Kiger's Notebook

Downtown university housing project back in mix

Here's some from my piece on the revived university housing/ mixed use complex slated to be built in the 300 block of First Avenue Southwest. The full piece is at http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=425653:

A proposed university housing project slated for downtown Rochester is back in gear after it was first proposed about two years ago.

Monday night, the Rochester City Council amended the development and purchase agreements it had previously made with the local developer.

The development agreement was first approved by the council back in July 2007.

“We’ve been making pretty significant progress lately,” said Rochester developer and architect Hal Henderson, of the delay caused by the economic downturn.

GH Holdings, led by Henderson and Grant Michalitz, is developing the mixed-used building with nine floors as well as an underground level in the 300 block of First Avenue Southwest.

The University of Minnesota Rochester has committed to leasing space in the GH Holdings building for classrooms, student life areas and reserving a number of the apartments. Final details in the lease need to be completed with UMR, such as how many apartments it needs, before GH can get its financing started, Henderson said.

Portions of the project have changed since the original plans for the building were drawn up in March 2007 and the city approved a tax-increment financing district.

New Shoppes on Second development plan

At the core of Matt Russell's article on the Rochester City Council's 4-3 vote to not impose a proposed development moratorium on Second Street Southwest is the latest version of the proposed Shoppes on Second plan spearheaded by local developer Rick Penz.

Plans for a commercial development at the intersection of Second Street Southwest and 16th Avenue Southwest in front of the Miracle Mile Shopping Center first surfaced publicly in 2007.
That incarnation featured upscale stores and a fondue restaurant. Since then, other versions have floated out as the project has run into obstacles involving the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Miracle Mile.

The latest plan, discussed last night at the meeting, has three buildings - a retail center, a fast food restaurant and a hotel (presumably a Holiday Inn). 

Here's a little from Matt Russell's council story to explain how the development and the proposed moratorium had a head-on collision with only the Shoppes on Second walking away.

The moratorium, brought forward by Council Member Michael Wojcik, was intended to enforce standards proposed by a recent study of Second Street Southwest led by First Homes, an initiative of the Rochester Area Foundation.

The standards, which have yet to be approved by the city council, would reduce maximum parking standards, prohibit drive-through windows, require buildings to be taller than one story, and reduce maximum building setbacks.

A resolution against the moratorium passed 4-3, with council members Ed Hruska, Dennis Hanson, Bruce Snyder, and Bob Nowicki voting in favor. Wojcik, Sandra Means, and Mark Bilderback voted against the resolution.

Earlier this month, when Wojcik proposed the moratorium, he said he wasn't aware of any impending development proposals along Second Street between downtown and U.S. 52.

On Monday, however, he said a proposal had surfaced that went against the design guidelines outlined in the First Homes study.

"The plan is a disgrace to urban planning," Wojcik said, noting that surrounding neighborhoods strongly endorsed the moratorium. "I think we owe the neighborhoods better." Wojcik said Rochester-Olmsted Planning Director Phil Wheeler e-mailed the plans to council members on Monday.

Wheeler said the plans include a fast-food restaurant and a hotel on the northeast corner of U.S. 52 and Second Street Southwest, a site where an upscale mall, Shoppes on Second, had once been proposed.

Action at Roch. architect office?

Getting wind of buzz about possible changes at a Rochester architect office.

Not sure what is happening, if anything.

If anybody hearing anything, let me know.

Architect firm on move is…?

HDR Jordan Architects is the downtown Rochester architect firm on the move, which probably not a surprise to many of you. I heard lots of people say they knew about this, though only a couple HDR guess were posted on my earlier tease.

Here's the deal HDR, whose office is bursting at the seams in the skyway level of Brackenridge building, is moving into the second and the third floors of the Oddfellows building at the corner of First Ave. and Second Street.

This is the building that has Think Mutual Bank along with the Rochester landmark of Eagle Drug and Eagle Grocery on the street level.

There is another interesting part to this story. As part of the move, the blank wall facing the Home Federal Bank branch in the where the US Bank skyway connects to the Oddfellows/ Breckinridge/ 100 First Avenue/Univerity Square complex, will be opened up into the Oddfellows.

That means brand new tenant space on one of the most travelled downtown skyways.

I'll have more on all of this soon.

Downtown Roch. architect office to move

An architect office in downtown Rochester will be moving in the near future … and significantly growing.

If the buzz is correct, the office will not move far, but it will involve a big change.

I should have more on this very soon.