Planning Committee - Regular Meeting

Six meeting of the downtown development review overlay district committee to order, and we'll start with a roll call, please.

Men? Present. Hand on? Hand on?

Yes.

Ellen?

Yes.

Brown?

Oh. Present.

Fleischigel?

Present.

Clemons? Present. Stinnett?

Present.

Davis?

Here.

Ackerman.

Present. Thank you. Alright. We have a quorum in place. So, our agenda today is just one case. We've got 26 overlay zero zero one six, and we will start with a staff presentation from Ina.

Good morning. I'm Ina Nakao. Glad to be here. It's my first DDRO meeting. Okay.

This is case twenty six overlay zero zero sixteen for the JW Marriott at 40401 South 4th Street. These are the requests we are going to break into the alterations to the existing building, to the site, and then in the addition. So the request main request is to renovate the existing office tower into a 414 room hotel with restaurant spaces with with the following alterations. So these are the alterations to the existing building. Create a three story podium base with limestone or precast concrete panels with new storefront bays and doors.

Install black and gold detailed metal trims in multiple locations to emphasize the base and corners, organize the facades into smaller rectangles, and create horizontal visual breaks, replace the window mullions and install awnings over the west entrances, create an inset balcony on the 26th Floor in the rooftop terrace of with solid metal railing, increased ceiling height of upper floors of the building to the south. The existing pathway will remain. These are the requests for the addition within the existing east parking lot. It will be a 66 feet wide by a 113 deep by 71 feet high three floor addition. The height will be in line with the 5th Floor of the existing building.

It will be set back five feet and three inches from the east property line. It will be aligned with the front and rear of the existing building. The Ground Floor will be an open portico share lobby area with two y shaped columns to support the upper floor, and the upper Floor, will be interior space. There will be a 13 feet nine inches wide by 33 feet six inches deep stairwell located on the East end of the addition and also a 56 wide by 30 feet deep space located to the southwest rear of the addition. The stairwell in southwest addition to the rear will be clad with limestone or precast concrete with iFAs on the rear.

I think it yeah. Alright. Uh-huh. And these are the site alterations. There will be a 65 feet wide wide by 26 feet deep outdoor seating area facing West Liberty Street.

And this space will be defined by movable planters with, trellis panels. The existing parking will be reconfigured to accommodate the portico share. The request to remove fence and posts along West Liberty Street and rear alley, remove existing carports to the, east in the existing trees and curbs, shift western curb cut facing West Liberty Street to the east, east corner, the east corner curb curb cuts will remain roughly in its existing location. Construct a central concrete island and curbing to direct traffic, within the lobby area. And vehicle access will be from West Liberty Street or rear alley.

Construct a planter area centered along the north property line, which will help demarcate the public sidewalk from drive lanes and the screen lobby drop off area from the street. Next, please. That's the location. The ceiling, will be raised on that South building. It's showing it's 411 South 4th Street, 4 4th Street.

It will not be visible from either West Liberty Street or South 4th Street. That's the, site plan. It shows the new lobby area on the east, the stairwell on the Northeast. And then in the rear of that area of the today's surface parking lot, there's a space right in the rear. It's all defining that area.

Next, please. So those are the main, elevations. The north elevation, I'll I'll go through that with the renderings, and then the west, south, South Street elevation. And that will be the east elevation and the south elevation. The east elevation, you see the existing elevation of the building will be renovated under the new lobby area.

So this would be the corner of West Liberty Street and South 4th Street with the creation of the four podium facade and framing of the corner of the building. And that you can also see the large corners lines on those facades actually all around the building and the new addition. It ties the new addition with the existing building and also defines, breaks down the massing to a pedestrian level. Next, please. So oh, okay.

That's a view from the top of that same corner. In there, you can see a little of the seating the proposed seating area that would be along West Liberty Street, and also the addition of, trims on the trims and large bends, metal bends on the top and on the 20 of the building with the intent to break up the the massing of the building and break up the, glass surface. Also, in this, view, you can see the inset balcony on the 26th Floor. It will be centered on that facade on the north facade of the building. Next, please.

Alright.

Alright. So, this would be the view from the Northwest, showing the new addition, which, as I said before, it will align, the top of the addition will align with the 5th Floor of the existing building. The metal corners will will tie the whole, project, the addition with the existing, building. And well, I I I think on the next, we can talk about this. But, you can see new storefronts on on that facade to the north and the entrances from, West Liberty Street to the new lobby area.

