FAYETTEVILLE -- Specialized Real Estate Group has added nearly 200 bedrooms to its latest apartment project plans.
Members of the Planning Commission's Subdivision Committee on Thursday recommended approving a 640-bedroom complex called Harvey's Hill, across Duncan Avenue from where a 471-bedroom complex called The Cardinal at West Center opened last month.
Meeting Info
Fayetteville Planning Commission
When: 5:30 p.m. Sept. 22
Where: Room 219, City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.
On the Agenda: Large-scale development plans for a 640-bedroom apartment complex on 3.38 acres southeast of West Center Street and Hill Avenue.
The full Planning Commission will consider the project Sept. 22.
Commissioners in January signed off on a smaller version of Harvey's Hill with 432 bedrooms on about two-thirds of the block bounded by Center Street, Duncan Avenue, Treadwell Street and Hill Avenue. New plans show the complex spanning the entire block.
The development proposal includes a 512-space parking deck, courtyard, outdoor pool and 10-foot-wide sidewalks around the perimeter of the 3.4-acre site.
Plans submitted by Modus Studio required exceptions to the city's building height limits. The Board of Adjustments approved those exceptions Monday. According to Andrew Garner, city planning director, the development can reach 66 feet on its western edge, across from The Cardinal. It can reach 63 feet along Center Street and Hill Avenue. Typically, buildings are limited to 60 feet and 56 feet, respectively, in the two zoning districts where Harvey's Hill is planned.
About a dozen residences and a University of Arkansas nursery at 16 S. Duncan Ave. will be demolished. Seth Mims, partner and president of Specialized Real Estate Group, said Thursday his company is under contract to buy all of the properties. Mims said Specialized plans to begin construction sometime after the first of the year and have the apartments open for the fall 2016 semester.
Specialized is the same company that opened Eco Modern Flats on Hill Avenue in 2011. It partnered with the Dinerstein Cos. of Houston to build the Sterling Frisco apartments, on West Avenue between Maple and Lafayette streets, in 2013. The Cardinal was a joint project with Capstone Development Partners of Birmingham, Ala.
Construction also is under way on a project called Beechwood Village, south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and east of Beechwood Avenue, across the street from the University House apartments. Specialized is partnering with Fountain Residential Partners of Dallas on Beechwood Village. The 670-bedroom, cottage-style development is scheduled to open by fall 2015.
Mims said following Thursday's meeting his company was still working to find a partner for the Harvey's Hill project.
Mark Pryor, who owns the Harmon Place apartments just south of The Cardinal, was one of three nearby property owners to voice support for the Harvey's Hill development Thursday, saying it would replace aging rental houses.
"I think it will be a nice upgrade to the area," said Janet Selby, one of three commissioners who sat on Thursday's Subdivision Committee.
Commissioner Kyle Cook was more critical of the project. Cook said he wasn't happy with how construction went with The Cardinal and Sterling Frisco before it.
Street closings were sporadic. Pedestrian access was limited. Construction vehicles tracked dirt and mud onto nearby streets.
"You need to be limited to your site," Cook said. "They expanded beyond their site in my opinion on that last project. The loading and unloading: I know that's hard. You've got to time that, and it's going to disrupt traffic flow and people around there. But we've got to do a good job of that. To me, that's just construction practices."
Mims and Corey Granderson, a staff engineer for the city, noted several requirements have been put in place since The Cardinal was built.
In order to get building permits, contractors must submit a detailed schedule of all street closings and detour routes. All deliveries, material staging and worker parking must occur on-site and off public streets. Proper flagging and warning signs must be used. A physical barrier, such as a chain-link fence, must be installed around a construction project, and a wooden pedestrian tunnel may be required where overhead dangers exist. Areas that vehicles access must have compacted stone so dirt and mud aren't tracked off-site.
According to the new policies, each violation will result in escalating penalties. The city's Building Safety Division will be able to place projects on hold or issue stop work orders for repeated violations.
Mims said Specialized agreed to -- and helped come up with -- the new rules.
"We, as the developers, want to see a tight site as well," he said. "We're local. We're staying here. We think that The Cardinal went better than (Sterling) Frisco, but we certainly plan on this going much better than The Cardinal."
NW News on 09/12/2014