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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTHE SUMMIT ON COLLEGE PARKING GARAGE - MJA/FDP - FDP130056 - REPORTS - (19)March 3, 2014 Ms. Karen Cumbo, Director Planning, Development & Transportation City of Fort Collins 281 N. College Avenue, Suite 100 P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 RE: The Summit on College - Proposed Major Amendment for Parking Structure Response to Letter from Les Kaplan dated January 8, 2014 Ms. Cumbo: My company, Capstone Development Corp. (Capstone), was recently provided a copy of the letter sent to you by a neighboring property owner of our student apartment community, The Summit. Les Kaplan of IMAGO Enterprises, Inc., authored the letter addressed to you and dated January 8, 2014, expressing concern and opposition to Capstone’s proposed parking structure and the City’s formal Major Amendment process for the review of said structure. Capstone met with Mr. Kaplan several months ago to inform and update him on our efforts to address the parking challenges at The Summit, which have spilled over and have impacted neighboring properties in the area, and our decision to pursue an approval for the parking structure. Unfortunately, he disagrees with our decision and initiative to solve this problem. This letter is intended to respond to the issues raised by Mr. Kaplan in his letter. The Summit Design & Approvals • The completed elevations of The Summit are nearly identical in mass, scale and architectural appearance to the photosimulation elevations used for our initial PDP submittal in October of 2008 (see attached for photosimulation images as well as completed project photos). While some may not be fond of the more modern design of The Summit, the elevations were created by a nationally acclaimed, award winning architect and presented and approved by the City of Fort Collins through the planning process, including public hearings before both the City Council and the URA Board. • The design of The Summit was consistent with the existing zoning and regulations for the sites on which it was developed, including the City’s Land Use Code (LUC) requirements, and therefore no rezoning was required for development of the project. As such, review by the Planning and Zoning Board review was not necessary or applicable. • As the City’s URA staff can attest, The Summit has proven to be a catalyst for redevelopment in the area, as several new projects and renovations commenced immediately following the City approvals, including Mr. Kaplan’s adjacent Maytag Building acquisition and renovation (now the Subway-anchored retail building at 1801 S. College Ave.), Mr. Kaplan’s acquisition of the Chuck E. Cheese/ Harbor Freight building to the immediate north of the Choice Center, and the renovation of the Choice Center by the Johnson family. The Summit has already had a significant transformative impact on the high traffic corner of Prospect Road and College Avenue in just its first half-year of operations, and this trend is expected to continue. Attachment #16 • The Midtown Plan and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) overlay zone encourage densification around and near the planned Mason Corridor MAX Transit system stops. The Summit was designed and developed in accordance with these planning objectives and, furthermore, College Avenue is a more sensible location for this type of dense student housing than the more residential-oriented neighborhoods surrounding CSU. • At the final November 5, 2013 URA Board public hearing regarding the approval of the TIF, Capstone explained that the gap financing provided by the URA was needed to make The Summit project financeable. Had CSU continued to allow commuters (i.e., Summit residents) to use designated commuter lots for storage parking as anticipated, Capstone would not be forced to build a parking structure for this project. However, to protect the over $40 Million already invested in The Summit by Capstone, its debt lender, its equity partners and The City of Fort Collins, Capstone has no choice but to undertake the construction of the parking structure to ensure The Summit is a marketable and leasable for years to come. As you are aware, Capstone is not requesting additional TIF funds for the parking structure. Summit Parking Structure Design & Entitlements • Entitlements o Consistent with the LUC, multiple planners at the City have determined that the Major Amendment process is the appropriate format for approval of the additional parking for The Summit. As part of the submittal, the City has required an update to the existing traffic study, as well as a shadow impact study, both of which we have had performed and provided to the City staff. o While The Summit met the LUC parking requirements at the time of approval, the addition of the parking structure will actually bring The Summit into compliance with the City’s recently adopted (Fall of 2013) minimum required parking ratio to bedrooms in the LUC for TODs. o The Summit’s original plan for parking was to build as much surface parking as possible on-site, with the expectation and understanding that additional “storage” parking would be available for residents, as needed, on the CSU campus. However, because this storage parking on the CSU campus will no longer be available for Summit residents, in the absence of other viable options we have determined it is necessary, even though it is painful economically, to add this storage parking on site, and the only way to do this is with the proposed parking structure. o The Summit remains a proximate, walkable/ bikable location to campus, and eventually the MAX transit system. The mass and density of the existing building and the proposed parking structure are consistent with the Midtown Plan and the LUC governing TOD’s locally, and also TOD’s nationally. • Design/ Appearance o While the proposed parking structure is a multi-story structure, it is consistent with more dense, TOD developments anticipated by the Midtown Plan. o Capstone understands that, being the property between Mr. Kaplan’s property and the MAX transit system, the parking structure would