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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOTTER BOX CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS (209 S. MELDRUM ST.) - PDP - 35-09 - REPORTS - PLANNING OBJECTIVESOtterBox — New r,eadquarters 209 SOUTH MELDRUM STREET PROJECT OVERVIEW & STATEMENT OF PLANNING OBJECTIVES 4 November 2009 City of Fort Collins PDP Submittal • Neighborhood Meeting Comments: A Neighborhood Meeting held in July of this year, presented to the community a design which reflected that "Overall the neighborhood is supportive of local business retention and expansion and like the idea of this development proposal". There was one comment which expressed concern about the "... fit in with the historic character of the neighborhood?" The design of the building has evolved after that meeting and has incorporated material, such as brick, and architectural elements that develop a building design that is more compatible to the "historic" parts of the immediate neighborhood than the design presented at the Neighborhood Meeting. View from southeast front on Meldrum Street 0 OtterBox — New Headquarters 209 SOUTH MELDRUM STREET PROJECT OVERVIEW & STATEMENT OF PLANNING OBJECTIVES 4 November 2009 City of Fort Collins PDP Submittal Summary of Proiect Planning Obiectives • The proposed project will: Enhance the neighborhood and greater downtown Fort Collins by revitalizing an unoccupied and age warn building and site by replacing it with a vibrant building and grounds that is complementary to the existing adjacent brick buildings. Buffer the building from the street by maintaining the 5 substantial mature existing trees along the Meldrum Street frontage and a very mature tree central to the site on the west side of the building. Buffer the building from the residential property to the west of the project by maintaining a majority of the building mass (83%) on the east half of the project property, away from the residential zone to the west, as is required by the FCLUC in the NCB zone. In addition to building placement the project will add significant aesthetically pleasing screening of the project parking area with fencing and landscape along the alley where currently there is no screening. ♦ Employment: This building is exclusively an office building. The project will provide employment in Downtown Fort Collins for 60 to 80 employees in the beginning possibly increasing to 178 employees when full. s OtterBox — New , Headquarters 209 SOUTH MELDRUM STREET PROJECT OVERVIEW & STATEMENT OF PLANNING OBJECTIVES 4 November 2009 City of Fort Collins PDP Submittal the entire alley interface and on the north side of the building. Currently parking pavement extends to the property line on both sides and the alley and to the building on the north side. Fences: A new fence is proposed to replace the aging existing wood fences on the north and south sides of the property and a new fence along the alley. This new fence will be comprised of brick & stone posts with wrought iron picket or privacy panels between the posts. Building Design Floor area: The proposed project will increase the building floor area from 13,300 sq. ft. to 37,949 sq. ft. (above ground) plus adding a 6,230 sq. ft. basement for a total Building Area of 44,179 sq. ft. Massing & Height: The proposed building is 3 stories high (above ground) compared to the existing 1 3/4 story height of the existing building. The design reduces the mass of the building as viewed from the ground surrounding the property by pulling inward the third story wall from the second story wall on 85% of the perimeter of the building. Facade: The exterior facade is enlivened by the expression of interior functional spaces on the outside of the building, which eliminates long unbroken lines and surfaces both horizontally and vertically while maintaining a sense of "whole" and continuity of the building. This is achieved by variation of exterior wall alignment, architectural forms, and materials within a complementary design pallet. Materials & architectural features: The exterior design vocabulary includes; brick, native stone, integrally colored composite panels, standing seam metal roofing on vaulted/curved roofs, tinted glass in bronzed metal framed windows, painted steel features at exposed beams, roof support columns, sunshade trellises above windows and railings. Activity: A ground Viewed from southeast on Meldrum Street level patio on the east side facing Meldrum and multiple balconies and roof top decks bring activity from the inside to the outside and provide a human scale to the building exterior and site. Viewed of main building entry on Meldrum Street 4 OtterBox — New Headquarters 209 SOUTH MELDRUM STREET PROJECT OVERVIEW & STATEMENT OF PLANNING OBJECTIVES 4 November 2009 City of Fort Collins PDP Submittal techniques and technologies to provide a "green" project, including; pervious pavements, water conserving landscape design, on -site renewable energy systems, geo-thermal and other advanced HVAC systems, energy saving thermal building envelop, solar heat gain control, green roofing and reflective roofing, day -lighting, automatic controls of artificial lighting, water use reduction plumbing fixtures, bicycle storage & maintenance facilities on site, showers for bicycle commuters, indoor environmental quality strategies and construction phase recycling. The goal confirms the intent of OtterBox to be a sustainable company with serious environmental sensitivity. Site Design: General: The general layout of the facility will remain very close to the current layout, with; 1) the majority of the building concentrated on the east half of the property adjacent to South Meldrum Street, 2) the parking on the west half (adjacent to the alley) and along the south side of the property, 3) the vehicular access points on Meldrum Street near the north and south sides of the property and at one point to the alley, and last but not least 4) maintaining the mature landscaping on the Meldrum Street frontage and between the building and the parking area. The Trash & Recycling area will be relocated to the north west corner of the building and be screened all around by a 6 ft. high fence wall of stucco on masonry to coordinate with stucco on the building face. Building: The total building footprint on the ground will increase to 12,139 sq. ft. up from the existing 8.365 sq. ft. The new footprint expands but is in the same general location as the existing