The City Council agreed to share the risk and enter into a public-private partnership to build Phase 1 of the South Main Station development at 150 Main Street. The project will change the look and feel of Main Street by removing the old turkey plant and replacing it with a mixed-use development when it is complete in 2019.
The City will contribute $2.05 million towards the $66.5 million total cost. Phase 1 includes five four-story buildings at 1st Avenue and Main Street with roughly 300 residential rental units and 10,500 square feet of commercial space. Developer Brian Bair says some of the apartments will have stoops, giving the units more of a townhome feel.
As part of the agreement the City is required to make its “best effort” towards the creation of quiet zones for the railroad crossings surrounding the development and waive development fees for the project. Bair said the project is risky and the partnership is the only way to make it feasible. The resolution to enter the partnership passed 6 -1 with Sarah Levison dissenting.
Note: Levison, a passionate advocate for affordable housing, attempted to convince the developer to consider an agreement to turn the apartments into affordable condominiums in a few years once “the construction defects issue gets solved by the legislature.”
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