Huntington Homeowners' Association

Several people have asked me questions about the high-rise project that has been proposed for Third Avenue N, across the alley from us. I have a copy of the plans that have been filed with the city, so I thought I would pass along a few comments on the situation.

The plans call for a 42 story tower that would contain 277 condominium units. There would also be about 10,000 square feet of retail space and another 10,000 square feet of restaurant space. The retail would be along 3rd Avenue N and 2nd Street N. This would not be major retail, but would be several small storefronts. The plans show two such storefronts along 2nd Street. The corner shows a restaurant, and another restaurant is shown at the top of the tower.

Click here to see a scale drawing that shows how the project would relate to the Huntington, as seen from 2nd Street N. I'm no artist, so the drawing is crude, but it is in scale.

The base of the building would be a six-level parking garage along the alley. A comparable building would be the Baywalk garage at 2nd Street and 1st Avenue N. The entire project would be roughly comparable to the Bank of America Tower plus one of the Vinoy towers on top of the Baywalk garage. The garage would be 20 feet from the Huntington property line, and about 30 feet from the back windows of the homes along the alley. All of the entrances and exits for the garage are shown on 3rd Avenue N., so that the project would not generate any auto traffic on the alley. I assume that garbage trucks and possibly delivery trucks would use the alley, although this is not clear from the plans.

The basic rule for development in this neighborhood is that the maximum size of a building is three times the area of the lot. The lot in question is about 50,000 square feet, so that basic rule would allow for a building of 150,000 square feet of floor space. However, various bonuses can be awarded for such things as increasing the amount of open space, adding public art, etc. If a project qualifies for 4 bonus points, then the zoning ordinance provides for unlimited size.

The applicant claims that this project qualifies for all of the available bonuses, and that there should therefore be no limit on its size. As far as I know, this is the first time that such a claim has been made. The actual proposed size is about 550,000 square feet, or 11 times the size of the lot. By way of comparison, the Florencia, the Cloisters, and the two proposed Opus projects all have a ratio of about 4. The Huntington is about one half.

The city has so far not made any determination as to whether the bonuses should, in fact, be awarded. I've read the application and the ordinance, and I do not believe that all of the bonuses are merited. I have written a personal letter to the person in charge of reviewing the application. I have also discussed this with Virginia Littrell, our City Council representative.

At some point, the city will make a recommendation on the plan to the Environmental Development Commission. That recommendation will include the city's determination as to the bonus points. It is possible that the project could come before the EDC in August. It is also possible that the city's determination on the bonus points could be appealed to the Board of Adjustment. If the city rules against the developer, then the developer could file the appeal. If the city rules in favor of the developer, then any citizen could file the appeal. Any appeal would have to be resolved before the plan could actually move on to the EDC.

I will let people know when any hearings are scheduled. Also, I want to make it clear that all of my discussions with city officials have been on my own behalf and that while I have objected to some of these bonus points, I have not opposed the project and I have not been representing the Huntington or anybody else. If any of you would like to speak up on your own behalf, I'd be happy to send you names and phone numbers, etc.

Timothy J. Baker