In here, you'll see this new proposed sitting area, defined with the the planters and trellis. This facade will also, get new doors on those new, storefronts. Okay. Next, please. Thank you.

Sorry. Yes. So this would be the the portico share entrance. You see the new planters defining the sidewalk and also helping screen the the port share area, the traffic inside, and also two large y shaped columns. The top, let's say, the 3rd Floor is it's will be the enclosed area.

Here is the east the existing east facade under the the portico share area will be renovated with new storefronts and new interest new entrances to to the hotel lobby. The proposal meets the applicable design guidelines for building massing, building to context, building to pedestrian, in parking, vehicular use and access, and site planning, specifically on those guidelines listed there, BM1 to BM4, BC1, BC2, BP2 to BP4, p two, p three, and s p four. The building guidelines deal primarily with a proposal being compatible to its surroundings in scale, massing, and materials in creating a pedestrian friendly engaging space with a focus on the lower levels. That's that's proposed with the new podium that defines the the ground level of the tower, the use of trims in different finishing materials that's more compatible with adjacent buildings and helps break up the massing and more visually engaging ship pedestrians. The addition is compatible with the overall design.

I think it jumped at over one. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. Sure.

No problem. Right. In the parking site guidelines, will primarily with creating active street walls, general circulation through the site, limiting and screening vehicles, use or utility areas, and reducing pedestrian vehicle conflict, conflict points. The existing surface will, parking will remain a vehicular space, but has landscaped screening from the street in the more defined street wall. A lobby drop off allows for more activity, including pedestrian foot traffic in a parking lot, while two curbs cuts, two curb cuts remain.

Access from the alley will reduce the overall traffic, flow from West Liberty, reducing pedestrian vehicle conflicts. Overall, the proposal is a positive adaptive reuse project compatible with its surroundings, creates greater activity at the street, more visually dynamic than the existing tower, and, will have a positive economic impact on the district. So staff recommend recommends that the overlay permit be approved with the following conditions. One, prior to insurance of any building permits, finalized design details and materials shall be submitted to staff for review and approval. Two, all other required approvals for the outdoor seating area, new awnings, and street trees, which may include an encroachment permit from public works, shall be obtained prior to any work taking place in the right of way.

Three, all ground level storefront windows and doors shall have clear glass or light window tinting. Details related to the proposed two window tinting, shall be submitted to staff for review prior to ordering and installation. Four, rooftops should not look cluttered from any pedestrian vantage point. All mechanical or utility, equipment should be well integrated into the overall design. Five, no signage was reviewed or approved under this permit.

Signage shall be applied for and reviewed under subsequent sign permit applications. Six, exterior lighting should be designed to be visually integrated with the exterior design of the building. Lighting should be designed to provide illumination that creates a greater sense of activity, security, and interest to the pedestrian. Adequate lighting should be provided at alleys to enhance visibility and safety. Final lighting details shall be submitted to staff for review and approval prior to installation.

And seven, if the design or materials change, the applicant shall contact staff for review and approval approval prior to construction installation. And additional overlay permits may be required. That's my presentation. Any question for me?

Committee members, any questions for staff?

Are you in touch with public works about the likelihood of an encouragement permit for the activation of that North Side?

That is you know, that's been in process yet, so not yet. No.

Okay. Just wondering how I think.

And the applicant may have more information Yes. Those conversations. Okay.

Mhmm.

Have there been any discussions as to what's going to happen with the Pedway? Yes.

That's also under, you know, more Well, the applicants are in the process of checking on that as well.

They're looking into ownership and things like that. So they if they can, they would like to upgrade it. But that's still in the works at the moment or remove it ideally. But yeah. The applicant probably know will know more about that as well.

Oh, okay. Alright.

I was just curious if it

was going to be used or It's not under roofed at this time. Yeah.

On that north side sidewalk, are they gonna improve the sidewalk all the way to the street edge? Those those are 1982 pavers that have been a problem since 1985.

I'm very familiar with those pavers.

Is that gonna be taken away and replaced with something better all the way to the street edge on Liberty?

I don't think we've gotten details about that specific yet because they're also still work that's all in metro right of way. So they're working with the city on that section.

