Planning Services Public Advisory Committee

Town of Wolfville
Community Development Committee
Thursday, September 20, 2012
7:00pm
Council Chambers, Town Hall
359 Main Street
Agenda
1. Approval of the Agenda
2. Approval of the Minutes of August 30, 2012
3. Public Information Meeting – Development Agreement Proposal
Commercial/Residential Development at 336 Main Street
4. Kings 2050 Workshop
5. Question Period
6. Adjournment
Minutes, Reports, and Memos are available by contacting:
Town of Wolfville Planning Office, 200 Dykeland Street, Wolfville, NS
902-542-3718
Town of Wolfville
359 Main Street, Wolfville, NS, B4P 1A1
Memorandum
To:
From:
Date:
Re:
Community Development Committee
Gregg Morrison, Director of Planning
September 14, 2012
336 Main Street Development Proposal
This property and building in the business area has been vacant for some time. It operated
most recently as an outdoor equipment supply and maintenance facility, and prior to that
housed the Home Hardware store for many years.
It has recently been purchased by Micro Boutique Living Wolfville Incorporated who
propose to demolish the existing building and construct a new commercial/residential
development. A description of the development proposal is included in the submission from
the developer attached to this memo. Additional conceptual drawings will be provided to
the Community Development Committee (CDC) prior to the September 20th committee
meeting.
The development will require approval by development agreement as per policy 9.2.4 of the
Municipal Planning Strategy. A Public Information Meeting will be held at the September
20, 2012 CDC meeting.
Proposed Micro Loft Development
336 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
What is Micro Boutique Living?
Micro Boutique Living is an exciting, new approach to creating compact living spaces right in the
heart of downtown. Our Micro Boutique Lofts combine cutting-edge design with out-of-the-box
thinking to craft elegant, high-end accommodation that is minimal yet highly functional. The result
is a compact jewel of a space that has everything our tenants need, exactly where and when they
need it.
The location of our proposed Micro Boutique Living development at 336 Main Street is central to
the whole concept, with ‘central’ being the key operative word. Our tenants will primarily be
university students and young professionals, some young couples, single seniors and few mid
thirty/forty singles. Instead of a conventional, out-of-the-way apartment or crowded, shared
accommodation, our tenants choose to be right in the heart of downtown, within walking distance
to everything they need to live, work and play. They value stylish, compact living arrangements
over bigger, bland spaces; quiet, individual accommodation over shared, noisy environments;
modern, custom-built fixtures and furniture over run-down, second rate “student digs”.
All our Micro Lofts come with fully equipped kitchens complete with granite counters and stainless
steel appliances; modern bistro-style tables and chairs; chic bathrooms with massage showers;
super-comfortable queen Murphy beds; loveseats with clever storage; full desk/storage units; floorto-ceiling wardrobes and shelving units – there's a place for everything and everything's in its
place. All our Lofts will also have a generous private balcony or terrace and full access to our
green rooftop patio and retail stores.
Proposed Micro Boutique Loft Development
The proposed new Micro Loft project would be located at 336 Main Street, currently the site of a
tired and structurally questionable building.
We are proposing to replace the existing structure with a new retail and residential building,
encompassing around 4000 sq.ft of commercial space and 65+ Micro Lofts. Each Loft would be
approximately 250-300 sq.ft with all the amenities described above. The building would feature a
number of common areas such as a Great Room, laundry facilities, bicycle racks, tenant storage
etc. It would also feature a 3000 sq.ft., state-of-the-art, green grass roof and patio which would be
fully accessible to our tenants, offering them unparalleled green space and a majestic view of the
Minas Basin and of beautiful downtown Wolfville.
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Benefits of our Micro Loft Development for the Town of Wolfville
Our proposed development will bring a series of benefits to both the Town and its residents.
Below are some of the key positive outcomes that we envision.
