Trittenbach Construction proposing precedent-setting projects
The Odle family has been busy.
Nathan, Jon and Bruce Odle seem to be the most active developers in Columbia. The family behind Trittenbach Construction has three projects in the works. Two would provide apartments for hundreds more downtown residents, and the third project could set a significant precedent for the city’s development policies.
Trittenbach was in the headlines two weeks ago when they requested commercial zoning for property they bought at College Avenue and Walnut Street. The company plans to build a four-story apartment building that would house as many as 300 tenants and have offices and retail space on the ground floor. It’s similar to the one the company designed for 10th and Locust streets that was later scaled down and completed last August.
The Planning and Zoning commission voted 4-3 to recommend the City Council reject the zoning.
Meanwhile, the company submitted plans to the city late last year for a four-story, 65,000-square-foot apartment building on 10th Street, right next to its existing 16-unit complex at 10th and Locust. Building plans call for 36 two- and four-bedroom apartment units, and a sign on the property says construction will be complete by August, just in time for MU’s fall semester. The building permit value is estimated at $3 million.
The Odles projects downtown are part of an uptick in development in the central city, Columbia Development Services Manager Pat Zenner said.
“We’re getting a significant amount of interest in the downtown area to facilitate a more active downtown,” he said.
In the past several years, the Odles have been investing more into new apartment complexes, a market that held up well during the recession. Last year, they wrapped up work at the Brookside Townhomes complex in south Columbia as well as Brookside Downtown at 10th and Locust, both of which cater to college students.
The newest project on 10th Street would finally upgrade the land to a higher use. It’s not quite as ambitious as plans for the site proposed before the recession by the former property owner, dentist Lynn Miller. But it’s a step up from what was there: Miller’s former, unoccupied office and a surface parking lot.
Miller wanted to build a four-story, mixed-use development, with underground parking, first-floor retail and offices and apartments on the upper floors. He purchased the surface parking lot on the site from the city in 2008, but his plans never materialized.
In May, Nathan and Jon Odle purchased the property from Lynn and Jacqueline Miller, according to a deed filed with the Boone County Recorder’s Office. In November, Walnut Brook LLC, listing Bruce Odle as the agent, took out a $5.7 million construction loan on the property. Because the tracts are already zoned C-2, or open commercial, building plans need only be approved by Columbia Building and Site Development.
The District Executive Director Carrie Gartner said she’s excited that plans are finally moving forward on the former Miller tracts and noted that the District has “looked at 10th Street as a more residential street.”
“It’s infill development, which is great,” she said. “Taking a parking lot and building on it, that’s the way to grow downtown.”
The Odles’ rezoning request for their project on College and Walnut will be looked at by the Council at its Feb. 7 meeting. Although it garnered a negative vote, city planners had recommended approval, and most commissioners were supportive of the concept as well as the goal of building more places to live downtown.
The commissioners took issue with some details, primarily the requested C-2 zoning — open commercial — which allows a developer to build without having his or her plans vetted by the commission and Council, and the plan’s differences from the downtown planning Charrette. The Charrette calls for a “variety” of living options downtown, with space for young professionals as well as students.
Commission Chairman David Brodsky, though, said the commission should be wary of discouraging development by “forcing developers into a box.” He has long been a supporter of downtown redevelopment, and he said the project was a step in the right direction even if it wasn’t exactly what some of the planning documents might have envisioned.
“Is this project perfect?” Brodsky asked. “Does it meet the Charrette 100 percent? Probably not. But in order to really get things going downtown, there’s going to have to be some give and take.”
Although there has been increasing interest in luring more young professionals to downtown apartments, Gartner said every resident helps.
“I trust that people look at the market and make decisions based on what the market can handle,” she said. “I trust there’s more of a market for young professionals, but that doesn’t mean there’s not still a market for students.”
Medical office building planned
Even with those two buildings in the works, Trittenbach is tackling another big issue. Late last year, the company revived a 2007 project on Keene Street and Wingate Court, just north of where it built another medical office building.
Plans call for a 53,000-square-foot office building, though the developers are proposing to nix a multi-level parking garage they originally intended to build. Instead, they are proposing to build all surface parking — a path that would require changing the 2007 development agreement protecting a stand of trees on the site. In return, Trittenbach said it would preserve trees off-site. City staff already rejected one proposed wooded area near Grindstone Creek.
“We’ve thrown out some ideas, but nothing has stuck yet,” said the Odles’ engineer, Gene Hinshaw, president of Trabue, Hansen and Hinshaw Inc.
Allowing a tree preservation swap would set a substantial precedent for city development policy. Hinshaw said setting up such a policy could be beneficial to both sides and give developers some added flexibility.
The city has run out of “easy-to-develop areas,” so people are looking for ways to maximize their existing property, Zenner said. The path Trittenbach has indicated it is interested in moving down will likely be onerous, he said, and require Board of Adjustment Hearings, another P&Z hearing and another Council hearing.
“The only reason you would think something like this would come along is because you have a tenant,” Zenner said.
The Planning Department presented a report on the request to City Council Tuesday night and asked for direction. First Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz was skeptical of leaving too much discretion up to the developer.
“It just seems problematic that the developer would pick the tree preservation spot,” he said.
City staff has not developed an inventory of preferred preservation areas, and Sturtz suggested that a city commission develop a list of spots the city would like to keep undeveloped so that staff could use it for similar swaps.
City Manager Bill Watkins and 5th Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser said it would make more sense for the city to develop a policy on land preservation transfers rather than approving them on an ad hoc basis. The Council ended up directing staff to develop such a policy.
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said doing so could let the city save trees in areas it deemed more valuable.
“To my mind, there’s potential here,” she said.