On 08/18/2021 the Appleton Common Council voted 12-1 to “approve the Development Agreement with Merge LLC for a mixed-use development located on the southeast corner of E. Washington Street and S. Oneida Street (103 E. Washington Street) in Tax Increment Financing District No. 11”. This development would be located north of City Center and south of the Transit station where the old Conway Hotel had been.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) asked to separate the item out for a separate vote, because he hadn’t been present when it went through the Community and Economic Development Committee and he wanted to get some background on the project. He said that it looked like it had essentially the same footprint as the Conway Hotel. He wanted to know (1) if the number of units and the size of the units fit within the city’s Comprehensive Plan and (2) if the parking needs for the building would be served only by the nearby Yellow Ramp or if there had been discussions about other parking for those units.
Karen Harkness, the Director of Community and Economic Development, confirmed the footprint was the same as the old Conway Hotel which was demolished in 2013. Merge LLC’s proposed project is 5 stories high. The first story will commercial spaces as required by Appleton’s code and the 4 other floors will be studio and one-bedroom apartments between 385 and 720 square feet in size that are sometimes termed “workforce” units. Parking for the building would be the nearby Yellow Parking Ramp which has 1,200 parking stalls.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) asked what the pricing for the units would be—market rate, above market rate, or below market rate?
Director Harkness said that the pricing would be market rate, but because the apartments are studios and one-bedrooms they will be smaller [I took her to mean, by extension, less expensive] than some of the larger market rate apartments that have been being built. She noted that it was not a WHEDA tax credit project like the 60-unit Crescent Loft development that just came online was.
Alderperson Meltzer asked if there was any discussion at any point concerning WHEDA tax credits.
Director Harkness answered not for this project, but there were other WHEDA funded projects in the queue. WHEDA’s competitive grants are available at specific times throughout the year.
Alderperson Meltzer asked if they just didn’t apply to this project or if the developer didn’t take the initiative.
Director Harkness responded that the developer had chosen not to do this project as a WHEDA tax credit project.
Alderperson Schultz wanted to follow up his previous question regarding the size of the units. He wanted to know how the city determined the need for those “workforce” scale, studio and one-bedroom apartments. Given all the developments going on and the housing that has been introduced into the Downtown are, how was it determined that this was the right fit for that space and that these smaller units were needed given everything else that had been introduced into the community.
Director Harkness appreciated the question. As part of the Comprehensive Plan that was unanimously approved by the Common Council in March of 2017, the city performed a housing study for the downtown area. In that study, they talked about laying out the groundwork to be able to attract all different kinds of housing to the Downtown area. These apartments were one component. The city has also done more upscale market rate apartments as well as middle of the road market rate apartments. This specific project was for smaller units. They’ve also done WHEDA tax credit projects. She said that what the city was missing is what they call the “middle market” which would be townhouses-style housing, which they are actively pursuing. She said the city has been very strategic in making sure they have all various types of residential living units in the downtown area in an effort to appeal to a diverse base of individuals who want to live in the Central Business District. This current project, with its smaller units, was one of the components they had been missing.
Alderperson Schultz thought it was a really excellent fit for the area. Given what that neighborhood development may look like in the future with other projects going in nearby [such as the library], he thought they did a nice job of saying that this was where they needed to fit these smaller units in.
Mayor Woodford pointed out as a matter of information and clarification that the city was not the developer. He thought it was important to note in situations like this where they talk about kind of development is being encouraged in an area or how that project aligns with the city’s Comprehensive Plan, the city is not developing the project. The decisions about what specifically happens and the layout and sizes of the units is ultimately up to the developer so long as the overall project conforms to codes and zoning. He wanted to be clear about that because the conversation had drifted into talking about the item as if the city was a developer and he wanted to make it clear that the city was not.
There was no further discussion and the item was approved 12-1 with Alderperson Joe Martin (District 4) voting nay.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=884418&GUID=A13625CD-F654-41F7-8989-89E327C1D442&Options
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