Multi-family

Mixed Materials Fence

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I noticed this fence in Wabash, Indiana and after driving by it for a year or more, I thought it was interesting enough to stop and snap a few pictures. Since seeing it in Wabash, I noticed a similar mix of materials inside Texas Roadhouse in South Bend. There they used it as a booth back at the end of a row of booths. The mix of wood and industrial metal is an interesting contrast that I’m starting to see more and more.

The fence in Wabash is a screening fence for a back yard. No one was home, so I didn’t get permission to look inside, but it would seem to be a great application for a pool. It has the slight limitation of needing to be level, but if that fits your application, I think it’s a creative use that should prove to be durable.

I liked it well enough that I’ve incorporated it into the Sand Hill Farm project. I plan to use this as the dumpster screening wall. It should be durable enough to serve that application well. Dumpster pads are generally level by design, so that limitation won’t apply here.

Dumpsters are a necessary evil, so I thought I might as well make the screening as sexy as possible. It will still have a chain link fence gate, but I’m kind of excited to see how the rest of the surround comes out. As the saying goes, Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, so I’ll be going for Sincere Flattery in lieu of pursuing Original Design in this case. Swing by and check it out when it’s complete.

Sand Hill Farm Apartment Rendering

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Apartment Rendering from SRKM Architecture

Here’s a cool “aerial” rendering of what the base two bedroom apartment layout will look like at Sand Hill Farm. This same layout will be repeated throughout the units. The one bedroom units will be sans the back bedroom and bathroom. The three bedroom units will have stairs from the living room to the third floor bedroom. We’re considering faux wood laminate floors and a gray & white color scheme. Leave your thoughts in the comments if you want to provide input.

Thanks SRKM for the visual!

Sand Hill Farm Update

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Preliminary Floor Plan

I haven’t written anything about the Sand Hill Farm project in a while. Not because it’s stagnant, but more because of being too busy with it! The basic idea of a mixed use development hasn’t changed, but the path towards that continues to be a bit bumpy… Some of this has been here before, but for new readers, I’ll reiterate.

Last year, the Stellar competition was supposed to be our “in” for IHCDA Tax Credit Housing. When we didn’t get Stellar, I had multiple meetings with IHCDA, which indicated they were eager to help, but we just didn’t meet the threshold needed for a project. In discussions with Town leaders, we decided that the need was immediate and we needed to do something. The Town will be competing for Stellar again this year, but the changes to the program mean that the funding wouldn’t come through until 2019 and that’s too late.

Preliminary Front Elevation

I have gone through the process to have the eastern portion of the project annexed. I have been through the BZA and gotten a Special Use Variance allowing multifamily housing on the property. I have worked through MCEDC to secure Region Cities funding for the project. I have formed a new LLC (Culver Sand Hill Farm LLC) and transferred the eastern portion of the site to that entity. I’ve had multiple meetings with accountants and banks on how best to structure the project. From there, it became an issue of defining what the project would be.

Preliminary End Elevation

I had discussions with the Town about doing a small townhome project, but the dollars didn’t work. It wouldn’t have been enough to justify the Regional Cities money and didn’t really fit what the goals were. We are now proceeding down the path to create a 24 unit apartment building. The sketches I have included here are the preliminaries for that. Final designs may change, but they’re what pricing is currently based on.

In order to meet the cost goals for the project, the Town has agreed to provide infrastructure. That’s allowing the rental rates to be reduced and hit some of our target audience. This will bring in water, sewer, streets, street lights, sidewalks, etc. to the project. They will also be providing a Tax Abatement for the project.

Preliminary Site Plan

The public comment periods on this were a bit harsh. Always disheartening when you find out who your friends aren’t. Most of the vitriol was directed at the Town Council, but some got personal. That was despite the all of the employers we were targeting appearing and speaking for the project. This is somewhat baffling since affordable housing has been the top request in all the surveys from back to the Comprehensive Plan.  It continues to be the top concern in the Stellar surveys. Since those meetings it has been nice that there have been a lot of people providing off the record, positive comments to me. It’s unfortunate that they were unable to speak publicly for fear the naysayers would shun them and their businesses.

Currently we’re working down two tracks in order to make this happen. The first is with the Town to find the most economical route to provide access to the current and future projects on the site. This is being handled by the Town’s engineer with input from the Town Manager, Utilities Superintendent and myself. The second is working to bring the building plan in at or under budget. That is proving to be challenging, but the budget has been set by what the banks will support and what has been approved for the Regional Cities money. Building a project with Market Rate construction costs, but renting it at below Market Rate is difficult. In typical fashion, the banks only want to lend money when you don’t need it.

The conversations with the Town and the buzz through the community has been fascinating. The need is there, but everyone has different ideas of how to address it. Several have mentioned the tiny house craze. Enough so that I will probably include that in my PUD as an option. It seems like a reasonable possibility. Mostly, I’m looking at how to most efficiently use the property. I think working on the density is probably the key. Tiny houses might be a component, but I’m still thinking multifamily and zero lot line construction may make more sense here.

More to come!

Tiny house image via Cass Community Social Services

Blast From the Past – LaPaz Garden Court

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Lapaz Garden Court adRan across this ad in the Pilot News the other day.  LaPaz Garden Court was completed by Easterday Construction Co., Inc. in 2010.  It was the 6th Garden Court facility we built from the ground up.

Due to a late start, this project got caught by weather and was shut down for several months through the winter.  Despite that we were still able to make the completion date without extensions.

We are proud of our association with Garden Court and are fortunate to continue to count them as a client.

Entry Level Housing Update

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Jeff Kenney’s Culver Citizen article on the Entry Level Housing decision by the Town Council popped up on The Pilot News website over the weekend.  (You can find The Pilot News version here or the Culver Citizen version in a previous post here.)  Unfortunately in the interim, the Council rescinded the decision to move forward this year and instead chose to delay our application until next year.  Thus like the wispy home I’ve shown multiple times in the past (see left), affordable housing in Culver has slipped from our grasp until at least 2017.  (Wow, that was one of the sappiest sentences I’ve written in a long time!)

I can’t help but be frustrated by this.  First because we had been working towards the grant deadline of November 2nd for the last 9 months.  Second, after the decision on September 22nd (the meeting in the Citizen article) I was asked to rush around to get the necessary items lined up which included a special Culver BZA Hearing and a tax abatement hearing with the County Council.  Both of which had been arranged prior to finding out that the plug had been pulled.  (The final piece was completed at 4:55 against a 5:00 deadline.  No stress there!)

The abatement hearing has been cancelled.  The developer has been told to cool his heels.  No follow-up meeting for the Entry Level Housing Task Force has been scheduled.  The only thing that is continuing forward is the BZA Hearing.  If the BZA is still willing, I plan to go ahead with that hearing.  I am thinking that it can’t hurt to vet the location ahead of time.  All the neighboring property owners have been alerted.

I hope our development partner hangs with us.  I hope we don’t lose opportunities with our target audiences.  I hope the grant availability is there next year.  I hope the County Council is still supportive next year.  I hope any changes in the Council following the election doesn’t realign the will of our leadership.  I hope the subsequent changes in the appointed boards and commissions doesn’t change their will to move forward.  That’s six “hopes” we now have in trade for the momentum we previously had.  Let me throw in one more for lucky seven and say I hope all this works out.

Image Source:  www.homeloanstoday.com

Image Source:  Unknown (found on Pinterest)