This is question of nostalgia. My downtown career began thirty years ago on that building on the 5th Floor looking across 4th Street at Bacon's department store. So I'm I'm I'm

very familiar with this site.

I just wanna clarify. The proposed addition on the east side, it doesn't actually touch that historic building next to it. Correct?

It does not. It's five feet three inches away from the property line.

And I noticed there are windows on that historic building, so I guess those won't be affected either if it doesn't touch at all.

It does not touch at all. Yes.

Another question. On the on the back on the post office alley entrance to that building, is there any lighting that's a kind of a dead end in there that can be a little scary? Is there any additional lighting that's gonna be applied on the backside of the building from the building itself and into that alley area?

Right. I'll I'll let the applicants answer to that, but what I know is that that, exit from that alley will be somehow connected to the existing garage that's there.

Is it connector hallway? Is that is that when you go in that back door, is that part of your this building, or is that I I get confused in there.

It's connected to the Starks Parking Garage. Mhmm. So they'll be utilizing the parking in that garage as well.

So it will be more active?

K. Well, we will have a time to ask additional questions of Ina if anyone has any. But at this time, I'd like to invite the applicant to come up if they have a presentation to share. I have speaker forms for Doug Sellers and Drew Carnahan. So if you would just introduce yourself, say your name and address for the record, please.

Good morning. My name is Doug Sellers with SABAC Wilson and Lingo here in Louisville. That's 301 East Main Street, Suite 201, Louisville 40202. Ina pretty pretty much covered everything, so I don't have much to go on other than a few question and comments, but I've I've got kind of a small presentation as well. Again, this is for the new JW Marriott that will be renovated from the existing Brown Forman building on 41 South 4th Street. I've included a kind of a site plan from the zoning map to kinda show where it's located and what parcel parcels will be included in the renovation. Next slide.

I think you meant to say and Williamson Building.

I'm sorry, Brown So and Williamson. My these are some existing photos of the area showing the existing it's the 5th 3rd Tower, I guess, was the latest name for it, I suppose. Also, a corner the corner of 4th Street and Liberty as well, kinda as it currently sits. And then an overhead aerial shot showing the the tower and also the the small parking lot to the east of the building. Next slide.

Again, some additional shots. This shows the parking lot side of the building, the the small parking lot that's enclosed, and it's kind of a private parking area with covered parking, and also the alley that was asked about earlier at the rear leading to the post office alley on the lower side. Next slide. Against some additional site images, basically, showing Liberty Street. This also shows the large Liberty Street sidewalk that is in the right of way for Metro Works there.

There's actually a parcel between the tower and the actual Liberty Street Liberty Street right away that is owned by the city as well. There we go. Again, you've seen these images of the of the renovated elevations of the building. They're keeping pretty much most of the upper floor glass. They will be painting out or changing the mullions to make it more updated, more modern looking.

This is the site plan. But there are also the cornice level that'll be at the 5th Floor will be considered it's it's kind of used it's gonna be more keeping in with the vernacular of the of downtown area, the lower buildings. The cornice is similar to Whiskey Row on Main Street. You see a lot of the the decorative cornices that are about the 5th Floor, and that's kind of what they're thinking on the lower levels, again, to make it more pedestrian friendly. The site plan, I was there a moment ago.

This is a little bit more of a example. That's okay. That's a little bit more of the floor plan, kind of showing the on the left, Level 1 shows the reception area with the the Porta Cachere drop off areas, lobby. The building will be keeping the the central elevator core, so it will stay pretty much where it is. There'll be a north lobby restaurant bar area that will also open onto Liberty Street to the to the proposed outdoor seating area.

This particular rendering shows the that seating area going all the way across the facade of the tower, and it's actually gonna be cut back a little bit. There are some underground electrical transformer vaults there that we can't put anything on top of. So we're gonna try to keep that back a little bit farther. So it's little it's a

little bit more

reduced. Also, back of house, the the orange color, the light orange is back of house uses for the for the hotel. The dark orange on the west side facing 4th Street is actually going to be a a small market for the the visitors, guests of the hotel. 2nd Level is going to be where the main restaurant for the hotel will be located, and it's also open to the Portico share on the East side. Again, the light orange is back of house, and then the dark orange is the restaurant area.

