Members of the Sandy City Council got an early look at what could be built on a lot just south of its chambers in City Hall — hundreds of housing units and a large amount of office space.
During a council meeting and RDA board meeting Tuesday, council members reviewed the early concept plans for what’s being called the Centennial Village development, which would be located just south of Sego Lily Drive (10000 South) between Monroe Street and Centennial Parkway. The development would be built on just over four acres of land, all of which is zoned as Central Business District – Arts and Culture Subdistrict (CBD-A&C).
In total, the development would consist of at least 545 residential units, with a portion of units being set aside for homeownership opportunities, according to a staff report included in council meeting materials. Of those units, 9% would be offered to households at or below 80% AMI, and 3% of the units would be offered to those making at or below 60% AMI.
The development would also include at least 100,000 square feet of commercial space. Much of that would be office space, though the staff report says that total also includes 8,500 square feet of retail. Renderings show parts of the development would have ground-floor retail.
The project would be developed by dbURBAN as well as the Woodbury Corporation, said Kasey Dunlavy, Sandy’s RDA director, during the Tuesday meeting.
Bryce Baker, a co-founder and partner at dbURBAN, presented three phases of development to the council. The first phase would be to preserve an existing building that houses a U.S. Post Office location and demolish a parking garage directly to the south.
In that phase, developers would build a 10-story residential tower and a five-story residential building on the southwest section of the block, with both buildings overlooking a slate of live/work units and townhomes below. This phase would also include the construction of a parking garage in the center of the block that would serve the entirety of the project.
Another residential tower would be built in phase two, but this building would be 11-stories tall and include ground-floor commercial space. This building would be located in the southeast corner of the block.
The third and final phase would call for constructing an eight-story office building in the northeast corner of the plot, and the building would have part of its ground floor dedicated to retail space.
Dunlavy said during the Tuesday meeting that the project is a long time coming, as the city has had an agreement in place with the property’s owner since 2015. However, the current owner of the land is in default, Dunlavy said Tuesday. County parcel records show the land is owned by Centennial Village LLC, and the company’s registered agent and governing person is identified in state business filings as David Truong.
“They had some obligations when we sold them the property — timing and development obligations — that they have not met, so they’re in default,” Dunlavy told the council. “A part to cure that default is the opportunity to sell the property to another developer, but the RDA and the city have to approve that sale and that development to another developer.”
He later added that the landowner was “never really a developer,” and dbURBAN has a proven track record of successful projects. Dunlavy said the sale process is still ongoing, though he’s hopeful a deal could be made soon.
Though the council was in support of the overall project, some questioned what made dbURBAN confident in the plans succeeding moving forward. Referencing the landowner that failed to develop the land, Council Member Zach Robinson asked, “how do we not get here again?”
Baker cited dbURBAN’s past development and financing experience, adding the phased approach allows for financing to come in. Robinson said he appreciated Baker’s confidence in the project, though he noted many of the company’s past projects have been in more heavily populated areas.
“That’s the only thing that was catching my attention, a lot of your portfolio is down where there’s supposedly tons of people. And I was just (thinking) ‘do we have the environment for you to be successful?’ And it sounds like you’re confident we do,” Robinson said.
Robinson said that he’d like to see work start on the project sometime this year, though he added that’s not likely to happen. Baker said once a development agreement is in place, it would take between nine months to a year before phase one could start construction. He added that once all happens, the construction timeline could be between 30-32 months for just phase one.
No votes or decisions were made at the Tuesday meeting, nor was a development agreement finalized. Dunlavy said during the meeting that the development agreement could be signed in the coming days.
Centennial Village would be located within The Cairns, a sweeping redevelopment effort launched in 2015 that would alter much of Sandy’s core areas on either side of State Street.
0 Comments