Rosedale developer puts pause on 18th Street project

Developer Jared Lewis has withdrawn his Planning Commission request to rezone parcels at the corner of 18th Street South and 26th Avenue South, which would have accommodated two mixed-use commercial and residential buildings.

On Friday, Lewis said he is "tapping the brakes" on the project to see what happens with the city's plans to adopt new downtown zoning codes, as well as to consider redesigning the project to fit within the existing Neighborhood Shopping District commercial zoning for the properties, located at 1728 and 1736 26th Ave. S. and 2552, 2558, 2562 and 2564 18th St. S.

The three-story retail and loft concept that Lewis had proposed earlier this year met with complaints from Rosedale residents about the height, appearance, neighborhood encroachment, traffic impact and commercial use. Lewis held community meetings and made modifications to the appearance, height and other factors to accommodate some of those concerns, including the addition of a tree-planting and sidewalk project.

However, many Rosedale residents have still expressed that this is not the use they want for the properties right next door to a historic neighborhood.

Lewis said this week that he believes his team didn't do enough to talk with neighbors first before developing their plans, causing more pushback than they were expecting.

“At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is clean things up — we’re not trying to hurt anybody’s neighborhood — and help the neighborhood as a whole," he said.

Now, he is waiting to plan his next steps.

The city is in the middle of a zoning update for downtown Homewood and the properties where he planned his mixed-use buildings will likely be part of the low-intensity zoning, which would limit him to two stories. The plans to redesign 18th Street for more pedestrian accessibility, and the development of a hotel and retail project across the street, will also influence what type of building will fit with the rest of the area.

He said he may choose to pursue another rezoning request in the future, as he still believes mixed-use to be the best function of the property and would reduce the neighborhood impact. However, he's also considering commercial-only buildings with "high-end" retail and professional offices as likely tenants.

“It’s 100% up in the air, but it appears we can come up with some solutions that don’t require [rezoning]. We would love to have a zoning change, work with everybody and just be able to proceed. However, when there’s this much change, it creates a lot of chaos. It could be better that we sit back and wait,” Lewis said.

The footprint of the buildings on the property would likely be the same, but they would be capped at 35 feet high based on the limits of the Neighborhood Shopping District's codes. The buildings would be somewhere between the modern initial design he proposed and the more recent traditional brick facade, Lewis said, with several windows.

Lewis said he is still open to working with the city to add sidewalks, trees and on-street parallel parking along 26th Avenue South.

A residential property he owns behind the commercial properties does not have a set fate, either. He has considered several uses for the property, including townhomes or green space, but he had no immediate plans to take action on it. It will not be part of this project.

Depending on the timeline of the city's zoning changes, Lewis said he anticipates having a completed plan for the commercial buildings and being ready to begin work on the properties by the end of the year.

“I’ve never been in a potential situation where they say, ‘Here’s your zoning today. Here’s your zoning tomorrow, but we’re not sure that it’s going to happen.’ So it puts us in a place where the best decision for me, financially and having a broader vision, is to tap the brakes to study those things because there could be things coming that we don’t even know about,” he said.

While this case is withdrawn, the rest of the Planning Commission's agenda for its Aug. 6 meeting can be found on the city website.