Right around Thanksgiving, we told you about a presentation for 33 residential units at the YWCA building at 1607 Catharine St., and the unfavorable response from the near neighbors. Last week, developers returned to SOSNA and made a modified presentation, which received nearly unanimous support from the community and the SOSNA Zoning Committee.

Current view

The reason for the change of heart from the community? The developer reached out to the organized group of neighbors, heard their concerns, and modified the plans to take some of those concerns into account. The number of units planned has shrunk from 33 to 28, with a unit for a building superintendant. With the removal of those units, the size of the remaining units will be greater. The original plan called for the demolition of a rear portion of the building, and the construction of a 68′ tall addition, but the revised plan cut that height to 60′. A communal roofdeck that neighbors feared would lead to noise and aggravation was removed from the plan. Sound buffering landscaping was promised in parts of the parking area that won’t fit cars.

In the future

In general, the entire room was supportive of the modified plan with the exception of one neighbor, who claimed he wasn’t notified about any of the neighbor meetings, and accused the developer of intentionally leaving him out of the conversation. He demanded additional shadow studies and complained that he would be losing his western views. It was shades of Point Breeze as he insisted that the vote be postponed because he wasn’t given proper notice and an opportunity to review the new plans himself prior to the meeting.

This is a great example of a conscientious developer doing everything possible to assuage neighbor concerns and improve a project as a result. Unfortunately, it’s also an example that no matter how much effort is put forth to reach out to near neighbors, people can sometime fall between the cracks and potentially submarine a project as a result.

The vote took place, the project was supported, and the gentleman in opposition griped about being disenfranchised. We suspect he’ll try to make his case at the ZBA, but will hopefully be unsuccessful- this is a thoughtful adaptive reuse of an attractive building that really should go through. It’s been sitting vacant for too long, and its revival will bring more life to a block that could definitely use it.