In 1970, Joni Mitchell famously lamented the paving of paradise to put up a parking lot in her hit song \u201cBig Yellow Taxi.\u201d On Monday night, the members of the Assembly Lands Committee were singing a slightly different tune \u2014 distressed, instead, by the loss of a parking lot.<\/p>\n
The committee put a proposed downtown housing development on hold after learning that the developer planned to destroy the North Franklin parking with no plans to replace its 23 spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a real desire to promote housing downtown, but I don\u2019t want to exacerbate the parking problem, which we are doing by putting housing without any residential parking at all,\u201d Lands Committee Chair Kate Troll said during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Most, if not all, committee members were on board with the city\u2019s plan to sell the parking lot \u2014 located at the intersection of North Franklin and Second Streets, across from the Baranof Hotel and High Tide Tattoos \u2014 to a developer in order to spur downtown housing development. The city has been slowly headed in that direction for a while.<\/p>\n
[City seeks housing proposals for parking lot<\/a>]<\/p>\n A 2014 appraisal of the property determined that the \u201chighest and best use\u201d for the land wasn\u2019t parking. Instead, it recommended selling the land to a developer who could turn it into a mixed-use building with commercial space on the ground floor and residential units above.<\/p>\n After soliciting letters of interest from developers who could take on such a project, the city\u2019s Chief Housing Officer Scott Ciambor thought he had found a suitable developer. The catch, as the Lands Committee sees it, is that developer isn\u2019t interested in providing on-site parking.<\/p>\n Eagle Rock Ventures LLC, a Seattle-based development company, submitted a proposal purchase the North Franklin lot for $530,000 \u2014 its fair market value. In its letter of interest, the company proposed to turn the lot into the very type of mixed-use development that the city appraisal recommended.<\/p>\n \u201cERV understands the lack of supply of workforce housing and strong demand in Juneau, has the financial track record to complete a project of this scale, and noted a desire to work with good people,\u201d Ciambor wrote in an Aug. 5 memo to the Lands Committee recommending that it support sale of the parking lot to Eagle Rock Ventures.<\/p>\n Tracey Ricker, broker and owner of Ricker Real Estate Consulting, is representing ERV in this transaction. Though the development firm is from out of town, Ricker isn\u2019t, and she said that ERV\u2019s proposed mixed-use building is sorely needed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got skin in the game, but I\u2019m also a citizen,\u201d Ricker told the Empire in a phone interview Wednesday. \u201cI think that downtown really could use a building like this and units like these as a part of its revitalization.\u201d<\/p>\n The development company has completed seven similar projects in Seattle, adding about 250 housing units to the city\u2019s market. The company didn\u2019t say what exactly its North Franklin lot project would look like. It doesn\u2019t know yet. The company stated in its letter to the city that it wouldn\u2019t spend money on design until the deal was finalized.<\/p>\n Ciambor seems to think that this development \u201ccould mean anywhere from 30 to 40 units or maybe even more.\u201d And this is exactly the type of development Juneau\u2019s \u201cstuck\u201d housing market needs, according to the city\u2019s draft Housing Action Plan.<\/p>\n Especially given the company\u2019s tenants in Seattle are \u201ca mixture of working citizens\u201d from service-industry workers to young professionals, ERV wrote in its letter of interest, explaining that its goal is to create affordable housing.<\/p>\n In order to do that, though, the company said that it couldn\u2019t also include parking.<\/p>\n \u201cParking is expensive to build and does not pay for itself, so higher apartment rents usually subsidize parking,\u201d the development company wrote in its letter to the city. \u201cTherefore, like our other small apartment projects, we will not building parking for this urban project. That will save the tenants rent.\u201d<\/p>\n But it won\u2019t save Ciambor \u2014 and everybody else involved \u2014 headache.<\/p>\n The parking debate put the Lands Committee at odds with Ciambor Monday, and it could sour the potential deal with ERV.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you choke out all the parking from downtown, you\u2019re going to make the problem worse,\u201d committee member Debbie White told Ciambor Monday. \u201cI\u2019m not going to take a bus to go to the Baranof. I\u2019m not going to take a bus to go to SALT or to got to Saffron on a Friday night. To me, parking is still super important for downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n Troll and her fellow committee members explained to Ciambor that they thought developers interested in buying the parking lot would at least build parking for residents. That was never the case, Ciambor said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a fair market sale,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe more we dictate the process before they own the property, the closer we are to driving any developer to close up shop and move away.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the Lands Committee directed Ciambor to go back to ERV and ask the developer if it could include parking in its plans. Ciambor is meeting with a company representative later this week to make this pitch, but he doesn\u2019t have high hopes that the developer will bite.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty clear what their model is and what they\u2019re comfortable with,\u201d Ciambor told the Empire in a phone interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n The issue will be back before the Lands Committee at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Aug. 29.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s Lands Manager Greg Chaney might as well be North Franklin\u2019s Nostradamus because he predicted last month that if anything could spoil the housing development plans, it would be concerns over parking. Ricker said this was also a concern for ERV heading into the project.<\/p>\n Even without Chaney\u2019s crystal ball, it\u2019s not difficult to see that the Lands Committee and Assembly as a whole will have to reassess their priorities in order to solve this problem. What\u2019s tougher to predict is whether the city\u2019s governing bodies will choose parking or housing.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n Assembly considers fireworks ban<\/a><\/p>\n Ballot finalized for fall Assembly election<\/a><\/p>\n Feds designate Juneau’s Indian Point as sacred, worthy of protection<\/a><\/p>\n