And that's where also there if the Pedway is kept, that will also be the connecting point for the Pedway with circulation for that. Again, there's some discussions in process right now to find out who owns it and whether or not it's gonna be continued to be used. Excuse me. Yes.

Regarding the maybe this thing works. Regarding the outdoor seating area, does that have access at all from the street or is

it all from inside?

It's going

to be provided mainly just for the access for for the lobby the bar lobby bar area. But I'll have to check on that because I'm not a 100% sure if it will have access from there. Probably not because they wanna keep it kind of self contained there. And for security It would be accessed through the lobby area on on the east and the west side of the building.

That makes more sense, I think, from a security perspective.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. This is Level 3. This is typically the this will be the ballroom level. This will be the level where the addition will make you'll see most of the addition. There will be a large ballroom over the Porte Cochere on the East side, and we'll also part of this site it's it's kind of weird part of this site is actually the 3rd Floor of the the building to the south. So they actually own that as well. And so there'll be a smaller ballroom on that for use in that space as well. And it'll all be connected on the 3rd Floor with, obviously, the elevator.

There'll also be some smaller conference rooms that'll be used as well. And then the next one, Level 5, is is a typical guest guest room layout. So you'll have the central core in the middle, the gray area, and then the the light pinkish color guest rooms around the outside. So they'll all have views to the exterior. And then this is Level 26 And 27.

This is a an entertainment venue that will be is being proposed for the the upper level. There'll be a a bar area with a little outdoor terrace on the 26th Floor, the little white area on the north side of the building there will be an outdoor seating spot, but there'll be a bar area. There'll be some guest rooms on the south side of the building, and then, of course, the orange is the back of house or the I'm sorry. The gold color is the back of house. And then the 27th Floor will be the entertainment venue that'll be attached to the bar via stairwell.

So that's will be on the upper levels. Next slide, please. That will also encourage more downtown foot traffic by having that that that venue up there. Again, this is the northeast aerial shot of the site. This kind of shows the the banding of the cornice area, as Ina pointed out earlier, kind of keeping it in more of a relation to the regular street front that we see in the majority of the city.

And also the new mullions on the tower itself and also the rooftop terrace, you can see that on the the right hand side there, the north side. Next slide, please. Again, this is the aerial from the Liberty Street, 4th Street side. And and, again, you see this is more of an evening shot, so you can see kind of the lighting at the street level as well as the updated facade on the Liberty Street side and also the 4th Street side to to show how it'll be more open and vibrant. You'll have access.

The the restaurant on the 2nd Level will have open glass that you that people can sit at the at the windows and look out, so it'll be really nice. This is a street view, same thing, shows the the different layers of stone and cladding that will be redone on the lower levels and also the large corners that will kind of dictate that that level, that more pedestrian friendly level of the of the building itself. Oh, okay. This is the Liberty Street side. Again, as Ina pointed out earlier, this is the entrance to the Porte Cochere, with the ballroom you can see above it.

It will be screened from the street by the planter. There's also planters underneath the Porte Cochere as well that will also have plantings in there. This circulation will allow guests to come in, drop their car, and then the valet will take it to the parking garage through the alley access at the back. And this also shows the stairwell to the left, the stairwell column on the left hand side of that of this slide here. And at the rear of the porte cochere is kind of an element, just a decorative element that will be on some of that back of house stuff that's in the building, but it also provides a really nice entrance.

They're thinking possibly some sort of water feature on that wall, but that's still in the process right now. And also shows the the large columns that will be supporting the third level or the the ballroom level. And that pretty much concludes what I have in East. I did want to address the lighting in the alley that was asked. As far as I know, there there will be there will be a an employee entrance off that alley. So, yes, there will be some definitely secure lighting on that side. Security will also be out that out that side as well. Any other questions?

So just a just a clarification. So within the the Marriott system and the branding sorta, JW Marriott is is that

JW Marriott is their high their their top lane. Elite brand. Top tier. Right. Yep.

Thought that was the case.

Just Yep. We're gonna have another Marriott. Yeah. And it's really exciting that they've chosen Louisville as one of our Oh, yeah. As one of their options.

Any other questions?

