Morgan Management has only one final bureaucratic hurdle to
clear in its quest to build a 99-unit apartment complex at 933 University
Avenue, in the East Avenue Preservation District. The city’s Planning
Commission approved the project yesterday. Morgan now goes back to the
Preservation Board — which has already given the project its unofficial support
— for the final signoff.
The Planning Commission’s meeting was quick and anticlimactic,
given the controversy that has shadowed this project. The opposition, which is
led by the George Eastman House, says that the apartment building would be too
big, that it would disrupt the view from the historic Eastman property, and
that the complex is not permitted under the planned development district which
was created in 2011. They also cite potential parking problems.
Project supporters say that Morgan has done everything asked
of it to mitigate concerns — the design has gone through several revisions.
They also say that the project will be good for University Avenue, and that the
upscale apartments will attract young people and empty-nesters.
At yesterday’s meeting, Planning Commission member Heidi
Zimmer-Myer said that the project is unique because it has one foot in a
preservation district and the other in the diverse University Avenue
neighborhood.
Members also said that they are satisfied that the project would
not have a negative impact on the surrounding area, and seemed impressed that
Morgan would not only save, but upgrade the Monroe Voiture veterans club on the
property. Saving the club has boosted the project’s odds. The city rarely gives
permission to demolish structures in a preservation district.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2013.
More sour grapes from the Eastman House.
Having failed in their previous underhanded attempt to gain possession of this property they now try (unsuccessfully) to claim they THEY’RE the victim !