Zoning Change To Develop Old Werthan Parking Lot On 8th

The folks renovating the Werthan complex are building a portion of the parking for the Werthan Loft inhabitants underground. That basically frees them to develop residential properties on what were the old surface parking lots that sit proximate to Werthan. On Thursday evening they will be pursuing one of those options as their request to rezone two properties that sit on the southwest corner of 8th and Hume between Werthan and Cheatham Place Public Housing (see picture at top right) goes before the Metro Planning Commission's Public Hearing.

Aaron White of Core Development (also developers of the Exchange, the Kress Lofts, the Church Street Lofts, and the Art Avenue Lofts) sent me an e-mail saying that the planned development includes 65 residential apartment units in 3 stories roughly the scale of Werthan. It will also include a plaza over the parking area and some "streetscape beautification" designed to help make 8th and Hume a "nice intersection." He also sent the rendering of the planned development (see picture to the left). The rental units will fall into the $500-$600 "affordable" range. The tentative construction timeline (pending Metro approval) is to start construction next Fall and to complete by Summer 2007. The designer is DAAD.

The preliminaries sound and look good. Core has quite a resume with Werthan et al. I would be shocked if this development does not meet with approval on Thursday night, especially given the current conditions of this highly transitional intersection. It needs some dressing up, and affordable housing seems a good direction to go in contrast to Werthan Lofts' higher pricing.