City Council Minutes 2016 01 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes January 19, 2016 Page 7 of 25 property to develop south of streel ranch, which has a commercial /retail component. He addressed the development of an adjacent project in the City of Lafayette and voiced his opinion it is not of the same quality of development found in Louisville. He felt Louisville could do better. He addressed the great recession and the economic meltdown with the elimination of big box stores. He noted the Lafayette property was zoned commercial and the developer, McStain, sold the property to get the cash. He did not want the property south of Steel Ranch to meet the same fate and that is the reason for bringing forth the Foundry development project. They hosted a community meeting at the Recreation Center to receive public input. With that input they resubmitted their proposal for the Foundry. He noted most of the development in Louisville has been in Ward I with the North End Project; Steel Ranch and The Lanterns. He requested Council approval of the Foundry to complete the development. The Foundry contains 28 age- restricted units and 8 non -age restricted units and will be a vibrant development containing retail, boutique services and adaptable spaces for entrepreneurs. The adaptable spaces will include retail on the bottom floors and 2.5 stores for condominiums, which lends toward outdoor living. Every unit will have living space above and has elevator access. He presented site plans and artists renditions of the proposal. COUNCIL COMMENT Council member Maloney inquired about the metrics of the design and asked Mr. McClure how the new design differs from the original metrics design, which did not work. Mr. McClure explained the development of the condominiums will fund the speculative development on commercial property. He explained the retail viability is what the property can support. Council member Maloney asked if the developer anticipates the same success as The Source has in Denver. Mr. McClure explained there are eight bays and not quite as many tenants as The Source. He explained currently it models with the potential rents for those spaces. The rents will be discounted upfront in order to get the right tenants and to meet the requirements of the lenders. Council member Stolzmann explained she submitted a number of detailed questions to the staff earlier this aftemoon. She asked whether Council wished to review staffs responses during a recess or whether the staff should respond to her questions at this time. Mayor Muckle requested the staff respond to Council member Stolzmann's questions on the record. Interim Planning and Building Safety Director Russ reviewed the responses to Council member Stolzmann's questions as follows: 1) The applicant and the Planning Commission (minutes) cite retail vacancies over and again- what is the retail vacancy rate (percent) in a 1 mile radius of the site and what is to be expected during a reasonably strong economic period?