Not so much a question. Just wanna really say that I love I'm not an architect, but I love the architectural improvements that change the the pedestrian scale, the human scale of the building. And I love the continuation of the of the street wall on Liberty. I do just want to advocate for activation on that north side. It is a huge public vacant space, and we're trying to activate more of those spaces. So I don't know if if you if you are talking to Public Works, if you have more to speak to that about that approach

from We will be working with with Public Works to get permits on that. I don't know if you're aware of of some of the challenges to that property to the north. There's that little parcel there has a few deed restrictions on it that we have to work through. Yeah. So we're trying to work through that with the city Okay. To get that to take care of.

Are you plan are you planning on planting I love the addition of the the green trellis and just greenery on the street. Are you planning on planting new street trees or maintaining the existing ones?

We're gonna try to maintain the existing ones. I I think some of them are a little rough looking, but we'll we'll those you know, we'll assess those, and we will replace those as needed.

Okay. So property owner will maintain those trees?

Yes. Oh, yeah. That's part of it's part of their their their facade.

Is hotel parking in the Starks Garage?

I believe so. Yes. Yes.

And where do the stairs go? I'm unclear on that. Where

the Oh, the the stair on the addition? Yeah. It's just space it's it's an an an an interior exit for the ballroom upstairs. It just allows, you know, basically

Straight into the drive in area?

Yeah. It's it's an emergency act, you know, fire fire escape that's required by code. There's also access. There's other stairwells in the building, obviously, as well.

Right. Yeah. Can you speak

to any improvements on that north side to the sidewalk?

I cannot at this time. Again, we'll work with Metro Works. It's it's actually owned by the city, so we'll have to work with the city to see if we can get those improved. But we would like to see that whole north sidewalk to be updated, for sure.

Committee members, any questions for Mr. Sellers at this time?

Great. Thank you. I

have one more question.

Oh,

sure. Sorry. Do you have any comments about the use of the Pedway, what Marriott wants? Or

I think there's again, there's a lot of questions. We also have to work with the Hyatt on the North Side Of Liberty to see if they are interested in keeping it. And, again, that's another property owner. So there's gonna be definitely some discussions to determine whether or not it's it's needed or used.

Okay.

Obviously, it would be great if it was gone. That way we wouldn't have to worry about the connectivity, but it definitely needs some updates as it is, as it sits now.

Okay. Thank you. Mhmm.

I do have a speaker form here from Drew Carnahan if you'd like to offer some comments. Please just say your name and address for the record.

Yeah. Good morning. Drew Carnahan. I'm the general manager of the Hyatt Regency in Louisville. So great segue into what Neil just spoke about because I do wanna represent our hotel and our approach to the Pedway.

Rebecca, and I spoke briefly about it, and that was kind of initial discussions as to who owns it. So And I can share with you all my, interactions with that. I've been at the hotel since, April 2021. When I first came, it was boarded up, at that point mainly because there were no tenants in the Brown Williamson Building at that point. But at around 2223, the building, the property manager, reached out to us to ask if we can open it back up because they did have some tenants that park in what we call the Kick Garage, and you can get to the Kick Garage from the Pedway through our hotel, to this, Pedway.

And as good neighbors, we agreed to do that. Just a few tenants, and after a while, I think those tenants left. And so it was agreed, between us and the property manager that we would keep it locked. And it's been locked, since then, which is probably 2023. And, you know, once we saw the renderings and we got the notice, about this hearing today, we do think it is a obviously, it's come up a few times.

It is a great topic to review. Rebecca's question was if I was aware of the ownership, I can share with you. We weren't quite sure as well back in 2021, but, the property manager did agree to do some, repair some damages. There are some, I guess, some glass that broke at one point and reached out to him. They said it's our property or current.

We did have an issue with a couple of our guests getting over there kind of accidentally, and they got locked over there. And, after researching what happened, part of it was that, if you get into this Pedway, at that point, you couldn't get out. There wasn't a push lock from the inside door, so they did install push board locks, to prevent that from happening in the future. We did put some additional signage just to make sure our guests knew that it was locked, and ever since then, we haven't had any issues. That property manager left at one point.

We haven't had any communication with the new owners or or anybody from the building at that point. From a hotel perspective, we would like to ask that it is, considered, the use of the Pedway for what we think their intent is. We can only assume based upon press release that they're marketing, direct access from the hotel to the convention center, which if that's the case, that would mean they would have to travel through our hotel. And I know some of you have been to our, meeting space on the 2nd Floor. You can recall it, it's, from the Pedway.

