Developers struggling to launch a new Mission apartment complex want to raze an office tower off Metcalf with the hopes that an expanded footprint will make the project more viable.
Block Real Estate Services wants to expand its $114 million apartment complex off Foxridge Drive and Metcalf Avenue to the south, with a second apartment building featuring between 300 to 335 additional units.
Developers say the expansion comes as they struggle to make the original project work, even with public incentives. Still, developers say that two buildings will help offset costs after construction.
The developers’ original plan had called for 307 units on the site of the recently demolished JC Penney call center. Now, the current plan, dubbed Foxridge Apartments, is to build a 289-unit apartment complex, combined with the 300-335 additional units on the site of the old office tower, the entire complex will total about 600 units.
Aaron Mesmer, executive vice president and chief investment officer with Block, told the city’s community development committee on Feb. 4 that the expansion plan calls for purchasing and demolishing the building office tower at 5700 Broadmoor.
While no formal plans have been submitted as of Feb. 13, city leaders say they expect the developer to go through the zoning and incentive processes for this proposed phase two.
A look at the concept for expansion
The developer shared plans with the Mission City Council earlier this month for the idea to expand the 5665 Foxridge project, with up to 624 total apartment units between a two-phased apartment complex.
For phase one, the original plan at 5665 Foxridge Drive, the project remains roughly the same: A four-story, 289-unit apartment complex.
Previous plans called for 307 units and for the four-stories to be built on top of a parking podium, constituting a fifth “floor.” That parking podium is no longer part of the plan under this proposed expansion.
Phase two at 5700 Broadmoor St. calls for the following, as presented by the developer on Feb. 4:
- A four-story complex ranging between 270 and 335 actual units
- A shared parking garage for the two buildings that is hidden by the apartment units themselves
- Clubhouse and amenities facing Broadmoor Street
- Walkout units on the south and east side of the proposed building
Developers “struggle to get the numbers to pencil”
Mesmer said Block is bringing forward this expansion plan because it is currently a “struggle to get the numbers to pencil even with the incentives that are in place.”
For the 5665 Foxridge project, the developer is receiving as much as $14.8 million in tax increment financing incentives.
Will Block, the vice president and a principal with Block, told the committee on Feb. 4 that the developer saw an opportunity to make the project “more financially feasible” when 5700 Broadmoor went on the market.
Currently, 5700 Broadmoor is an office tower across the street from Broadmoor Park and to the south of the developer’s current project.
Block said that as it stands, the building is 81% vacant. Additional tenants are expected to leave soon, which would take that to nearly 90% vacancy, he said.
This shows that, in its current capacity, 5700 Broadmoor “is functionally obsolete,” Block said.
“Put pencils to paper”
Mayor Sollie Flora told developers on Feb. 4 that aside from the plan to give the city a parking lot near Broadmoor Park, they need to “put pencils to paper” and make a better deal for the city to consider additional public incentives.
“I think we’re gonna really need to see a more thoughtful approach in terms of having it be a better deal for the city if you’re gonna be getting a lot of benefits and doubling the project,” Flora said.
In response, Mesmer told Flora that the actual land costs for phase two at 5700 Broadmoor is nearly double the cost of phase one at the old JC Penney call center.
Flora said “that doesn’t make sense,” questioning how the developer plans to make a larger project work if the approved project as it stands is struggling to be built.
Mesmer said the land costs to build phase two are higher, but there are cost savings by removing the parking podium and increasing the number of apartment units.
Mesmer said each phase is roughly $100 million a piece, and the developer needs to be able to get institutional capital to make them financially feasible.
“We’re not sitting on dirt and carrying that every year so we can just enjoy the pleasure of that,” Mesmer said. “We would be building the project today if it worked.”
No plans have been submitted
- As of Friday, no plans for the expansion have been submitted to city staff, City Administrator Laura Smith confirmed to the Post.
- Smith said she anticipates the developer going through the public incentives and zoning processes for phase two.
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