Boulevard Co. sets sights on pair of apartment projects - Charlotte Business Journal:

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"We're reinventing ourselves as an apartment says Branch, president of The prolificd Charlotte company, which played a key role in the local condominium boom, has designsz on developing rental buildings uptown and along Seventh Street in Also in the works are small commercial infilkl projects: offices on a triangular-shaped parcel at 1301 Kenilwortn Ave. near Carolinas Medical Centerd and next to the Fowler Buildinvg at1447 S. Tryon St. in South End. Brancjh says he started looking to changwehis firm's strategy as Charlotte's cond market began to fade.
A $40 million, eight-storgy apartment project slated for North Cedar Street would be the first toestablish Boulevard'w new direction. On Monday night, approved a zoning changee forthe 1.8-acre site near Gateway Village to allo w both residential and commercial uses. Boulevard can now develolp up to 250 apartmentsand 5,009 square feet of commercial spacwe next to Cedar Oaks Condominium. Branch toutse the location for its unobstructed views and its proximitgyto uptown. It's one of two sites his companyy is targeting for apartment buildings across fromthe 72-acrse cemetery.
Boulevard is also considering redevelopment of the OrchardrPark apartments, a 42-unit, five-building comple at the corner of North Clarksonn and Cates streets. The property is contiguoud to the proposed North CedarStreet apartments, but Brancuh says the projects aren't connected. To pursuse it plans for the OrchardPark property, Boulevard needw the site rezoned. But the company has deferred that request untilp it resolves questions about anenvironmentakl concern. A stream runs through the and that has complicatedthe firm's plan because of new local restrictions regardingb stormwater runoff.
The city'e Post-Construction Controls Ordinance takes effectJuly 1, requiringv enhanced buffer zones and heightened regulations for the collection and treatmen of rain water. The augmented construction code was requiredx by June 2009 underfederal law, which callss for communities to upgrade their rule to reduce flooding and waterr pollution in urban areas. The new rules requirse new ways of dealing with the way water moves off a propertyu and into creeksand streams. And Branch and others say that meanxsnew costs.
"You will see more and more developera discovering the unintended consequences ofthe Post-Construction Controlsx Ordinance," warns land-use consultant Walter Fields, who has workedx with Boulevard on its plans. "But no one will speam ill of trying to protect surface To gain rezoning approval for his assembly of three parcels along the 200 blocjk of North Cedar Branch had to commit to building an undergroune sand filter to cleam any rain water that runs into his It will be the first of its kind that Branc has built for one ofhis developments, and the expense is he says. "It's not completelu quantified because there isno precedent.
" Branch says he will close on the land for the city-approveed apartments within 30 The center part of the property at 233 N. Cedare St. is vacant land Boulevard bought in 2005 for The other two parcelxs are owned bythe , a local nonprofit Those tracts include a 20-year-old single-familh house that has received a charitable tax exemptionb since 1996, according to public Site plans from Charlotte-based show an eight-storyt complex up to 100 feet tall and an elevated courtyardx at its center. Earlier renderings by showedx a Gothic-styled structure with parapets.
The latest drawings submittedd by Housing Studio show a simpler construction with no decorativwe design elements alongthe rooftop. Constructiom timelines are uncertain because of instability within the financial markets, Branch says, adding that he's comfortable waitinyg for a lender now that he has secured a site with clead views of the center city. "There'sa not a lot of natural topographygin Charlotte," he says. "The amenityh is the skyline." MULTIFAMILY SITES TARGETED BYBRANCH 1.8 acresx on North Cedar Street, near Gateway Village. The Orchardr Park complex at North Clarksoh andCates streets. Both properties are acrosa fromElmwood Cemetery.