The Fayetteville Planning Commission last week unanimously approved plans for a 183-unit apartment project at the corner of Maple Street and West Avenue.
The five-story complex – called 555 Maple – is set to take up the entire city block between Lafayette and Maple streets, just east of Frisco Trail and the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad tracks.
City height restrictions specify that only buildings up to four stories tall (or 56 feet) can be built in that area, but commissioners gave the go-ahead to allow an extra story for this particular development.
Future site of 555 Maple
“I feel it’s my responsibility to approach each project from the perspective of our guiding principles,” said Commissioner Porter Winston, speaking to the city’s master plan which aims to discourage suburban sprawl. “I feel like the developers and architects behind this project have thought very carefully about what those guiding principles are and have developed something that is really going to work with them and fulfill those principles.”
Several surrounding neighbors expressed concern with the proposed height and scale of the project including the effects it could have on the view of an iconic University of Arkansas structure.
“If this building goes in, it will obstruct the view of Old Main,” said Paula Marinoni, a local historic preservation advocate. “It will be something that we as a city and as a state will regret from here on out.”
Seth Mims of MC3 Multifamily said he didn’t believe the development would negatively impact the view.
“If there was ever a place that a height variance was justifiable and didn’t impact surrounding neighbors, I believe it’s right here,” said Mims while presenting Lafayette Street view diagrams of the proposed complex which showed no effect on the view of Old Main.
Some residents were worried that a population increase would create parking problems in the neighborhood, but according to planning documents, tenants will park in a multi-story deck surrounded by apartments on all four sides.
“I want to complement you on the layout of parking, or maybe I should complement your architect,” Commissioner William Chesser told Mims.
“I thought the treatment of the parking put in the interior of the site where it was completely hidden was well thought out design. I applaud that kind of move, especially in a downtown environment.”
According to planning documents, Fayetteville-based Modus Studio is the architect for the project.
In a phone interview, Hudson recently said the project will seek LEED certification and that if all goes according to plan, construction would begin sometime next year.
We as a city and as a state wish that Paula would stop claiming to speak for the community.
Are you not doing the exact same thing?
I think these are a great idea, I’ve always wondered why it wasn’t done sooner (Underwood and Legacy would have been a big success if they would have considered student living instead of luxury condos).
But there are some things to think about.
Will construction on this property be occurring at the same time the city will be re-doing the Maple and Lafayette bridges (which are in a very bad need of renovation)?
Also, the area around the future site(s) is a gigantic traffic bottleneck. Try getting there from anywhere the west, north, or south. The stretch on Gregg from Prospect to Dickson is the most dangerous street in Fayetteville. A one-lane bridge, a simultaneous railroad and bike/walk path crossing with a black chain link fence that inhibits sight, blind intersections (that should be four-way stops) because of the Maple and Lafayette bridges. Wilson Ave. has been constructed to intentionally limit traffic. Try turning west onto Maple from Wilson during high traffic (the developers will be paying for a light at this intersection).
Walkability is a huge plus in that area, but people will still be driving to and from those apartments.
By the way, anyone remember what happen to the proposed plan to redo Gregg south of North Street? The idea was to increase accessibility to Dickson/Downtown from Gregg/North/Garland. Instead, the city laid down several speed bumps and put the bike trail where the new Gregg Ave. would have been. Businesses around Dickson/Downtown should have been upset about this and instead of worrying about paid parking.
All I know is that the Gregg-Maple intersection needs to have a stoplight or be a four-way stop. It’s a cluster there. Maybe this project will include addressing that problem.
Question: So if this is going to take up the city block, does that mean those two white houses will be torn down? I imagine the old church will be. I’m interested to see the plans for this structure!
Danielle, here are the preliminary plans from page 14 of the Nov. 7 Parks and Recreation Advisory Board agenda which show all of those houses removed as well as the vacant church.
Thanks Todd! If I am looking at this correctly, does that also mean the existing apartment complexes will be torn down as well?
