Aspen Ridge re-envisioned as student housing
Posted on Sunday, December 30, 2007
The most recent plan for Aspen Ridge, an unfinished development along Sixth Street and Hill Avenue, is to make it student housing.
A meeting of neighbors and new developers is scheduled for 10 a. m. Jan. 12 at Hill Street Church of Christ.
Hank Broyles, the developer who reacquired the large scale subdivision earlier this year, said Friday he has the property under contract with Place Properties of Atlanta, to build and manage student housing at the site.
“ They have the wherewithal to take this thing through fruition, ” Broyles said.
He said the Atlanta company specializes in student housing and will manage the property after it is built.
Broyles said documents for a new planned zoning district will be filed with the city. The new plan for Aspen Ridge would reduce the number of buildings from 39 to either 19 or 20. However, the buildings will be bigger, Broyles said.
He anticipates about one acre less of impervious surface with the new design.
“ They’re increasing the density but actually decreasing the footprint, ” Brenda Thiel, the Ward 1 Alderman who has responded to neighbor complaints about stormwater runoff on the project in the past, said.
All of the water features — the riparian zone around the creek and the green areas for tree planting — will stay.
“ It’s all pretty much the same features. Hopefully, just a little bit less impervious surface, ” Broyles said. “ I think it’s going to be a great solution for a big problem that the city has in that area. ”
Another change is the possibility of converting a pedestrian bridge to a street, allowing a better traffic pattern.
As originally planned, Aspen Ridge was to bring 220 townhouses to the area by the spring of 2006. Disputes between the owner and construction company combined with financial difficulty left the property vacant although streets and sewers were built.
“ I certainly don’t think anyone wants to see it sit there like it is now, ” Thiel said.
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