Demolition has begun along an area of Newtown Pike on the edge of downtown where a 16-story, $34 million mixed-use development is expected to break ground early next year.
Thistle Station, which will have hundreds of apartment units, is generating a mix of excitement about the energy the infi ll project will bring to the area between Third and Fourth streets along with concerns about the size and scale of the project, especially parking. Plans call for 200 one-bedroom studio and two- and three-bedroom apartments with various rents and views, with the fi rst fl oor hosting retail space.
John Cirigliano, the project’s managing partner, said the target residents for Thistle Station include young professionals and students attending nearby Bluegrass Community and Technical College as well as the expanding Transylvania University campus blocks away.
Cirigliano said the development’s status as an urban infill project is important, especially to Millennials.
“We saw that as being powerful,” said Cirigliano. “Studies of Millennials in the last decade show they basically rented and didn’t purchase homes. They are quite mobile. We identified them as a residential solution. They want to be near Jefferson Street [for its restaurants, bars and entertainment] and places like that, and to other Millennials.”
The 4-acre plot once included a lumber yard. Wood products were cleared and incinerated onsite. Old buildings on the site are now being demolished after a delay due to weeks of wet summer weather.
Graham Pohl, a principal in Pohl Rosa Pohl Architecture and Design in Lexington, worked on designing the building.
“We worked with them to get the best site placement for the building and to determine the massing of it — how tall it would be — and its profile,” said Pohl. “The building will have a step shape; it’s lower on the south side than on the north side.”
The height of the building raised a few eyebrows during the neighborhood outreach phase.
“Sure, that’s a natural reaction to a building of that scale,” said Pohl. “The argument for height is that the city needed to become denser. If we’re going to avoid building out, we need to build up.”
Cirigliano said he and his partners at first couldn’t find a suitable site in the downtown area. They sought the right combination of land density, diversity and demographics. Newtown Pike solved the problem. Cirigliano said developers wanted a 10- to 12-story building but couldn’t get the density they needed, so went to 16-stories. The step-level design aims to not to overpower the neighborhood.
“We didn’t want to build a monolith,” he said.
Concerns about whether the project will have sufficient parking also have been voiced. Cirigliano noted that the parking arrangement meets all city planning regulations. Shevawn Akers, 2nd District council member, said the city’s zoning rules allow for fewer parking spaces for adaptive reuse and infill projects.
“In urban areas, the city doesn’t want to promote more surface lots and wants to encourage more bike riding, walking and use of public transportation,” she said. “This isn’t Fayette Mall, this is an urban development.”
John Kennedy owns three properties across the street from the Thistle Station project. “I think it’s fantastic,” said Kennedy. “I hope it will make my property worth more money. I think progress is wonderful.”
He says the old lumber yard site had outlived its usefulness.
“From a real estate owner’s point-of-view, where nothing has happened down there for the last 25 years, to see something happening now is good,” Kennedy said. “It takes motion to make motion happen.”
Pohl called the planning document for Thistle Station a blueprint for future development in the area and elsewhere in the city.
“It was new zoning language and all about context and the character of the area — making the building a responsible participant in that context,” he said.
Akers said she’s pleased with the plans.
“I’m really excited to see infill and residential development downtown at that level — 16 stories,” said Akers. “I think it’ll do wonders for the west end and the Newtown Pike corridor that’s not been so attractive.”
Thistle Station has applied for tax increment financing and hopes to receive funding for neighborhood infrastructure improvements in advance of anticipated tax revenue the city and state would collect over the next 20 years.
Akers said she’s fine with that, saying the developer’s TIF application is minimal compared to other proposals that have come before the council, such as for CentrePointe or Midland Avenue.
With Transylvania at its back door and BCTC at its front, Akers said Thistle Station will serve both campuses and help the surrounding neighborhood.
“There are still other buildings and properties that could use a facelift,” she said.