lot is also an important revenue generator to the town,” she said.

Lazorko said closing the parking lot would be as simple as cornering it off because the parking division has been planning for the closure all summer.

The town has redistributed the 103 lost parking spaces from lot five to other lots throughout the town.

But Lazorko said Ram Development Company still needs a building permit and a zoning compliance permit.

These permits typically take between five and seven weeks to get approved.

“The town has two roles in this process: We are a partner in the new parking deck and we are also a regulator,” Gibson said.

“We issue the permits and we have not yet signed the parking lot lease over to 140 West.”

Keener said the company plans to make an announcement in the next few weeks regarding when the company can officially break ground on the project.

“We are going to jointly announce the beginning of construction with the town when it is official. We want it to make a big splash,” he said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.