Continued Revitalization of Wolfville’s Eastern Downtown Core
Micro Boutique Living allows for a large number of residents to live right downtown - our proposed
Micro Loft development will practically double the amount of rental accommodation available right
on Main St. As city planners all over the world have come to realize, the best way to keep one’s
downtown alive is to have people living right in the heart of it: shopping in Main Street stores,
eating in Main Street restaurants, socializing in Main Street cafes and buying what they need right
on Main Street. Adding around 80 or so new year-round residents to the downtown core - yes, we
have couples who share a Micro Loft! - will be a significant boost to Main Street businesses and
the health and viability of Wolfville’s beautiful downtown. It will also beautifully complement the
new Pete’s complex that’s virtually next door and continue to further revitalize the eastern section
of downtown Wolfville.
Renovation of Decrepit Downtown Property
In and of themselves, pure retail developments on Main Street are often not financially viable.
Likewise, the demand for office space is often not sufficient to warrant major new development.
Only when combined with high density residential development does the office/retail business case
become viable. This is certainly the situation with the redevelopment of 336 Main St - the income
stream from the residential units will finance (and actually subsidizes) the commercial
redevelopment. Without a major residential component the site would remain as a tired, secondtier commercial building with very little further investment added.
Reducing the Demand for Problematic Shared Accommodation
One of the biggest problems facing all university towns comes from shared student dwellings. Due
to the intense demand for rental accommodations, a small number of landlords take advantage of
the situation to cram large numbers of students into family homes located in residential areas.
They typically charge individual rents of $400-$500 a month per tenant. It is not uncommon that a
3-4 bedroom family home turns into a 6-7 bedroom shared dwelling unit as dining rooms, dens and
basements get turned into extra sleeping quarters. The result is well known to both Town officials
and local police: noisy house parties, regular disturbances of neighbours and the occasional
trashing of a property.
The rent for our Micro Boutique Lofts ranges from $575 to $700/month. The increase needed to
go from crowded, low-grade, shared accommodation to one’s own individual, state-of-the art Micro
Boutique Loft is relatively small. As such our proposed development can be expected to pull a
considerable number of tenants out of rooming house accommodation - precisely what has already
happened with our existing Micro Loft building in Antigonish. Our proposed Wolfville Micro Loft
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development will have a similar dynamic that would drive down the income from such rooming
house tenements. This ultimately reduces their supply and the problems and headaches that go
with them.
Reduction in the Overall Demand for Downtown Parking
It may seem counter intuitive to propose that placing a high-density residential building downtown
could actually reduce the parking demand on Main St; however, based on our experience in
Antigonish, that seems, indeed, to be the case.
It may come as a surprise but the vast majority of our tenants in our Antigonish location do not
have a vehicle - out of our current 35 Micro Loft tenants only 5 residents have asked for parking.
We understand that most of the remaining tenants have eschewed the use of a vehicle during their
tenancy, in large part due to the central downtown location of their Micro Boutique Loft. If these
same tenants had not been given the opportunity to rent one of our Lofts then it is likely that a
number of them would have rented accommodation far enough from the central core that they
would have required a vehicle. As such, each time their vehicle were driven to town it would have
exacerbated the parking situation downtown.
Based on our experience in Antigonish we estimate that our tenants will need 10-12 parking
spaces and another 5 or so spaces for our commercial tenants. To be on the safe side we have
incorporated 20 on-site parking stalls into our design.
Though paradoxical, making it very attractive for renters to live downtown also makes it less likely
that they will need to have cars - thus reducing the overall demand for parking downtown. The
attached article highlights the forces that are pushing young students and professionals to eschew
cars - less than half now actually have driving licenses, a 50% reduction from previous decades in favour of downtown living. It also makes a strong case that mandating large number of parking
spots when they aren’t needed results in higher rents and less affordable rental housing.
Moreover, it forces tenants without vehicles to unfairly subsidize those with cars - surely the
precise opposite of what we should be encouraging!