There is a hallway with meetings, space on either side, and then there is a foyer to our biggest ballroom that you would have to pass through to get to the Pedway to go to the convention center. Elevator access is is basically the same hallway. So this is something that we would definitely wanna review with the with the new owners as to how this would work, from how it impact our hotel as well as we have some security concerns. We have since, the last couple of years out it on the Pedway from our hotel to the garage, key access. So currently, you have to have a a key, a room key, to be, from our hotel to get into that, to to get in our hotel from the Pedway.

And, some of our clients have asked us for that. Some of our, what we call a contract business that stays with us every day. They're very particular, about making sure the security is considered, and that's relatively new business. So and then lastly, I think I think we do not have, you know, any paperwork, really. I've asked around for the folks from the folks that have worked with us for a while.

If anybody remembers any type of agreements that were put, talked about when this Pedway was first installed, and we cannot find anything. We'll keep looking. But so far, we haven't found anything. But my from what I was told was that it was it was advantageous for the hotel at one point to have this in the sense that there was a food court over in this building at one point that our guests like to go over to. We did have, some of the tenants used to send some gas to our hotel, but that honestly has has gone away, for many years now.

So, we would, you know, have to understand and review what would be, how it would be advantageous for us to allow or to, partner, going forward. So

Mhmm. Okay. Thank you.

I don't have any other speaker forms, but is there anyone else here today that would like to offer public comment? Seeing none. Staff, did we receive email or any type of

comments? Okay. Thank you.

And there's nobody.

No one name. Well, this time, I will close public comment period. We can still ask questions of staff or applicant if anyone has any, but we can, start discussion at this time.

I'll give a little bit of background just, for the commit what do we call? Committee. Committee here. About the Pedway, because it is something that we're still researching. But at Louisville Downtown Partnership, we don't have any paperwork or documentation of ownership or management. We did do a branded signage system in, like, 2017 or it's called Louie Link. Maybe it was actually 02/2000. It was earlier than that. Because then, in 2018 or before with the expansion of the convention center, that system broke. So the the connection that was across Market Street from Kick to the Calgary garage went down.

And Louie Link, as a branded system, kind of went away in 2018. I did reach out to Louisville Tourism. They have no documentation, no paperwork on this Pedway system. I reached out to David Green, who's the general manager of the Marriott, and he has something he hasn't yet sent me, but it's really just for the connected Pedway over 3rd Street from Marriott to Kick. And then I reached out to Drew Carnahan, general manager of Hyatt, to talk to him about it, to see if he had anything.

And this really was more general, but then we got specific about this project. He didn't have anything, and he was just using the word of the former property manager, who I tracked down because she's now the property manager at the LG And E Tower. And she said she believes that it is this particular Pedway is owner owned by Fourth Street Live. So that's where we are right now. Jeff O'Brien with the city is talking to them about something else anyway, so that will come up there. And I'm going to reach out to Kentucky Venues, which I should have done sooner, to ask if they have anything about any management or maintenance of the Pedway system.

So just FYI. When was it first installed?

Do we know? There's no I mean, it was installed in bits. So, I mean, it goes to the Gullthouse from the Gullthouse. Gotta kinda jig and jag, and I think this is the northernmost headway. Is this the northernmost, Drew?

No. There's one across Main Street from

I'm sorry. The southernmost. Southernmost. That's what I meant. Sorry.

Yeah. Yes.

Well, there's actually one across the the alley south of 4th Street Live.

There's a teeny one to the Starks Building. You're yeah.

You're right. And actually, cross Alley. That's

the Oh, to the Embassy Suites. You're right. To the old Yeah.

That's right. Building.

That's

Yeah. That's that's been there forever. Yeah. Mhmm.

Was that built to connect to the stewards?

It was. Yes.

Okay.

Was. So that That was the premise. We acquired that building, as you know. Yes. And so that was there when we acquired it acquired it. In '85.

So do you know who owns it? Do

you own that Pedway?

We Oh,

did it go with the

It yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Be to be honest with you, I don't know who owned the Pedway.

Okay.

We never used it, so it was shut down, but it was there. Yeah. So it

So I'd like to say just from for the record, for having more vibrancy and pedestrian activity in a downtown area, I'm not a huge fan of Pedways. I mean, they do take people off the street. And I understand if we were, like, Houston and really hot or Minneapolis and really cold, they use their Pedway systems a lot. I don't think we need them like that.

