Starview Renderings Released
July 22nd, 2008 | by David Daddio | Published in Enclave at 8700 - Formerly Starview Plaza, Housing | 8 Comments
DSP Site Plan
View from Route 1
Back of the development and green roof.
The City and University are close to arranging a deal to turn a property they own jointly into a student housing project. The property is located just south of Jiffy Lube and has stood vacant with a “Coming Soon” sign for the better part of six years. The project is planned to have LEED Silver Certification, 146 rooms, 355 parking spaces, 550 student beds, and almost 10,000 SF of ground floor retail on Route 1.
The planning board wisely agreed to a 20% reduction from the required amount of parking for a project of this magnitude. They also agreed to allow 6 floors (1 over the maximum of 5 envisioned by the sector plan. These two variances allow for a financially feasible project with a underground parking structure. The planning for this project is ongoing and presumably it will be called before the county council by Eric Olson.
Read the full Detailed Site Plan here
See more renderings here
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm (#)
The plan looks nice, and the building is distinct. The plan for underground parking is a good one. Thanks for the update, David!
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July 23rd, 2008 at 8:40 am (#)
355 parking spaces for 550 students and some walk-in retail? The empty lower parking level will make a good skate rink – they should be careful where they put the columns.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 am (#)
Anyone know anything about the old Showcase furniture site aka future “Commerce Bank” on the north east corner of Rte and Guilford? (across from Plato’s)
Given the state of banking and the slae of Commerce to TD, is this dead in the water? is the parcel going back on the market?
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July 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 am (#)
Again, it appears that we are about to have yet another project that fails to embrace / capitalize upon its location over looking the creek and the woods. thats a shame. we talk about creating a sense of place.
imagine that you live there. wouldnt it be cool to have a deck overlooking the creek/woods as a place to study when the weather is nice? or what about a starbucks or a fitness center with huge windows and a deck? also, when its time to bike or walk to campus, which would you prefer:
1. Risking your life and inhaling fumes on the pathetic 3 foot wide strip of concrete that is attached to Rte 1 that is referred to as a “sidewalk”
versus
2. Going out “the back door” to a bikeway/pedway that connects you to the bike trail back there and riding along the creek through the woods?
You tell me.
I think we missed the boat on the way The View was built with a cold concrete block wall on the banks of the creek. A huge missed opportunity. and it looks like we are going to continue in that direction. A real disappointment.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 11:03 am (#)
I agree with Kevin that opportunities to make better use of connections to the Paint Branch are being missed. Not only would these be aesthetically attractive, they would also contribute to safety – the more eyes there are on the Paint Branch trail, the more people will feel safe using it for their “commute”. Do any readers have insights on why stream connections are not being emphasized more in these developments?
In the case of Starview Plaza, there is at least a guarantee of fairly good connectivity to the Paint Branch trail, since the site is close to the Metzerott Rd bridge over the stream.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 pm (#)
The DSP described an additional potential pedestrian bridge to be built by the developer over the stream. What kevin describes would be great. Unfortunately in order to achieve it the project would have to altogether eliminate parking. I wouldn’t complain. The route 1 lots on the paint branch side are small and narrow. It’s really hard to comply with the sector plan and get absolutely everything. Looks like there is a viewing platform a few floors up on the back. I guess maybe you could fit something on the ground floor, but it would front the rear access road.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm (#)
A future pedestrian bridge over the stream is desired and may happen at Starview Plaza later. We need to understand how the $4.5 million dollars emarked to restore the stream in this area will impact how/where the best stream crossing point would be. The cost of the additional bridge also needs to be paid for by more than Starview money. Perhaps a new pedestrian bridge can be attached to Mettzerot Road to the north.
It was determined that addressing these issues before Starview Plaza went for detailed site plan approval could delay the student housing from being completed for an additional year.
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July 24th, 2008 at 9:02 pm (#)
The Planning Board approved the Starview Detailed Site Plan this afternoon. The Chairman of the Planning Board, Sam Parker, complimented the architectual team for its design; something I have not seem done for any other project, city or non-city, before.
The developer would like to begin removing thousands of truckloads of improper fill from the site as soon as possible (October, perhaps).
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