New Apartment Development Planned for Fidelity Parking Lot Site
Decatur Metro | September 6, 2013 | 8:30 amFrom the August Decatur Downtown Development Authority agenda…
Pace Properties has proposed a 176 apartment development on the surface parking lot of the Fidelity Bank building. Project includes a seven level parking structure with one level below grade in the middle of the site to serve the office building and the residential project. Residential development will wrap the parking deck. Project meets all C-2 zoning provisions and requires no variances.
h/t: Decaturish
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I wonder what will become of the Decatur First Bank property. My guess is that Fidelity will sell it to a developer and the building will likely come down.
It’s not a particularly large site, so a developer’s options would be limited.
There was some talk of selling air rights before the real estate market tanked.
I wonder what the mix of 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments are going to be and the effect on CSD.
If there were a Decatur Metro drinking game, I just downed a whole 750
I thought there was a DM drinking game… That explains why I’m usually drunk by lunch time on Friday.
So what’s the status of the Callaway site? Is there a residential component planned for it?
According to the Decatur Focus that I just received, 200 plus apartment units are planned for the trinity triangle on E Trinity. I am pretty sure that is not the Calloway site, think it is on W Trinity. So, maybe even more apartments are coming.
That is not the Callaway site, it is the long-vacant area across from the fire station.
Here is the mix. I posted this comment on Decaturish yesterday. My comments yesterday made a typo – deck entrance is just west of clairemont, not east …
The developer (Pace?) and a City of Decatur rep (Lynn Menne) made a presentation about this to Artisan residents (I live there) a couple of months ago. Here are some details from my notes. Nothing here is necessarily true, and may be the product of my faulty memory or interpretation … I have not wanted to post this in public until I saw that they were on the planning docket – I didn’t know how “serious” their plans were.
– Their intro: the developer builds apartments as long-term investments. They believe there is a market in Decatur targeting young professionals making “$30K-$50K/year.” They have built in midtown (I forgot which building, but I think it was near 12th and PTree)
– Units range in size from 600sf to 1037sf. 75% of the units are STUDIO or 1BR units. 25% are 2BR 1037sf units. Expected rents range from $900 to $1600/month.
– The parking garage will be between the apartment building (which fronts Commerce) and the existing Fidelity building. It seems like it will be somewhat sheltered from view. The complex and the Fidelity Building will share parking. They have 1.3 parking spaces per unit budgeted, and the City is giving them a 0.2 parking space/unit allocation (double counting) for spaces that may be used by day for Fidelity and by night for apartment dwellers. Parking deck entrance will be off of Commerce, just west of intersection with Clairemont. The city representative said the future improvements to the Commerce/Clairmont intersection would take this development into account (I think, she at least implied that)
– There will be no retail
– Building frontage on Commerce will look similar in style (at least based on pictures) as the Artisan, and height is similar as well. City hopes the continual visual with the Artisan may impact traffic speed on Commerce (driver psychology – people speed up in “wide open” spaces – this may slow them down)
So based on that mix we’re probably talking about 25 kids at the most, I’d guess.
I suspect very few kids.
At $1600/month for an arguably small 2BR apartment, I think someone with kids trying to live there, just for schools, is going to choose to live somewhere else in Decatur for less $.
For comparison, the small 2BR/2BA floor plan condos at the Artisan, or the 2BR/2BA condos at Decatur Renaissance, are 1230-1250sf in size or so (I know, I’ve looked at them all). Similar size for Town Square. That 200sf difference usually means less common living space – just one tight integrated living room/kitchen. It could be done, but again, if a family can afford that, they may be better options with more space.
“At $1600/month for an arguably small 2BR apartment, I think someone with kids trying to live there, just for schools, is going to choose to live somewhere else in Decatur for less $.”
I tend to agree with that, and what I think is even more likely is that most people would choose a longer commute from a good school system to afford more space, a yard, etc.
I see a lot of roommates renting these, probably a fair number of college students.
What 2 BR can you get in Decatur for less than $900? Seriously. I know someone in Gateway Homes who pays $800 per month for a much less nice 2 BR and that’s subsidized housing.
CSD should be less worried about people with kids actually moving into these apts and more worried about people “acquiring” the address so they can send their kids to our schools and live elsewhere.
In these units, $1600 is the 2BR. $900 is the studio.
And that hasn’t stopped people from renting units and not living in them because it gets them in schools. There is a lot more of that than people realize. $900/month is a hell of a lot less than private school tuition. People are doing it and residents, CSD and the city need to realize it. I know of one family in Valley Brook renting for around these prices and sending 3 kids to Glenwood…And a lot of middle class families are renting out their homes in DeKalb and Fulton districts or selling them and renting apartments like this. I can think of 4 families (7 kids total) I know doing this.