hamper Mr. Kaplan’s property’s view to the MAX and the mountains beyond -- an unintended consequence of the densification near MAX stations that the Midtown Plan encourages. That said, subject to the review and approval by the City, Capstone is willing to accommodate Mr. Kaplan and his 1801 retail tenants by allowing them to install signage on the west elevation of our proposed parking structure, to allow their signage to be visible from the MAX BRT line.. o Residents of The Summit are anticipated to be regular MAX users from Day 1 of its operations. The parking structure is intended to provide storage parking for residents of The Summit, but we fully expect most of our residents will use their automobiles less and less once the MAX is operational later this spring. o The existing four or so parking spaces along W. Stuart St. are open to the public and are probably used often, though not exclusively, by The Summit residents who do not have enough storage parking on site. Providing storage parking in our new parking structure for these residents should increase the availability of the Stuart St. parking for retail customers, helping to mitigate parking constraints in that area. o The traffic study performed by Ward Stanford does not recommend eliminating these on-street parking spaces. o The traffic study performed by Ward Stanford indicates that, due to its location and proximity to MAX, this parking structure will be used predominantly for automobile storage parking. As such, Stuart St. should not be impacted beyond its current capacity, nor will the additional cars parked on site impact peak daily traffic, especially once the MAX system is operational. Parking Demand & Shortfall  At the time of The Summit’s approval, there was no minimum parking requirement. Instead, it was Capstone that recognized that students in Fort Collins continue to bring cars to school and need storage parking for their vehicles (even with MAX operational). Recognizing there was not adequate land on site to accommodate the surface parking needs of residents, City leaders at the time helped bring the former CSU Administration and Capstone together to discuss the arrangement for The Summit residents to utilize on-campus commuter lots to help address the parking need. Unfortunately, a short time before the scheduled student move-in, CSU indicated its parking policies were changing and the University would not be able to accommodate storage commuter parking by Summit residents on the campus beyond the initial operating year of The Summit. This situation left Capstone scrambling for alternative parking arrangements on both a short-term and long-term basis.  After discussions over several months with CSU, City staff, landowners, churches, retailers with large unused parking areas, and brokers in the area, Capstone concluded providing a permanent and marketable off-site storage option within walking distance or in an acceptable location along the Max Transit system -- for as many as 400 residents annually – would not be feasible or viable. As such, Capstone has elected to proceed with providing the storage parking on site. Capstone appreciates Mr. Kaplan’s mention of his control of more than 450 parking spaces along the Midtown Corridor, and we are pursuing discussions with him regarding the terms under which he would lease such spaces to The Summit on a long-term basis. This did not come up at Capstone’s prior meeting with Mr. Kaplan and he has previously stated that he would not allow residents of The Summit to use parking spaces at the adjacent site he controls. Regardless, Capstone believes that such discussions would only provide a short-term fix, as has been the case with our discussions with other property owners in the area. Conversely, the on-site parking structure will provide a permanent solution to this challenge, and permanently address a neighborhood-wide issue.  The impending opening of the MAX Transit system will help reduce the need for daily automobile trips, but the need for longer term vehicular storage is still necessary. A recent survey of Summit residents indicates approximately 75% of our residents have cars at school and need parking. Not including handicapped spaces, the proposed parking structure will bring the total parking-to-bed percentage at The Summit to 75%, allowing 69% for residents and 5% for guests.  Capstone is working with another neighboring property owner to amend the easement for the bike path to Prospect to allow for a slight reconfiguration of the pathway (in an effort to minimize the impact on said neighbor’s existing parking). The neighboring property owner is working with his lenders to obtain approval, which is reported to be imminent, and we anticipate beginning construction of this pathway this spring. Capstone believes this pathway will encourage bike/pedestrian traffic flow, but vehicle storage will still be needed. In closing, Capstone wishes to reiterate that the decision to spend over $6 Million for an on-site parking structure has not been made lightly. Leasing activity has been very slow for Year 2 thus far. The renewal percentage is extremely low for a second operational year, and we are behind in the number of new leases compared to last year at this time. The feedback from current residents not renewing is that the lack of resident and guest parking is the main reason (also evidenced in articles in The Coloradoan and the CSU paper). Given that a leasing shortfall could produce deficits in the millions in a single operating year, Capstone does not have the luxury to sit and wait to see what will happen in this and the coming leasing cycles. The need for storage parking is supported by resident feedback as well as the City’s adoption of recent parking minimums in the LUC for TOD projects. The need to act expeditiously is evident. Capstone hopes this letter provides the City with additional background, insight and understanding of the issues at hand. Capstone looks forward to solving the parking deficiency at The Summit, to reduce pressure on the surrounding merchants and residential neighborhoods. Sincerely, Capstone Development Corp, Jeff L. Jeff Jones Executive Vice President