New Riverside Apartments

[SXSW]

Bomasada, same developers as the Enclave apartments at 41st & Peoria, have proposed building 240 units at the vacant corner of Riverside & Denver.  Looks to be 5-6 stories with a parking garage and includes demolition of the existing apartments along 17th.

[ZYX]

This is good news. Their conceptual design is pretty good. It provides a great scale for that corner. I'm excited to see further plans!

[swake]

this should do very well in that location.

[TheArtist]

 I like it, great location for something like that.

[rdj]

If only we had #waterintheriver this type of development would happen...

[carltonplace]

Very nice. I wonder what an upscale apartment development in this spot will do to the nearby affordable and low cost apartments on Denver on Riverside and on Elwood. 

[BKDotCom]

Very nice. I wonder what an upscale apartment development in this spot will do to the nearby affordable and low cost apartments on Denver on Riverside and on Elwood.

It will make them appear even more affordable by contrast

[heironymouspasparagus]

If only we had #waterintheriver this type of development would happen...

That is the area where there is water in the river.....


This looks like a good idea - just wish there was some more "art deco" touches to it....  but at least it's not just a square box !!  And not 10 (or more!) stories high!

[dsjeffries]

I like the project's size and location, but I do wish there was some retail on the first floor. A little coffee shop never hurt anyone. And I'd love it if they would borrow architectural elements from the neighborhood.

[SXSW]

I like the project's size and location, but I do wish there was some retail on the first floor. A little coffee shop never hurt anyone. And I'd love it if they would borrow architectural elements from the neighborhood.

On the river would be even better, next to Blue Rose.  Something like Mozart's in Austin which has a great deck overlooking the water.

I think this area will see more residential density, and will include redeveloping the older apartments along Riverside  and new developments extending east along 18th.  Next to the river, just north of the Gathering Place and a half mile from downtown plus not far from midtown areas like Cherry Street and Brookside.  It just needs a few more retail/restaurant options.  If they're on the water around Blue Rose even better, or closer to the neighborhood's retail district at 18th & Boston.

[carltonplace]

That is the area where there is water in the river.....


This looks like a good idea - just wish there was some more "art deco" touches to it....  but at least it's not just a square box !!  And not 10 (or more!) stories high!

Um, I think his #hashtag was #sarcasm

[swake]

Um, I think his #hashtag was #sarcasm

He forgot to use the <s> and </s> code for internet sarcasm.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Um, I think his #hashtag was #sarcasm

I know.  My point was trying to relate to points I have tried to make in the past - development will happen, or not, regardless of how much water is sitting on the sand - based on the (perceived?) economics of the project.  Too obtuse/sparse, I guess....oh, well,....will try again.


And the more important part of my note was a small one, but just the thought that I like the design - it's not overdone, over the top plain old square box with glass walls.  There is visual interest.  And a less than 90 degrees angular shape - at least it looks so in the drawing!!

[LandArchPoke]

Looks nice. Lets see how many of the architectural features they can cut out to save money and make it look as cheap as possible.

I second the need for ground floor retail. Perfect site for this! Upgrade Riverside a little bit to add more street parking and throw a few restaurants on the ground floor.

[PonderInc]

I was curious what the zoning was for this site, to understand the parking requirements.  Also, since the current zoning code doesn't allow mixed use, I wanted to know how it was zoned.  

As it turns out, this site has an old PUD from 1983. http://www.tmapc.org/Documents/Approved%20Minutes/1983/06-29-83.pdf (When will TMAPC start using OCR on historic documents?). Prior to this PUD, it was zoned RM-3 and had two apartment buildings on it.  

In 1983, PUD-330 allowed for a 158,000 SF office building and 115 unit apartment building. At that time, the PUD required 1 parking space per 300 SF of office floor space, and 1.5 spaces per one-bedroom unit and 2 spaces per 2 + bedroom units.  The PUD called for 479 parking spaces, including a 4-level parking structure under the office building. The PUD also allowed for a maximum height of 12 stories above grade.

I would assume that the developer would need to amend the PUD because it's going to exceed the maximum number of residential units, but I'm not sure.  If so, there's room to ask for mixed-use / retail on the ground floor, but the developer didn't mention that in the TW article, so assuming they don't care.  (They should.) (Duh!)

Here's something to ponder: if they don't change the required parking spelled out in the 1983 PUD, then they will be building an enormous amount of parking on this site.  Let's say that half of the units will be 1 bedroom and half will be 2 bedrooms.  If we use the requirements of the existing PUD, this would equal 420 parking spaces. Since the zoning code requires parking spaces to be 9 x 18', each space equals 162 SF not counting aisles.  If the aisles are typical 20' wide between parking rows, you can add another 90 SF per parking space.  This brings our rough estimate of parking to 105,840 SF of space for the 240 unit complex.  For every apartment unit, there will be 441 SF of space dedicated to parking.  I lived for years in a 700 SF apartment, so this seems like a lot of waste to me.

Interestingly enough, the PUD talks about how people could live and work in the same place, and the ability to utilize transit.  I thought it was funny that they were right about this, but still included a suburban amount of parking spaces in the PUD. (And actually increased the amount of required parking for the office building.)

I hope that Bomasada will provide secure bicycle parking and request reduced parking minimums based on cycling, proximity to transit, walking distance to downtown, etc.  (Hey, everyone can dream, right?)

Oh, and here's a larger picture of the proposed development.


And by the way, that corner would be perfect for a restaurant/cafe with bistro tables on the patio!  Why not?  No need for additional parking. People in the neighborhood could walk/bike there, and plenty of people will live in the building itself.  In addition, the apartment building could share parking for anyone who actually needed to drive there, and there's parking across Riverside and plenty of on-street parking nearby.