The Richmond Heights City Council Monday night (Feb. 1) gave final approval to a rezoning request and development plan for the Residences at Boland Place luxury apartment complex on the former site of the A.B. Green School and Richmond Heights Church of God and Christ.
Developer Joe Cyr assured council members the three-story, $34 million building, at the intersection of Boland Place and Dale Avenue, will become a “legacy asset” attracting a new breed of affluent “renters by choice” to Richmond Heights and ultimately spurring additional high-end real estate developments in the city.
However, as during recent hearings on the project, a majority of the approximately 100 area residents who turned out for Monday night’s council meeting at the Heights expressed objections, citing the size of the complex as well as potential traffic congestion and parking problems.
The development proposal reviewed and ultimately approved at the meeting essentially represented a fourth generation of revised and scaled-back plans for the building, developed through extensive consultations with area residents to address concerns, Cyr said.
In final form, the development plan calls for:
- 187 apartment units – compared to an originally proposed 213,
- A maximum building height of 52 feet – down from 62 feet in the original plans – along Dale Ave. and 32 to 42 feet along Boland.
- Almost 400 onsite parking spaces – or about 1.8 per unit, and
- An approximately one-fifth acre greenspace at the north end of the complex available for use by local residents.
The greenspace was made possible by an overall 10 percent reduction in the building footprint, resulting from the reduction in dwelling units, Cyr said.
That reduction also allowed for a greater building setback along Boland, Cyr said.
See also: Plan for “Ritz-Carlton” grade apartments continues to raise ire in second public hearing, Richmond Heights plan & zoning OKs multi-family proposal
Approval of the rezoning for the development, from R-5 Residential to Planned Development, was approved by the city council on an 8-1 vote, with Mayor James Beck casting the lone dissenting vote.
“I still think this is a little big for the space,” Beck said, adding, “I will try very hard to make this work for everyone.” With that stated, Beck joined the council in approving the development plan for the apartment complex unanimously.
This is great news! I think this will be very good for the area. Seems like a lot of older people are opposed to change, no matter how beneficial it is. Must be a generational thing.
It’s super that you’re happy about the news, but that’s a really rude generalization about an entire age range. I’m chalking it up to the tendency of an individual.
My home will be on the market soon. Thank you to the mayor and city council for forcing me out of my house. This is NOT the Richmond Heights I moved to.
If your home will be on the market soon you can expect to get a lot more out of it thanks to developments like this. This area of Dale Ave needs improvement like this. Looking forward to more improvements to the area!
I am sure that the vacant school and deteriorating church added value to your home. This is a no brainier , its a win for both the city and the school district
This is awesome! So happy to see this past.