PL MINUTES 12021985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-2- • 1 equal what they had originally proposed for the condominium project. They had 2 also indicated they wanted to keep open the option to convert the rental back to 3 condominiums in ten or fifteen years if the market swung back in that direction. 4 5 The City Council had given preliminary approval to the use of Housing Revenue Bonds 6 to help finance the project which, Mr. Childs told the Commissioners, should 7 provide a much more secure financing package for this project than the developers 8 had for the Kenzington. Any major changes in the Detail and Final Plan for the 9 project would have to be brought back as another Concept Development Plan amend- 10 ment for Commission and Council approval , he added. 11 12 Commissioner Bjorklund pointed out what he perceived to be inconsistencies between 13 the Sketch of Existing Zoning on the first page and Site Development Plan on the 14 second, relative to Wilson Street and asked whether that street had been abandoned 15 for the project. Mr. Childs responded by saying, if Wilson were actually a 16 dedicated street, it would never be developed under the Planned Unit Development 17 for the project and, if it had been abandoned, these property owners would only 18 be entitled to half of the street. 19 20 Steve Yurick of Arkell indicated he perceived the question would have to be 21 resolved later by Gary Tushie, the architect, who was also present, because the 22 developers had included the street in their project. The developer showed on 23 the plans how the parking would extend beyond the building walls, around what 24 the developers called the "roof top plaza". The entrance to the project would 25 still be off Kenzie Terrace, Mr. Yurick indicated. 26 • 27 Mr. Yurick reiterated the target area around the City, for which he said the 28 study Arkell had done had indicated there were a significant number of elderly 29 for whom housing was still needed, but in a different form. The developer also 30 indicated because there had been a change in market conditions since the con- 31 dominium project for this site had originally been approved, Arkell had decided 32 it would not be prudent to go forward with that project and that they desired 33 to provide rental apartments instead. 34 35 He said the developers would be primarily seeking occupants for the commercial area 36 who would provide for the needs of the senior residents coming into the area 37 but would still be available to the rest of the community. 38 39 One interesting thing which had come up during the meeting with the merchants, 40 Mr. Yurick indicated, was that Hennepin County wanted to build a new library and, 41 a. contact with library officials had indicated they had at least a preliminary 42 interest in exploring the possibility of utilizing the space in this building . 43 44 The developer told Chair Franzese he had assessed the merchants' reaction to the 45 commercial proposal to have been "neutral , not really positive, but certainly not 46 negative" as long as the commercial was kept to types. of services which would not 47 compete with the other stores in the area. 48 49 What the developers would really like to do would be to have the same type of unit 50 size, etc. as had been planned for the condominiums, Mr. Yurick ' indicated, but 51 no plans had been made yet to provide the type of luxurious unit which was 52 developing in the Kenzington in accordance with the desires of .the buyers. 53 54 Commissioner Bowerman drew on his own experience as a retailer by saying he esti- 55 mated it would take about 4-1/2 or 5 million dollars in sales to support 33,000