Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday agreed to postpone their decision on whether to sell a downtown parking lot to developers planning to construct income-restricted apartments for people ages 55 and up.
Merriam-based Cohen-Esrey Development Group has been planning to construct an apartment complex for folks ages 55 and up in space that is currently a parking lot at 711 New Hampshire St. The lot is adjacent to multiple businesses, such as Java Break, The Bottleneck, Rudy’s Pizzeria, Genovese, Sinker’s Lounge, Leroy’s Tavern and more.
The 94 units of the proposed complex would be rent-controlled for at least 30 years, according to the city commission’s meeting agenda. (Read more details about the project in this article.)
Jack Brenton, development director at Cohen-Esrey, told commissioners that typically at the end of 30 years, the company would rehab the units and then continue their affordability.
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Developers are asking the city to sell them the parking lot for $100,000, a little less than 10% of its appraised value of $1.09 million.
The apartments would be affordable to people whose incomes are between 30% and 80% of the Area Median Income, according to the agenda. By “affordable,” the housing would not cost residents more than 30% of their monthly gross income. Rents would range between $477 and $1,499, and the 94 units would include six studios, 73 one-bedroom and 15 two-bedroom units, according to a presentation in the meeting agenda.
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The Kansas Housing Resources Corporation already approved Cohen-Esrey in November for a 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing for the project.
However, the developers could lose those tax credits if the commission didn’t either extend an exclusivity agreement for the developers to ultimately take control of the lot that has been in effect for a couple of years, or enter into an agreement to sell the lot to the developers, before June 15.
Cohen-Esrey had also sought $1 million in affordable housing trust funds from the city, but Affordable Housing Advisory Board members did not recommend it for funding. AHAB members were generally supportive of the project but were concerned about safety issues, including that the complex would only have one elevator, Affordable Housing Administrator Lea Roselyn told commissioners.
Commissioners heard from 20 members of the public with varying, and some unclear or mixed, stances on the project, but a little more than half were opposed.
Several community members — including Bassem Chahine, owner of nearby Lebanese Flower Cafe — voiced concerns about the loss of the parking lot. Chahine said although he agrees with the need for affordable housing, his business and others are reliant upon the parking lot.
Attorney Patrick Watkins, whose practice is located downtown and often involves advocating for businesses there, said it’s important for the city to have more people living downtown. He said he’d encourage the city to work with the developers to potentially add another layer of a parking garage into the development.
“Density is important, but so is parking,” Watkins said. “These things are not mutually exclusive. Good cities solve both at the same time — it just takes investing in both.”
Lawrence resident Hilary Carter told commissioners during public comment that she works in affordable housing finance but has no involvement in this project.
“If this sale doesn’t move forward, those credits will be lost to this community entirely,” Carter said. “That’s not a hypothetical, that’s just how the program works.”
Carter said the city already has a reputation of being a difficult place to build, and that has consequences that would only be worsened if developers believe the city’s word is unreliable.
During the commission’s discussion, Mayor Brad Finkeldei said he would be interested in exploring additional parking, and there’s a discussion to be had.
Brenton said the state tax credit for which the project has been approved has parking requirements, so the complex would need to have at least the planned 1:1 ratio of parking space to units so parking would not spill over into neighborhoods.
Commissioner Mike Dever said that “parking is literally the focal point of this entire project, and its largest pitfall.”
“I feel like we don’t walk away from anything if we take a step back from this, because the nature and the complexion of that block has changed so much in the last 48 months that, for me, it’d be remiss if we didn’t take a step backwards and talk about whether this is really the location for this type of investment in Lawrence, Kansas, downtown,” Dever said.
Commissioner Kristine Polian said there were too many unknowns for her.
“I hate that we have developers being dragged as long as we do, and for that, I hope we can rectify that,” she said.
Finkeldei and Commissioner Amber Sellers both said they thought the complex needed two elevators.
Ultimately, commissioners voted 5-0 to ask staff to bring back a 60-day extension of the exclusivity agreement for the parking lot to give developers more time to work out additional details.
The commission also agreed they want incoming Lawrence City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry, selected for the position Tuesday morning, to have a say in the project once he begins work.
“I think our track record to this point has shown that we’re willing to work, and we’ve gone back to the plans, changed them, gone back to the plans, and changed them,” Brenton said. “So I think it shows our intent that we want to continue to work that, so I guess if you give us some guidance on where to explore next, 60 days would be fine with us.”
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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