That’s correct.
Woah! I thought those apartments seemed pretty nice, decent at least. Sad to see places torn down that are still in good, semi-good condition… unless there is an underlying issue in the complexes I am unaware of. Oh well, out with the old, in with the new. Best of luck to everyone involved.
These student assisted living places fall apart within a year because they dont have landlords and they have something like residential advisers that only worry about getting paid by these corporations that run these student assisted crap and when there is a problem with utility or a leak they have no idea what to do and tell you basically go the their website fill out a form to get a refund that will never happen . Usually some people who want cause trouble hang out a these places because of younger college crowd trying to sell drugs or start a fight to get attention because these places are apartments not university dorms . Also these corporations rip people off by basically running everything by their website and only care about getting their monthly rent checks no matter what and if it is a day late they basically ruin you by destroying your credit score and then they have the RA going through your rooms and charge you a fine for going through your rooms. This will be a huge dump in less than one year after it opens and a bigmistake mistake what about the summer months and the other people who are not students.
I am going to have to disagree with your opinion. From my experience, (and only speaking through my limited experience) these places actually hold their value really well, and become a desired spot for students to live in. There is generally a leasing office onsite, that deals with the tenants and their troubles. They normally repaint all the apartments, clean, patch holes, and re-carpet where necessary. It is in their best interest to have a nice, close to campus, slightly higher priced option for students who can afford to live independently. On campus housing isn’t exactly cheap. And more options are needed walking distance to the campus and downtown.
I have experienced similar developments in places such as Austin, Norman, College Station, Boulder, and Santa Barbara. They do tend to be fairly rowdy, and active on the weekends. However, one must be reminded they are intended for college students, and end up adding a great deal of life to the surrounding areas. This is a college town after all, and any major disturbances the police can and will deal with.
I see this having an enormously huge positive impact on Fayetteville. There are not enough people living walking distance to the campus and entertainment district. Instead, our students opt to live in areas contributing to suburban sprawl (such as Rupple row, and the east side of town) and more cars on our roads. I feel more developments such as this will greatly increase foot traffic on Dickson, increase business in the downtown area, decrease cars having to park in the area(bc they’ll park onsite), decrease the public safety concerns in regards to DUIs on the weekends, and enhance the college feel of the town. Fayetteville feels like a ghost town sometimes because there just aren’t enough feet walking on the sidewalks during the weekdays. We need more life down there, and this is an excellent opportunity to do that.
We must however limit the locations these large scale developments are allowed to be built. Looking at Austin as an example, these developments have completely changed the feel and vibe of the west campus area. Hundreds of neat old houses were torn down for the sake of my arguments above. Now, the once cozy, eclectic, arts and craft style neighborhoods have given way to monstrous 10+ story apartment towers. In doing so, caused enormous traffic problems, and a big city feel.
I see the only solution is to pass an ordinance only allowing these types of developments to be built where there are current, yet older apartments. It is cheaper for a developer to buy older houses one by one, then an entire complex, and redevelop it. However, if Fayetteville wants to maintain its charm, we cannot let those old houses go. Seeing the two old houses on that corner go, caused a bit of heartache. However, it could have been worse. The majority of that property was an eye sore and unused anyway. Going forward, we must make sure entire blocks of houses aren’t demolished. Tear down those aging complexes and make the developers pay a bit extra. We have to make our city officials aware that these are only good developments if they occur on existing high density land.
We have to press the council and planning commission to take those factors into account when granting these conditional use permits. There are plenty of apartment complexes both north and south of campus that would be great redevelopment.
I see this as a good first step, and an excellent opportunity to learn about the impact of these developments. I still think more are needed in the area, however only if they are in the right places.
That’s just my opinion however, and I’m grateful to anyone who read it, and I’d love to hear a response.
The area of town north of campus along Leverett is ripe for this kind of development. The bike trails there make an easy connection to downtown and the University campus. There are several old, pathetic complexes there as well as underutilized industrial and commercial property.