Developers will work with architects to try to make the design of proposed row houses better fit in with the area near Seventh and Rhode Island streets in downtown Lawrence.
Lawrence’s Historic Resources Commission reviewed the project plan Thursday night to and voted to recommend the Architectural Review Committee work with developers to change the design to suit the historic context of the area.
Fifteen 2,353-square-foot row houses would be built along the eastern edge of the former Borders parking lot at 700 New Hampshire Street, though it would actually be closer to Rhode Island Street. The row houses would extend about halfway down the 700 block to the south.
Each unit would have a one-car garage, and the complex would use some parking from the existing lot to avoid contributing to parking congestion in the area. The former Borders building would be developed down the road.
The developers are not seeking any incentives from the city.
Some neighbors voiced concerns about the project’s proximity to the historic homes in the 700 block of Rhode Island, including the Octavious W. McAllaster House at 724 Rhode Island St., which survived Quantrill’s Raid. In particular, the proposed height of the project — three stories, 38 feet tall — was a concern for the neighbors who spoke.
The project doesn’t involve the former Borders building. Tim Nauman, who lives on Rhode Island, said it “seems like we’re just going to build a whole new building that’s really tall and high, right on that sidewalk, while we just leave another building empty.”
Lynne Braddock Zollner, historic resources administrator for the city, said former HRC member and architect Jay Holley was willing to consult on the project to bring its design within guidelines to fit the historic context of the area.
HRC member Jeanne Klein said she wanted the design to come back shorter and with more differentiation between units. “It’s too tall, too massive, too wide, too obstructive,” she said.
HRC member Brenna Buchanan Young said the developer wasn’t proposing high-density apartments, and “I think this is the right project and the right location, at the right time, with the right developer.” She said she thinks row houses are pedestrian- and community-friendly, and aesthetically, she has faith in the Architectural Review Committee and developer to return with something that will work and “not feel so monolithic.”
HRC member Phil Cunningham said he would be more in favor of the project if it was closer to the New Hampshire Street side of the lot, where it would fit better. He said he was not inclined to approve it and would like to see a radically different plan.
HRC Chair Joy Coleman said the commission has learned that it’s better to work through these issues with applicants, because if they voted to deny it, it would likely go to the Lawrence City Commission and potentially be built without design oversight.
Tiffany Asher, of Paul Werner Architects, said the developers had been doing this work for 30 years, and they were more than happy to work with ARC.
Adam Williams, of Williams Management, said he prided himself on working with the ARC and neighbors on past projects, but he would rather know now if they were facing hard nos on the HRC. One suggestion raised during the meeting was that they could add basements and make the row houses one story shorter, but he said then the units couldn’t have garages. In response to another suggestion, it could be possible to add a walkway between some units, he said, though he didn’t think it was necessary.
“I think they’re close enough that we need to give them the opportunity to work with the ARC and see what they come back with,” Buchanan Young said. She said she’d rather work with the applicant for a solution than potentially lose that opportunity if the applicant was to appeal to the Lawrence City Commission.
Asked about the Borders building, Williams said that “We don’t know exactly how that’s going to get redeveloped yet, but we know that without this project, it could sit for a long time.” He said there had been some “interested parties” looking at it for potential office space, or it could become a mixed-use building with housing and retail, but it’s a “tough building to figure out.”
“Again, I go back to this,” he said, referring to the row house project. “This is the thing that can financially help us figure out what to do with that building.”
The four members of the HRC present on Thursday voted unanimously to send the project to the ARC for review.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Tom Harper/Lawrence Times
