Yes, it fits on the lot, and yes,
it's considered micro-mixed-use
2900 SF 2-story micro-mixed-use. The basic storefront faces the street. The first floor footprint's about 26 feet wide and contains about 1,200 SF. The second floor has two 450 SF walk-up studio units.
Three studies to create a boutique shop which is angling for some eyeballs along 17-92, while sporting two efficiency units up top accessed by a back stairwell. The whole thing fits onto an abnormally wide single-lot, or abnormally narrow double-lot.
A very thin storefront, possibly a Serra-like cor-ten plate, with residence above.
In any case it's crammed right behind a restaurant and required more than the minimum context modeling in order to achieve a solution.
The vertical garden solution,. While sexy, it's also high maintenance.
The chief obstacle is cost, vs. what you actually get out of it. The client had one meeting with the City, and that meeting doubled the costs and lengthened the approval timeline beyond normal. So it's on hold.
The city seems doomed to have these inefficient remnants of space haunting the older neighborhoods, kind of like ghost spaces from a time before the density codes we have in place today.
It's technically developable, but at a price that's out of reach for all but a few who want to dabble, and don't expect early payoff. Those people really don't exist or at least not around here.
If the city wanted to encourage this kind of micro-mixed use infill, it would find handsome payoff in terms of incentivising density, tax base, labor force diversity, etc. Several things could activate this.
Small-lot owners face disproportionate costs compared to large-lot owners. Commercial stormwater requirements, for example, should be thought of as a block-wide or neighborhood solution. The current regulations are inefficient at this scale.
Stop turning every single project into a Change of Use with all the technical, design, and public hearing costs. This is why the city won't densify.
Get rid of parking requirements completely for all but ADA parking. One ADA space needed, period. The rest of it as the market dictates, but create a market for car-free units.
Back off on the design codes, man. We got this. If you can just get public safety, pedestrian safety on public property under control, then we'll handle design. OK?
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