Meetings regarding the Hood Campus will resume next Monday, Nov. 4, regarding the open space amenities and a small bicycle storage/service building next to the previously approved office building – a building that the developers hope to start construction on by the end of the year.
Mark Rosenshein said the meetings will largely be what he believes to be good news, in that they will be more aggressive in completing the open space and bicycle building before the office building – even though they are only required to have the open space done at the completion of the office building.
“What we’re hoping to do is actually accelerate this,” he said. “Both the building and the open space are required to be complete when we complete the office building. We hope to construct them in the spring and have them open in the Fall of 2020. Hopefully, it will be perceived as a positive benefit.”
The bicycle repair and storage building is a 3,900 square-foot building at 6 Stack St. next to the parking garage and the future office building – which is likely to be almost fully occupied by the Indigo Labs company, now located in Hood Park Campus.
The building would provide storage for more than 240 bicycles, but would also have a 1,000 square-foot shop in the front that offers services such as bike repairs, and possibly even skate, snowboard and ski service/repairs.
Meanwhile, the open space portion runs the length of the new Hood Park Drive – starting at the new apartment building and running all the way to the back of the Campus. It will be known as Stack Street Park.
It will have full landscaping, lots of open space, a water feature, a spray deck and other play areas. He said it is a public benefit and all are encouraged and welcome to use the area.
While it is much more minor than a tall office building, it still requires the same public process, he said. That includes public meetings and re-convening the Hood Impact Advisory Group (IAG).
“Even though it’s 3,000 square-feet, it’s a building on Hood Campus,” he said. “So, we have to go through the same process we do for the (larger buildings).”
The meeting will take place in the lobby of The Harvey, on Hood Park Drive, at 6 p.m. on Nov. 4.
•Beyond that, and probably bigger news on the Hood front, is the progress of the building permit for the Indigo office building at 10 Stack St. That building is likely to become the headquarters for the rapidly-growing Indigo Ag Labs, and it is slated to be 10 stories tall and have 350,300 square-feet of office/lab space with 149 parking spaces.
“We had hoped to have a building permit in hand right about now,” said Rosenshein. “We’re finalizing the cooperation agreement. The IAG received that agreement. We hope to execute that in the next couple of weeks. We would like to have a building permit for the office building by the end of the year…The next big step for us is to get that building permit and get the office building started. If we can get that started by the end of the year, that would be great.”
•The Harvey apartment building has officially opened and has tenants already moved in and living there. Bozzuto Management is handling the leasing and management, and Rosenshein said they are doing very well so far.
“We’re really pleased with how leasing is going for the Harvey,” he said. “Bozzuto is on or slightly ahead of their lease-up schedule.”
There are 171 living unites, and 23 of those units are affordable.
Meanwhile, the parking garage at 100 Hood Park Drive is scheduled for partial occupancy by the end of the year.
That means that parking will begin there in December. However, the retail and office space there will take more time to complete and lease up.