Current Conditions
37°F - CLEAR
(130) (101) (90) (75) (46) (35) (30) (26) (12) (11) (6) (4) (2) (2) (2)
The project, planned at the former parking lot at North Queen and East Chestnut streets, combines an expanded Red Rose Transit Authority bus station, a 395-space parking garage, 10,000 square feet of art museum space and a 38-unit condominium tower that could rise to 16 stories.
"We're moving the art museum into an art gallery area. We're expanding Gallery Row by a block. And we're increasing housing spaces," said Lancaster City Planning Commission member Jon Lyons shortly before the commission voted to approve the final plan for the project Wednesday evening.
"This is very, very interesting conceptually," Lyons said. "The community impact of this project is significant."
The planning approval is one of the last hurdles developers needed to clear before breaking ground.
Construction on the museum and garage is due to begin in mid- September and likely will continue until December 2010. At that point, work could begin on the condominium tower.
Jeffrey Glisson, Red Rose Transit Authority's capital improvement director, said the project began as an effort to expand the public bus agency's Queen Street Station. The plan adds three bus bays and allows buses to exit the station onto East Chestnut Street so they do not have to drive around the block to go south or east.
It soon expanded into a multifaceted project that could provide RRTA with revenue — an approach encouraged by the Federal Transit Administration.
RRTA will build a two-story glass-enclosed museum space at the corner that will be connected to Lancaster Museum of Art's space in the former Empire TV building.
The 395-space parking garage will be built on six levels behind and above the art museum.
Those portions of the project are expected to cost $17 million.
The condominium tower is expected to cost $22 million to $25 million to build, said Steve Risk, of Quarryville-based Paul Risk Associates.
Risk said marketing of the condominiums has begun. Buyers are being asked to put down a $10,000 deposit. When 25 of the units are sold, Risk said, they will then ask purchasers for 10 percent of the sale price before construction begins.
The starting price of the units is $498,000. The penthouse already has been sold, he said.
A selling feature, he said, is the nearly half-acre rooftop garden. The recreational area on the ninth level will have a 500-yard walking trail, grass, a gas fireplace pit and possibly a lap pool.
"This is something very unique for downtown Lancaster," Risk said.
If not all the condominiums sell, Risk said, the tower could be built with one less floor.
"We're expecting the full build-out," he said. "That's our goal."
David Kilmer, RRTA executive director, said last month that the museum and garage plan is fully funded with federal dollars and could go forward without the condominiums.
The planning commission approved the final land development plan with the residential units as apartments rather than condominiums. Documentation has not been submitted for approval as condominiums, said city planner Craig Lenhart. That designation can be changed when the paperwork is submitted.
Because that designation deals with ownership, it does not affect land development and should not delay the project, said Paula Jackson, the city's chief planner.
E-mail: bharris@lnpnews.com
