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City to hear developers' proposals on property
Published 8/5/2009 in Local News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
The city of Garden City is inviting five developers to proceed in presenting their ideas for how they would use two pieces of city land for housing and commercial development.
On Tuesday, Garden City commissioners decided to advance all five developers, who submitted initial proposals for two parcels of surplus city property, to the interview-and-presentation stage. City Engineer Steve Cottrell gave commissioners the option of advancing all of the developers because of the manageable number of proposals for both the residential and commercial pieces of land.
"I'd say let's keep them all in the game," Commissioner David Crase said.
Cottrell said the city will release the names of the developers once they've been notified of the commission's decision.
The commission authorized city staff in June to issue a request for development proposals for the property.
According to Cottrell, the city received four residential proposals from three developers for the parcel at Campus Drive and Shortgrass Street, and two commercial proposals for the parcel at Mary and Fleming streets.
Three residential proposals were for single-family homes. Two of those proposals came from the same developer — one with 19 lots and the other with 16 lots. The fourth residential proposal, Cottrell said, is for 29 units of multifamily in a mix of two-, three- and four-plex construction.
The commercial proposals are for a 6,000-square-foot, four-tenant retail strip and a single practice medical office.
The next step for the developers is to further refine their conceptual plans with more detailed drawings and information for a formal presentation tentatively set for the first week in September. The presentations will be open to the public.
The city's marketing of the surplus property is one of the ways the city has been working to spur development, particularly housing, in the city. City commissioners and staff have been discussing the need and demand for housing and how to best help with spurring developers to add to the city's housing stock.
Obviously, City Manager Matt Allen said Tuesday, one piece of land for additional housing isn't going to meet all of the need for housing in the community. But, he said, it's an example of the city trying to do what it can to help meet the housing shortage.
"And we'll see what the best fit is for the neighborhood and overall community need," he said of the residential proposals.
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