Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:              David L. Corliss, City Manager

CC:               Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

FROM:          Roger Zalneraitis, Economic Development Coordinator/Planner

DATE:           January 6^th, 2011

RE:               800 Vermont Street Proposal

Paul Werner has been exploring a potential new mixed-use development in Downtown Lawrence.  The property that the development would be located upon would be the municipal parking lot on the east side of Vermont, between 8th and 9th Streets.  The parking lot is approximately 1.4 acres and contains 159 public parking spots.

The proposal calls for a combination of apartment units and office space, ranging from 48 apartment units and 44,400 square feet of office space, to 86 apartment units and 12,000 square feet of office space.   The final number of apartment units and office suites will vary depending on market demand.  The proposed building would also contain a 15,000 square foot grocery store or other commercial retail tenant such as a drugstore, but ideally not a bar or restaurant.  This use would likely be located at the corner of 9^th & Vermont Street.  The development is likely to be five stories, with a sixth story below-grade used exclusively for parking.  Three sketches of the proposal are attached.

The property would include a parking garage with that provides for public parking as well as private parking for apartment renters and some of the office tenants.  The public parking would, at the very least, make the City whole in terms of parking spaces.  That is, there would be at least 159 parking spaces available for public use.  

City staff had preliminary discussions with the architect of the proposed project and has stated three principles for consideration.  First, there is no money available to finance the public portions of the project.  Second, the City recognizes that it has a valuable asset for Downtown in the public parking lot, and desires to retain the parking spaces or, ideally, increase the number of public parking spaces available.  Finally, the City is open to pay-as-you-go TIF financing of the public improvements of the project.  The project would likely be viewed more favorably if there were more than 159 public spaces included in the garage, and if the grocery store was confirmed.

The City and the architect have subsequently met to discuss the required infrastructure improvements associated with the potential development.  These include likely upgrades to sanitary sewer, stormwater, waterlines, and the alleyway.  The architect has agreed that these improvements would be paid for by the project and not through city payments.

The architect wishes to continue exploring this project along the parameters outlined above.  As a next step, the architect would like to know if the City Commission is amenable to reutilizing the existing open-air parking lot for a site use as outlined above.  The discussion from the City Commission does not imply an agreement for the development to proceed.  Rather, the architect is seeking feedback to better understand whether his firm should continue preliminary work on the project.