In an article included in the March issue of the Decatur Focus, city staff recount how “History has shown us that development in Decatur comes in short bursts followed by lulls with little to no development.”  The article goes on to detail the various spurts of commercial development over the last 50+ years, before addressing current development projects…

Now after a five-year quiet period, we find ourselves in another development cycle that has folks asking the age-old question referenced in the first sentence above. Yes, there are several projects coming on line over the next few years. Many of these projects were in progress before the great recession hit and are coming back to life as access to financing returns. The 315 West Ponce apartment development is currently underway. Other apartment developments have been approved behind the Fidelity building and on the Trinity Triangle parcel between Dairy Queen and Twain’s. Like the condominium developments in the previous decade, the apartment developments are responding to a big hole in our housing market. The majority of these developments will be one-bedroom with some two-bedroom units and efficiency units included in the mix. Only a very few three-bedroom units are planned in one of these buildings. The primary market for these apartments is young professionals in an age group and income bracket that is finding the road to homeownership much more difficult these days.

It is interesting to point out that during the 1970s our city used a number of creative development options to provide different types of alternative housing in and around single-family neighborhoods. Townhouse developments along the eastern edge of Commerce Drive and in the area of Sycamore Drive provided a transition zone between single-family neighborhoods. Cutting-edge cluster home developments like Charter Square on W. Trinity Place and Wimberly Court off of Upland Road were successfully developed along with similar projects on Pinetree Drive and throughout other Decatur neighborhoods.

For the first time, a type of home ownership other than traditional single-family was possible in our city. New neighborhood developments like Swanton Heights, Rosewalk and Sycamore Ridge continued this trend in the 1990s. Although each of these developments was initially met with public skepticism they continue to be populated with some of our most active and supportive residents just as we found with the mid-rise condominiums constructed. We expect the same experience with the apartment units that will soon join our housing mix. These new residents are attracted to the Decatur lifestyle and will bring a younger demographic to help balance our diversity.

Wow.

Kyle sends in this article from Fulton County’s Daily Report detailing a lawsuit that residents at Decatur’s downtown Artisan condo have filed against the property’s developer, general contractors, four sub-contractors and vendors over a number of “alleged construction defects.”

What sort of defects?

The association claims the building is plagued with leaking, cracking stucco; failed waterproofing barriers; problems with the rooftop swimming pool and a system meant to pipe out water leaking into its liner; poorly installed and constructed windows; and several other problems.

The article goes on to detail some of the biggest complaints from residents and has quotes from attorneys on both sides of the issue.  In closing, the plaintiffs’ lawyer notes that the Artisan “is a great community and these are correctable problems. It’s just a matter of who’s going to pay for it”

In case you can’t wait for the hard copy, the May Decatur Focus is now online.

As is often the case, the must-read section this month is Lyn’s “Focus on Downtown Development.”  This month she answers some of the most common questions heard from residents lately.

One of those questions addresses something we’ve been batting around here for months.

Q: Aren’t all of these multi-family developments generating a lot of children that will over-burden the school system?

A: Of the more than 600 new units built in downtown, fewer than six house children. [emphasis mine] More than 60 percent of the residents in these units are empty-nesters and the remaining 40 percent are primarily young professionals. Households with school-aged children are generally drawn to single family housing and Decatur hasn’t added a significant number of single family units since the development of the Sycamore Ridge subdivision in the early 1990s.

In 1970, national figures showed that 44 percent of all households had children and only 17 percent of them were singleperson households. In 2006, roughly 35 percent of American households had children while 26 percent were single-person households. In Decatur, only 25 percent of our households have school-aged children. Baby Boomers will continue to drive the housing market for the foreseeable future and they are opting for smaller housing units in an urban setting. We believe this will continue to support the condominium market, which provides signifi cant tax revenue for school operations without adding to the student population.

Wow.  Apparently the yard is as important a feature for Fido as it is for little Sally.

Click over to page 2 of The Focus to read the rest of Lyn’s FAQ.

Scott sends in this photo of scaffolding on the backside of the Renaissance condos and wonders if the building is already replacing its EIFS within just a few years of construction.

Can anyone fill us in?  Maybe we should try out the new construction inquiry form on the city’s website!

Aimee writes in with news about the nearly year-old Decatur Condo Alliance that meets monthly to share ideas and provide mutual support on all things condo. As Aimee tells it, the Alliance is currently made up of residents from the big 7 midrise condos in Decatur, but will soon be opening its doors to all types of condo owners around the city.

A few more details from Aimee…

Beginning with our Thursday, September 11th meeting, we are opening the membership to any condo resident of whatever type of condo complex – including town homes, who is interested to find out what we are doing and to help to shape our conversations and activities.

The Sept. 11th meeting will be held at the Decatur Rec Center at 7pm.

Maybe if we created a “Decatur Neighborhood Alliance” we could then take out any pent up animosity towards each other in competitive, citywide games of Capture the Flag!

“I hate your smug density!” “I hate your self-righteous yard signs!”

(Actually, in all seriousness…that sounds really fun)

…but it doesn’t seem all that dense in comparison.

Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne has crunched a lot of numbers for us and compares the 315 W. Ponce project with other well-known past Decatur condos in terms of scale and density.

• 335 W. Ponce – 70 units- This site is exactly one acre. Density is 70 units per acre and abuts the R-60 zone.

• Artisan Phase I – 77 units – Phase I and II are both located on the same 1.9 acre tract. This tract was zoned for 70/acre, and with the 20% density bonus for affordable units the total approved unit count was 162 which works out to about 85 units per acre with the density bonus. The demand for larger units resulted in smaller units being combined so the final product is about 77 units instead of 105 units in Phase I and about 50 units in Phase II instead of 57 bringing the total to 127. The final density of the project as developed is around 67 units per acre. While the number of units did decrease, the size and scale of the building remained unchanged.

• Artisan Phase II – 50 units – Same as above

• Decatur Renaissance – 168 units – Harold A. Dawson/Lane developed this 2.67 acre site. The City calculated the site including the existing office building and parking deck associated because it was considered one site — similar situation to the 315 W. Ponce project. It works out to 63 units per acre. The height variance was important to us because it was so close to the out of scale office building and we wanted to blend the height difference to help “hide” the earlier grandfathered structure. Because it fronted Ponce we had the ability to encourage the taller structure.

• Townsquare Condos – 105 units – Developed by Ultima Properties with 105 units on 1.9 acres. As built, it is 58 units per acre but the property is zoned for 70 units per acre. This project was originally approved for more units and therefore a higher density but they ended up combining some smaller units into larger units to respond to market demand so the unit count went down to 105. While the total unit count went down, the size/scale of the building remained the same.

• Although the 315 W. Ponce site is zoned for 70 units per acre, the developer isn’t close to that density. The site is 4.9 acres so the project is actually closer to 44 units per acre making it less dense than every example above.

Geez…I didn’t realize the site was so much larger than the Artisan’s!  But if I think back to that large, grassy, fenced parking lot…it actually begins to make sense.

The condo development along Hillyer that prompted the creation of the Old Decatur Historic District a couple years back seems to have been scrapped by its current owner.

After months of back and forth with the neighborhood and HPC, this project was all but ready to begin last fall. Now, the softening of the real estate market seems to have scared the developer off completely.