footprint. The second and third floors generally "stack" above the first floor and also extend out over and above the parking and drive on the south side of the property. The new building extends out slightly to the east toward Meldrum but still behind the public sidewalk maintaining a landscape buffer between the public walk and the building. The Applicant is asking for an interpretation of the front yard setback requirement, to allow the building to be built to 4 feet setback. The existing building is closer than 15 feet setback and the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce building to the south is built to zero setback. The FCLUC 3.8.19(B) allows this interpretation as a Contextual Setback. The building perimeter is in from the 5 foot setbacks allowed on the north (25 ft.) and south (12 feet) sides of the property and from the allowed alley setback of 5 foot the building is actually setback 58 feet at the second floor and 94 ft. in at the third floor. Parking: The total number of parking spaces will decrease from 45 to 37 spaces and the area of pavement and walks will also decrease by approximately 4,000 sq. ft. (about 17% decrease). Landscape: As stated previously (Conservation) six very mature trees will remain including five along the Meldrum Street front and one in the middle of the site. The building has been designed to carefully retain these trees and to highlight them in a couple of instances. The total landscape area will be increased by a little but more importantly the landscaped areas will provide better amenity for the neighborhood with an entirely new landscape area along 3 OtterBox - New r Headquarters 209 SOUTH MELDRUM STREET PROJECT OVERVIEW & STATEMENT OF PLANNING OBJECTIVES 4 November 2009 City of Fort Collins PDP Submittal PROJECT OVERVIEW Summary: The proposed OtterBox (Otter Products, LLC) administrative headquarters is designed to build upon the existing building and site features to create an up to date facility that will be a vital asset for this growing company and for the community. The new facility will provide office space for engineering, sales, marketing, accounting and administrative personnel. Location: The location of this property, within the commercial "downtown" area of Fort Collins was extremely important to OtterBox when selecting it for their new administrative headquarters. This is a company that has been headquartered in Old Town since its beginning and thrives on the opportunities of the location in or near the core of the city. This location affords employees easy access to the vibrant commercial and cultural resources of Old Town as well as the opportunity to continue using alternative forms of transportation to and from home, such as walking, bicycle, scooters and bus. Design: Neighborhood Context: The project is designed to complement and fit into the existing surroundings without gratuitous imitation while expressing the present time and the cultures of the community and of OtterBox — as it should. The surroundings include: North — three 75 to 100 year old small office buildings which were originally houses (1 & 2 story) Northeast — Key Bank Building (10 story), East — Rocky Mountain Building (7 story) and Cortina (6 story), Southeast — Federal Office Building (4 story), South — Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce (1 story) and two one story houses. West —single family residential (predominately 1 story). Conservation: This project will conserve considerable value of existing infrastructure, including; over 75% of the existing building shell, 85% of the existing paved parking and drive areas, the existing water and sewer services and six very mature trees. Sustainability: The goal, as stated earlier, which is to seriously consider certification of the project as LEED Gold by the LISGBC in the new LEED 2009 Green Building Design and Construction program, which is very ambitious under the new grading system. Regardless of certification or not, OtterBox will consider feasibility of many E OtterBox New Headquarters 209 SOUTH MELDRUM STREET PROJECT OVERVIEW & STATEMENT OF PLANNING OBJECTIVES City of Fort Collins PDP Submittal OtterBox As a leader in the Fort Collins community, OtterBox, innovator of protective solutions for the leading global handheld manufacturers, wireless carriers and distributors, currently employs 110 people locally. Starting with a simple waterproof box line in 1996, OtterBox's innovative and entrepreneurial spirit has 4 November 2009 Proposed building viewed from southeast on Meldrum Suet with existing trees and adjacent FC Chamber of Commerce evolved the company into a designer of protective cases for today's hottest technology including iPod®, iPhoneTm, BlackBerry®, Palm® and more. The company experienced 96 percent growth between 2005 and 2008 with projected growth of 180 percent just this year. Over the next five years, OtterBox plans to increase staff by another 300 people. Expanding on both a national and international scale, the company now has presence in over 29 countries. The success hasn't gone unnoticed, OtterBox was recently recognized as a Colorado Company to Watch, as one of the top 50 private growth -stage companies in the state, ranked 29th on the Mercury 100 list for fastest growing companies in the Northern Colorado Business Report, as well as placing 2,918 on the 2009 Inc 5000 list, Inc. Magazine' annual ranking of the fastest -growing private companies in America. Property history: The property includes a 13,300 SF building origi- nally built by Public Service Company in 1974. The building served as the administrative offices for the utility, and many residents have recalled visiting the building to pay their utility bill. The building was most recently occupied by engineering firm Stantec until 2008, Since that time, the property has been vacant. Existing building viewed from southeast on Meldrum Goals of OtterBox for the Project • To remodel and add to the existing building at 209 South Meldrum Street to provide a high quality of- fice environment for the administrative and engineering employees of Otter Box. • To use sustainable design principles and strategies whenever feasible and potentially to achieve certi- fication of the project by the United States Green Building Council at the LEED Gold level. • To provide a significantly improved property that adds to the quality of the neighborhood and the City of Fort Collins immediately and through the life of the facility.