With the additional density afforded by the 2003 city rezoning, several nine-story buildings have moved from a twinkle in a developer’s eye to actual…well, plans. None are yet completed, but with these five projects striving for nine stories, the city is rethinking whether that height on the Downtown Mall is such a hot idea after all. Here’s an update on the five tallest additions to the skyline, ranked from nearest to completion to the vaguest of notions.
 This is a year-old rendering of Bill Atwood’s Waterhouse Tower at 218 W. Water St., which seems to be leading the five-project race—or should we say crawl—to nine stories. |
Waterhouse Tower
Developer: Bill Atwood
South of Mall, 218 W. Water St.
Atwood’s 65-unit Waterhouse tower is first up in the big-building pipeline. With the site plan for the nine-story project signed and approved, it’s the furthest along. The city is waiting for Atwood to apply for the building permit necessary to begin construction.
The Coal Tower
Developer: Coran Capshaw
East of Mall, Water Street Extended
Capshaw’s group of buildings includes one with nine stories of condos as well as other mixed-use buildings, 315 residential units in all and 250,000 square feet of commercial space. The Planning Commission has approved the site plan, and all that stands in the way is a resubmitted site plan for Neighborhood Development Services to approve. According to Brian Haluska of NDS, the unseen revised plan is “ready to go.”
201 Avon St.
Developer: Ideal Ventures, with architect Randolph Croxton
South of Mall, surrounding Beck-Cohen building
The Board of Architectural Review (BAR) conditionally approved the design for this nine-story, 100-unit building with a spa and a six-room boutique hotel. A preliminary site plan has been approved by Council, and Croxton has until October to submit the final site plan.
The Landmark Hotel
Developer: Lee Danielson
Downtown Mall, 200 E. Main St.
A new site plan for this 86,000-square-foot, 100-room boutique hotel in the former Boxer Learning building hasn’t been submitted, though Haluska says he anticipates it coming soon. The original plan was ready for approval but never got signed. The developer didn’t submit bonds for the site plan, the “show me the money” part of the process—a fairly common hiccup, according to Haluska. He says the new plan is very similar and he doesn’t anticipate a lot of review time for it.
Woodard Project
Developer: Keith Woodard
Downtown Mall, 101-111 E. Main St.
According to Haluska, Woodard’s half-acre project for a mixed-use building on the Downtown Mall with 80 residential units is in a “holding pattern.” Woodard submitted a preliminary site plan for comments, then asked for a deferral of the 60-day deadline to resubmit the plan. Time has passed, and with the deferral’s early July deadline creeping, the city’s still waiting to hear back.
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