A five-story multi-building development proposed in Italian Village back in August has undergone some significant design changes over the past several months. The updated proposal was presented to the Italian Village Commission on Tuesday night, showing a height reduction of the main building to four stories, and a design refresh that shed a bolder color pallet for something a bit more subdued.
Local developer Chad Seiber presented the project — dubbed “The Christopher” — which was met with a wide range of opinions from the individual commission members.
“I’ve not been in favor of this from the beginning,” said Commissioner Rex Hagerling, referring to the massing and orientation of the building. “It doesn’t represent the block or the rhythm of street, although the design is big improvement.”
Italian Village Commission member Josh Lapp was more warm to the idea of demolishing the rear Exile building while retaining the facade of the front building in the new design.
“I think the brick piece is significant and retains character while the rear portion has been significantly altered,” he explained. “The townhomes appear to be appropriate, and the details of those can be further looked at.”
With the height reduction of the main building also comes the loss of some of the originally planned retail space. The ground floor has been reduced to a single 895 square foot retail bay, while the rest of that floor is now proposed as apartment units. A 30-space parking lot would be constructed behind the main building, accessed from the existing alley, which would run between the apartments and the townhomes.
Despite the mixed feedback, Seiber remains optimistic that the project is on track to move forward soon.
“We had a great meeting this week, and the project is getting very close to a full approval,” he concluded.