If they're not used, they provide a fantastic public art opportunity.

Say more, councilman.

Well, I mean, they're

big and bold and potentially beautiful.

So if if they're just gonna hang there and and not be used, we could use do something really nice with them.

As the architect in the room, as long as they're maintained, then yes. Otherwise, not a good idea to just keep them for that. One

thing I'll note, I I agree with Rebecca's comments from earlier that I like the design changes at the lower levels of the building. I think it really helps to ground it. Staff did note that these buildings and actually the whole Galleria plan was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in the late seventies, early eighties. And this tower and the is it the Mettinger? Meitinger? Meitinger. Meitinger Tower are kind of designed as twins. And I know the property owner here owns both of them. So perhaps there is some strategy there to kind of keep them related design wise in the future. I think that would make some sense.

Obviously, this is not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places yet. It's not yet 50 years old. And again, this is my opinion, but I think it's it would be more about the master plan that SOM created for this area and not the specific design details of any one particular building. And there's already been changes to this area. So, again, from an architect sense, I don't think that this would preclude it from ever being listed on the National Register by making these changes, and I think they're positive for the pedestrian experience.

I don't know if they would want to be on the National Register.

They may not, but

I would never wanna be on that thing. Sorry. I like making changes.

It doesn't stop you from making changes.

Uh-huh. Well, I love it. That's all I have to say. I think it's great. I think I think it'll help.

Well, as a neighbor, I really like it.

So

it is really gonna enhance our area, give us greater access for functions that we host here, guests that we host. That's gonna be a big upgrade.

Is there a timeline associated with construction starting? Yeah. Come sorry.

Come on.

Bless you.

I'm I'm think I understood them to to say that the the timeline is hoping to start in the fall to start the construction. We're supposed to have our permitting sets ready by the June, July 1. So, hopefully, we can we'll get this submitted in for review.

So financing has been secured and

As far as I know, yes. To go pending. Far as I know.

Approvals. Great.

And what what's the sort of estimated construction time?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Yeah. Because they've got 27 floors to to basically fix. Yeah. Plus they do the exterior and and the additions as well. So they're they're pretty much top to bottom. It's gonna be neat. Anything else?

Discussions or concerns from anyone here?

I would say the only, I guess, comment I have is that, that area where you are planning on having outdoor seating, just as a, I guess, request slash comment, if y'all can make it not too private so that there is some kind of interaction. Does that make sense? Between the pay some people watching can happen, if that makes any sense. I think when you make that area too private, it almost yeah. It walls it off, and it's not good for anybody on either side of that.

Defeats the purpose.

It defeats the purpose. And I think sometimes, I see this happen sometimes in buildings in downtown, and and they don't realize that the the fun of sitting out there is being watched and watching others. So just careful on making that too private.

Sure. Absolutely. And I think the because we have to keep these movable, they they can't be too significant. And and so any trellis type structures that'll be added to the planters will have to be fairly see through that you can see as well. And it but it's mainly for the security of the patrons that'll be in Right. Be utilizing the hotel.

Right.

Thank you. I have a question for you, Rebecca.

You mentioned just the encroachment permit and maybe some concern about whether or not that would be issued. Will that have an effect on any of these designs, and

what would that be if it weren't issued? I don't know

if I'm the best person to answer that, but if they don't get an encouragement permit, they would not be able to do these improvements on that area. The outdoor seating. So it's the door seating.

Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't affect building changes.

So we're hopeful that public works will give this recommended approval. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Well, I don't mean to stop discussion. Please continue to offer comments if anyone has any. But at this time, if anyone would like to offer a motion, we've got some recommendations from staff in our packet here with some conditions. If anyone would like to offer that, please feel free.

I'll make a motion that we approve this plan with the recommendations stated in the staff report.

Second.

Alright. We have a motion and a second. Can we have a roll call vote, please?

Mann? Yes. Handon? Yes. Allen? Yes. Brown? Yes. Fleischke? Yes. Clemens? Yes. Stinnett?

Yes.

Davis? Yes. Ackerman?

Yes. Motion carries. The proposal is approved today. Thank you. Alright. Is there any more business for the DDRO committee today? If not, I will ask for a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye.

Yes.

Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you all.