According to a “first draft” concept presented by Homeport to the neighborhood last month, the old Barrett Middle School in Merion Village could be converted into a 50-unit apartment building, with another 100 new units built on the grounds of the former school.
After first unveiling the project at a neighborhood meeting in July, the community development organization came back with a plan that re-establishes the street grid and adds a mix of apartment buildings and two-story condo buildings.
Ethan Nielson of Homeport said that the plan for the site at this point is still very preliminary. They decided to share the initial renderings both at the meeting and on the project website in order to solicit reactions from the neighborhood.
“We wanted to provide additional opportunities for feedback,” said Nielson, “The plan could change substantially over the next few months.”
The plan as presented calls for demolishing the 1950’s-era addition to the school, putting four three-story buildings with eight units each at the corner of Deshler and Thurman Avenues, and building four rows of smaller condo buildings on the eastern half of the site. The condos would be similar in scale to surrounding single-family houses.
According to the minutes from the October 9th meeting, Homeport plans to meet or go beyond the 1.5 parking spaces per unit required by code, with a larger lot for the Barrett units placed behind the new apartment buildings.
For additional discussion on the redevelopment of Barrett, CLICK HERE to visit our Messageboard.
More information is available online at www.barrettredevelopment.com.
Renderings by Sullivan Bruck Architects.
