Summary Update

Thank you for staying involved in this project! We’d like to ask you about your impressions of our first progress designs to help us better shape a project supported by the community.

If you haven't read our first Community Update, here is a link and below is an updated infographic summary of the first neighborhood meeting and over 400 surveys leading up to Meeting #2. This information helped inform our development goals and initial designs.

Click the image for a higher resolution file.

We then attempted to interpret this community feedback into the built form and presented 5 conceptual design options at the second meeting on Saturday, November 3rd at Branan Towers. After a background presentation on the designs, we broke out into an open house format to discuss the options and attendees were asked to place comments on each design.

Now for the fun part! Below are the same presentation boards we shared with the neighborhood at the second meeting. Please review the information and then take our 5-minute survey to rate these concepts and tell us what you like and don't like about them.

The ratings and specific comments will contribute substantially to our decision-making process as we work to narrow down and revise the ideas into more detailed feasible concepts for the next community meeting.

Please note that the two shared-parking diagrams on each board are the same. They are the results of a general ULI study to illustrate how the project uses can share parking with different peak demand times.

To download higher resolution images for better viewing, please click here.

Option 1

Option 1 is the base-case concept for the development as currently zoned. This would entail selling the four single family homes, adaptive reuse of the Masonic Lodge, and development of live-work units on the Portland corner. This option would require the Glenwood corner to remain a parking lot in order to have adequate parking for the Masonic building. Shared parking demand charts from the Urban Land Institute are included to help illustrate the different peak demands of the proposed uses. As with all options, street parking spaces with protective curb bulb-outs provide additional space for street trees and will help calm the speed of cars on Portland Ave.

Option 2

Option 2 rezones the single family parcels and distributes parking throughout the site. This allows the development of a gateway building at the Glenwood corner that also frames a large public space. One house on Glenwood is converted to retail or office use. Building F is a transitional 2-story height next to the single family homes on Portland. The large amount of surface parking limits the buffer next to the homes on the west edge to the minimum of 20’. Pedestrian access and the quality of the public spaces are top priorities for all of the options. Shared parking demand charts from the Urban Land Institute are included to help illustrate the different peak demands of the proposed uses.

Option 3

Option 3 is very similar to Option 2 but utilizes a one-way ingress/egress throughout the site with angled parking which may help slow cars and reduce cut-through traffic on Portland Avenue. The narrower one-way lane also allows the public space to increase in size slightly over Option 2. Shared parking demand charts from the Urban Land Institute are included to help illustrate the different peak demands of the proposed uses.

Option 4

Option 4 utilizes some structured parking and has a slightly higher density with a 5-story building on the Glenwood corner and a 4-story building on the Portland corner. The cost of structured parking requires a higher density for the project to pencil out. The 2-level parking podium has no access between levels, which eliminates through-traffic. The Glenwood access side leads to the upper level of the parking podium; the Portland access goes to the lower level. Shared parking demand charts from the Urban Land Institute are included to help illustrate the different peak demands of the proposed uses.

Option 5

Option 5 utilizes a larger parking podium with a rooftop greenspace. The cost of the parking structure would require larger buildings with more leasable square footage on the site than the other options. This option provides the most parking spaces, but this also reduces the amount of ground-level public space. This 2-level parking podium also has no access between levels, which eliminates through-traffic. A slight drop in grade from north to south allows for the podium to be partially buried, with a reduced height above ground level. The Glenwood access side leads to the upper level of the parking podium; the Portland access goes to the lower level. Shared parking demand charts from the Urban Land Institute are included to help illustrate the different peak demands of the proposed uses.

Next Steps

First, please take the 5-minute survey to rate these options and let us know what you like or don’t like about them.

Next, please come to our next Community Meeting on November 17th, from 11a to 1p, at Ormewood Church (1071 Delaware Avenue SE). We will be holding a brief presentation at the beginning and then move to an open house format to present a couple schemes for the site based on feedback received on the first concepts. Folks can come and go at a convenient time, to provide us important feedback on those options which we will then use to further refine them. We’ll also have a sketching table for folks to share more ideas on paper.

Lunch will be provided.

Community Update #2