AgdaPkt 2012-05-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7.A. - Page 6 The massing plan places the greatest emphasis at the office building, which is between Jefferson and Theatre Way. The project then steps down slightly and presents a smaller, although substantial, mass at Depot Circle. Neither structure is significantly set back from the railroad. The office tower is in an "L" shape which wraps the private parcels at the corner of Middlefield and Jefferson. The structure is set back 10 feet from these parcels, and the facades facing these property lines are treated architecturally the same as the other facades. Parkinq Strateqy The project is parked at a ratio of 3 stalls per 1,000 square feet of commercial space. This meets the Plan's minimum requirement for such uses, provided that all of the parking is shared and available to the general public on evenings and weekends. While the parking occupies a large share of the building space, it all appears to be wrapped by active uses or otherwise handled appropriately architecturally. The residential uses are parked at a ratio of 1 stall per unit, which is slightly below the minimum requirement. While this is sufficient for the one-bedroom units, the two- bedroom units are required to be parked at a ratio of 1.5 stalls per unit. The Plan allows for a reduction in the residential parking requirement if it can be demonstrated that the project will be operated in a manner justifying a lower parking ratio. Such evidence is not provided in the proposal. The hotel must share some of the office parking, or pay an in-lieu fee, in order to satisfy its parking requirement. The parking garage is well screened. The portion of the ground floor that abuts the sidewalk has multiple entrances accessing a various retail establishments, which is called for in the Plan in order to generate sidewalk activity. Financial Assessment Lowe Enterprises provided a 55-year lease option for Block 2. Lease terms were not specified for the Winslow Lot. The details of a lease agreement, if directed by the City Council, will be included in a Disposition and Development Agreement, should Lowe Enterprises be selected. The purchase offer for the Block 2 parcel is within the range as appraised for the City by Fabro Moore Associates, in August of 2011. The proposal also allocates substantial developer funds towards off-site improvements. The final distribution of these funds between specific Depot Circle improvements and other public improvements, including curb, gutter, sidewalk, street trees, street lighting, will be included in a Disposition and Development Agreement, should it be selected. As part of their proposal, Lowe included an economic analysis by Sedway Consulting. The analysis asserts that local retail spending generated by the residents, employees, and hotel guests of the project could result in as much as $12 million in annual retail spending in Redwood City. This would translate to about $109,000 in sales tax