Plans Announced for Proposed Bemiston Place
Friends,
On Monday evening September 14th, a virtual public meeting was held to present to Clayton Citizens the plans for the newly proposed Bemiston Place. As you may recall, this public meeting is now required in Clayton as a result of recommendations made by your CCBA board to the City Development Authorities.
The developer, Balke, Brown and Transwestern, of the newly proposed residential project in downtown Clayton presented plans for their $85 million project called Bemiston Place, located between Bemiston, Maryland and Central. Some may remember this site for a proposed high-rise condo tower that was rejected by the City's Architectural Review Board last year. Bemiston Place is a new project proposed by a different developer. It is much more modest in scale, only 6-7 stories, comparable to the Ceylon building on the west side of Central.
It will consist of 242 rental units and will retain retail units along Central. The developer hopes to attract an 'anchor' restaurant at the corner of Central and Maryland. Bemiston Place also differs from the previous project in that it will retain the historic Shanley building at the corner of Bemiston and Maryland. The residential building will include three levels of private parking for residents with access only from the alley on the south side. The building will be setback six feet along Maryland to make it more attractive for pedestrians.
The developer pointed out tax subsidies will not be needed for the project. It will be privately financed, and the developer will retain control of the building after it is completed. Their plan is to gain City approval by January 2021 with the demolition of existing buildings to start next fall. The project will take two years to complete.
In addition a few take away notes follow:
·Main architect is Frank Andre' with HCM out of Baltimore.
·The Shanley building will be renovated to provide office space that may be rented by residents of Bemiston Place. It will have several office spaces and a conference room.
·The units will consist of 1 bedroom junior suites, as well as 1 and 2 bedroom units. All will include full appliances and washer/drier.
· There will be a 3rd floor inner outdoor courtyard with amenities of a pool, grills and lounging area. This area will be closed down at 10:00 pm.
· A common area of a lounge, gym, yoga room, etc. will be next to the courtyard.
· In response to COVID, each unit will have a home “work space”, there will be touchless elevators, enhanced air filtering and mechanical systems and garbage chutes on each floor that go to a garbage area where trash will be compacted.
·Parking lot entrance/exit, trash pick up, deliveries and move in/out will all occur from the alley.
·Exterior lighting will be low light so as not to disturb neighbors.
·Right now, rents will range from $1,700 to $3,500/month with average rent of $2,200/month. Steve Brown anticipates rents may go up as demand increases.
·Pets will be accepted on a case by case basis.
·Demolition and construction to be completed by Holland Construction.
The notes presented above were prepared by members of the CCBA Board of Directors who attended this meeting. For more information please go to the website for the development www.bemistonplace.com.
Best personal regards,
Brian Kinman, CCBA President