Franklinton has been a hotspot for development announcements over the past several years, and that trend continues today, with new plans proposing a five-story mixed-use apartment building on Broad Street in the heart of the neighborhood. The project will be the first in Franklinton from Kaufman Development, which has primarily focused their urban development efforts more centrally Downtown.
“We’ve been following the neighborhood for many years now and getting involved in what’s happening there through the Franklinton Development Association, Independents’ Day and through a variety of our other friends that are active in the community,” explained Kaufman Development founder Brett Kaufman. “We really relate to the neighborhood and feel like we can do something really unique and special there — different from any other part of the city.”
Most noticeably, the proposal showcases an architectural style that is even more contemporary than Kaufman’s Downtown buildings, bringing a very funky and artistic edge to the design. Architectural firm NBBJ is behind the design, which Kaufman described as “eclectic” and “heavily based in the creative and artist communities”.
“I think it does have an urban downtown sensibility, but with a more specific point of view, which feels like Franklinton,” he added.
While rental prices continue to rise rapidly all around the region, Franklinton has been looked to by many as a place where affordability can potentially be found in both new and refurbished housing stock. Kaufman said a portion of the apartments in this project are slated to fall into the “workforce housing” guidelines, both in terms of more affordable pricing and smaller sizes.
“Our intention to have affordable units in this building, and not an insignificant amount,” he stated. “At the same time, some of the units will fall into more typical sizes and rents that are comparable to Downtown.”
The new building would replace the single-story National Office Warehouse at 500 West Broad Street, and replace it with a five-story structure. The building would contain 241 apartments, 50,000 square feet of commercial and office space, and 30,000 square feet of retail and amenity space.
“We expect there to be numerous features that we intend to mix public and private use of space, allowing the project to engage the community while also creating a unique work/live experience for our office users and residents,” said Kaufman. “These are likely to include indoor/outdoor fitness, public art, a dog park, a community garden, roof top garden and more.”
Additional amenities could include outdoor graffiti & murals walls, and outdoor movie screen, an art gallery space, co-working space, a food truck court, shipping container food incubators, a climbing wall, an event space, multiple restaurants, a coffee shop and a juice bar.
The building would accomodate parking with an approximately 560-space garage on the northwest corner of the site.
Kaufman’s proposal will be reviewed by the Franklinton Area Commission at their June 21st meeting. Kaufman said that they hope to navigate the commission process over the course of the next several months with plans to break ground before the end of the year.
For more information, visit www.livekaufman.com.
Renderings by NBBJ.
