December 10, 2021

 

North Central projects receive considerable public comment:

The North Central Master Plan is a proposed mix of residential (for sale and for rent), office, commercial/retail, hospitality, and restaurant uses encompassing a 4-block area bordered by W. Villard, N. Grand, W. Lamme, and N. Tracy (see graphic). HomeBase Partners is the developer. The construction is designed across 9 buildings in 4 phases over 5-7 years.

Public comment for the North Central Master Site Plan (#21029) and North Central Block 4 (The Ives building - #21165) is open now through December 3, 2021. Project documents—including a copy of the public notice—are available on the City’s Community Development Viewer. Click on the big green building outline to get to all of the project documents. Since there are multiple buildings associated with the subject parcel, you will need to toggle through the individual buildings by clicking the arrows to see information for each one.

The North Central Master Plan includes:
An addition to the One11 Lofts (“One11 2.0”): a 6-story (69’ tall), 89,000 SF building with ground floor commercial, 67 for-rent units above, and an at-grade parking garage (currently under construction)

Block 3.4 (aka “The Henry”): a 6-story (70’ tall), 116,171 SF apartment building with 44 for-sale condo units

Block 4 (aka “the Ives”): a 6-story (70’ tall), 168,000 SF mixed-use building with 4-story residential over 2-story parking and retail plus 1 level below-grade parking

The overall plan also includes the demolition of the original Bozeman Deaconess Hospital and the now-vacant Mountain View Care Center. According to the Project Narrative: “HomeBase would attempt to salvage…brick, masonry cornice detailing, masonry window sills, the staircase/railing and stone tile carvings at the main entry. There is also a great opportunity to reuse the basement concrete as fill when rebuilding the construction to follow demolition, keeping that much of concrete and fill material out of a landfill.”

The plan does NOT include demolition of the Heritage Apartments (which receives funding in part through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit [LIHTC] program and therefore reserves a certain number of units for lower income households), which HomeBase Partners does not own or manage.


Public Comment on the Ives:

Approximately 70 public comments have been submitted so far regarding Block 4 (aka “the Ives”). Two were in favor, citing the need for more housing; one offered no opinion. The remaining comments expressed concerns or were strongly against the proposal. The most common themes in the comments are the stark transition between this building and the existing single-family residences and surrounding area, and that the mass and scale of this building are not appropriate in this location. The Design Review Board staff report states: “The Ives building would appear to tower over the smaller one- and two-story older homes to the north and west.” 

Many who provided public comment on the Ives opposed the cash in lieu of parkland that the developer would like approved. For public safety reasons, many opposed a variance that would allow the driveway onto Villard to be 20 feet closer to the alley than is normally required by Code. Another prominent theme was the lack of fit for the character of the neighborhood and that this building does not meet the Bozeman Community Plan goal N-4 of encouraging Bozeman’s sense of place. 

Members of VisionNE, a NENA subcommittee, attended three "stakeholder visioning workshops" conducted by HomeBase and their partners between January and May of 2020 for what was then a 2-block parcel known as “ Block 3” (now the 4-block North Central Master Plan). At the first workshop, the developers shared eight "design principles for successful downtown development." Two of those design principles were "design for human scale" and "establish a unique and authentic identity." [The three “Visioning Group Summary Reports" can be found on the City website with other Application 21029 documents.] The majority of VisionNE members do not feel that these principles are being followed and do not support the Ives as currently proposed.

You are encouraged to become familiar with this North Central project and submit public comments if you have not already done so. Public comments can be sent to: agenda@bozeman.net —reference #21165 for the Ives and #21029 for the North Central Master Site Plan. 

 

Construction Parking and Traffic

We are hopeful that the during final permitting conditions, City staff will address managing construction parking and traffic, as well as options for permanent traffic calming at key intersections throughout the adjacent neighborhood.


Interim Parking for AC Hotel

Eighty off-site parking spaces for the Marriott AC Hotel (under construction on N. Tracy and E. Mendenhall) will be accommodated within the North Central master plan. Currently, the hotel counts the Medical Arts Building surface parking lot on Block 4 (“the Ives”) to meet its parking requirement. During construction of the Ives, temporary shared parking will be provided on the Mountain View East site at N. Tracy and E. Lamme, which is to be demolished. Once the Ives is complete, the AC Hotel off-site parking is to be provided within the basement of the building.


“The Ives” (aka Block 4)

“The Henry” (aka Block 3.4)

“One 11 2.0” (aka One 11 2.0)​
 

 

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