At the May WECA board meeting, KSI presented their plans for redeveloping the Bank of America Building at the northeast corner of Beall and North Washington. The preliminary development plan (PDP) was approved in 2004. The PDP included 325 dwelling units and 5,000+ square feet of commercial space.
KSI has now provided further details. The current plan is a U-shaped building with the following heights:
- 25 feet high along North Washington.
- Units along North Washington will be two stories tall and 15-20 feet deep. There will be eight 1,200 square foot, two-story "live/work" units.
- 75 feet high behind this.
- 85 feet to 100 feet high on the side towards Maryland Avenue.
91 feet is approximately ten stories.
By comparison, Town Center heights will be in the range of 65 to 85 feet and the current Bank of America Building is approximately 60 feet in height.
The number of dwelling units has been reduced to 290 units.
Parking for the entire building will be underground, with two entrances. The main entrance will be from a new road to be built to the north of the building. A second entrance for visitors and retail shoppers will be off of Beall.
KSI has agreed to provide $73,000 to the City for traffic calming and studies in the West End neighborhood, plus an additional five projects or $110,000 to discourage cut-through traffic.
The proposed traffic calming currently under consideration are:
- Entrance /gateway to Beall
- Improved crosswalks at Mannakee Circle
- Sidewalks on Beall from North Adams to North Van Buren, if there is any money left over.