+1. Plenty of families in condos and apts now and that will continue. No matter how low the percentage of new units that end up having children, they still produce a net increase in enrollment. Not saying that these uniits are or are not good for Decatur overall, but more units WILL require planning for more school children. X% of Y units is always greater than X% of zero.
I never thought of that. So are you saying they rent a place and don’t occupy it? What would not surprise me is if people rented one as a staycation home in downtown and also used as entry point to school system.
Yup. Unofficial subletting is probably the most common thing to do with the apt or house you don’t actually live in. I would expect this activity to increase as tuition slots disappear. You should also expect CSD to ramp up enforcement of the residency rules.
IMHO, even single folks earning $50,000 a year cannot afford $1600/month, especially if they have any college or grad school debt.
By no means certain, but I’d imagine Emory students (for example) would come out cheaper or about the same price by splitting one of these rather than living on campus.
Good point. I forgot about roommates. Yeah, one roommate in each bedroom and another in the living room with a curtain probably makes it reasonable for young adults starting out.
A quality PhD program in the sciences at Emory pays a stipend of about $28K/year (e.g., the Neuroscience program I am familiar with). I paid $400/month rent living by myself 20+ years ago when I was in grad school with a $13K/year stipend. So yes, I think 2 roommates could split $1600. And they could bike or ride the Cliff shuttle every day. I go to Emory 2-3 days/month and I wish I commuted there more often from Decatur, too
And as long as they are in grad school, debt is typically deferred, or interest only payments. Speaking from experience …
So we may soon be overrun by [GASP!], GRAD STUDENTS?!? That’s it, build the moat!!!
In NYC, rule of thumb is that you should earn at least 40 times your monthly rent, so, at minimum, you’d need to earn 64k.
I’d imagine the multiple might be lower in Atlanta, but 50,000 still seems low.
Um, does that apply to mortgage payments?
No. Houses have different carrying costs – an apartment dweller doesn’t have to repair the roof and pays lower insurance. Also, mortgage payments are tax deductible.
I’m sure there’s a rule of thumb for mortgages, but I don’t know it.
Just the interest is deductible, not the entire payment.
I think the ratio banks use in underwriting mortgages is 28% of gross monthly income. They also use a “back end” ration of about 40%, meaning they don’t want house + other debt payments to exceed 40% of gross monthly income, as a general matter.
The crazy thing is that apartment rental guidelines for finances is actually tougher than that for buyers, or at least it was pre-2007.
Rule of thumb for renters is income should exceed 3x monthly rent, so you would need to earn $32k to $58k annual income.
This is great. Surface parking lots that large should have never been created in urban areas. With all of these new condo and apartment buildings slated to go up around downtown, Decatur’s built environment might begin to resemble an actual city.
So how does the increased residential gel with the currently upside down commercial/residential tax base we have? Does a large apt building pay a commercial tax rate, rather than residential?
Yes.
So what’s an estimate on how much a property like this would pay in property taxes? Is it based on number of units, value, or what?
It could be based on the value of the entire property and constructed improvements or it could be based on the income and rents collected, but I think that is more typical for true commercial/retail/office properties.
The value of the new construction should be included on permit forms, which the assessor can access, among other valuation criteria.
I think the revenue benefit is that the property owner cannot claim a “homestead exemption” which almost doubles the property taxes.
But these are apartments, not condos. So the residents wouldn’t be in the mix for homestead exemption and neither would the developer since they wouldn’t essentially be building a commercial structure.
Rival – I was replying to Steve’s “yes” comment. “Commercial” is a zoning designation, not a different taxing level. Taxes are based on property value. While it is true that commercial properties tend to be valued higher ( due to location and higher building costs ) having a commercial designation doesn’t force higher millage rates .The benefit of apartments over condos is that property owners cannot claim a homestead exemption – and thus the taxes on the property are vastly higher than when those ( or other ) exemptions can be taken.
Forget the school system…I’m never going to be able to get a table at Brick Store now!!!
This is great. If I were an Emory grad student I’d want to live in downtown Decatur. Plus, proximity to MARTA would make this convenient for lots of young professionals too.
Hopefully this will go a long way towards having more foot traffic- should be great for businesses downtown.
Wow 4 new apartment complexes all going up at the same time. Maybe with the increase in tax base we can get a break on millage! Wishful thinking, I know.
Beer and more Emoroids. What could possibly go wrong?