South City Partners has closed on the 3.17-acre parcel on East College Avenue, between Hillyer Street and Sams Crossing, where it’s planning a mixed-use development. The first order of business is demolishing three buildings. A bulldozer was already on site this week.
City Manager Clai Brown said the developer wants to complete demolition and grading before holding an official groundbreaking ceremony, which he thinks will happen in the next 30 to 45 days.
The project includes 197 apartments, 8,000 square feet of retail/restaurant and one acre of open space that will be developed as a “gateway park”—the development’s on the city’s extreme western boundary. Construction is expected to last 18 months.
City officials hope this spurs development throughout the downtown business district. Mayor Jonathan Elmore calls this “one of our two catalyst sites,” the other being 13 acres comprising the old Fenner Dunlop site north of the city.
The land was purchased from Joe Gargiulo after nearly 1½ years of negotiations. Gargiulo still owns five acres close to the South City site.
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