Substantial Increase to Wolfville’s Tourist Accommodation Infrastructure
As may be imagined, our Micro Lofts can easily double up as beautiful, downtown overnight
accommodation. While our Lofts are usually leased out on a 12 month basis our model allows
those of our tenants who will be away during the summer months to sub-lease their unit back to
the Landlord. We then rent those spaces on a nightly or weekly basis as a self-serve “apart-hotel”.
This dual-use model has worked very well in Antigonish; our overnight guests love our Lofts and
their downtown location, the self-serve model and fact that they can cook and eat right in their own
space if they so wish.
Our development thus fits in very well with Wolfville’s new Economic Action Plan that specifically
targets increased tourism as one of its primary goals. Our development also helps to address one
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of the identified key weaknesses: a serious lack of high quality, reasonably priced, overnight
accommodation for tourists and travellers.
Expanded Town Tax Base and Increase in Local Economic Activity
Our proposed Micro Loft development will directly increase the Town’s property tax base by an
estimated $85,000 annually. Over a 25 year period the building it will add a further $3.2m to the
Town’s tax revenue (assuming a modest 3% annual increase in tax rates). In addition our
development will generate upwards of $4.5 million in direct spending during the construction phase
and an additional $9-13 million in multiplier spin-off spending. Local spending to operate and
maintain the property will exceed $120,000 annually, further adding to the positive on-going local
economic effects of the project.
Fit with Wolfville’s Vision
As outlined in the Town’s Vision Statement there are a number of key areas where our
proposed development fits perfectly with the Town’s vision. Our highly competitive rents for
fully furnished accommodation “fosters and supports affordable housing”. By making it possible
for people to live right downtown our development also supports “a healthy business sector and
a creative and adaptive economy”
Likewise, the extremely small environmental footprint of our Micro Lofts and the many advanced
sustainability initiatives (green roof, on-demand hot water heaters etc) helps to create a
community where “the natural environment is respected and protected... and where pollution is
reduced and solid waste production is minimized”. Lastly, our central downtown location will
further encourage “a community ... where people do not have to depend on the automobile.”
The Next Step
Currently, similar projects are springing up all over North America’s most dynamic cities
(Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Oakland, Boston, etc).
We look forward to working with the Town on finalizing a mutually beneficial Development
Agreement so Wolfville can join these world class jurisdictions and embrace the new vision
embodied in this leading-edge development.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Chris Galea
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Micro Boutique Living - Interior of Units
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MBL3 - WOLFVILLE N.S.
MACFADDENDESIGN
SITE
001
MAIN FLOOR PLAN
002
1ST FLOOR PLAN
003
2ND FLOOR PLAN
004
3RD FLOOR + ROOF DECK PLAN
005
FRONT + BACK ELEVATIONS
006
LEFT + RIGHT ELEVATIONS
007
RENDERINGS
008
INTERIORS
009
SEPTEMBER 16 2012
CONCEPT | NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION
MAIN STREET
BIKE PARKING
PROPOSED BUILDING
EXISTING PROPERTY BOUNDARY
BUILDING FOOTPRINT
MACFADDENDESIGN
SITE | 001
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
COMMERCIAL
PARKING
MACFADDENDESIGN
MAIN FLOOR PLAN | 002
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
COMMERCIAL (RAISED LEVEL)
MACFADDENDESIGN
1ST FLOOR PLAN | 003
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
W/D
COMMON AREA
STORAGE LOCKERS
MACFADDENDESIGN
2ND FLOOR PLAN | 004
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
GREEN ROOF DECK
MACFADDENDESIGN
3RD FLOOR + ROOF DECK PLAN | 005
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
FRONT ELEVATION
BACK ELEVATION
MACFADDENDESIGN
ELEVATIONS | 006
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
RIGHT ELEVATION
LEFT ELEVATION
MACFADDENDESIGN
ELEVATIONS | 007
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT
MACFADDENDESIGN
RENDERINGS | 008
MBL3 | MIXED USE | RESIDENTIAL | DESIGN CONCEPT