Tag: housing

New studies could inform August plan commission review of 6,000-unit development in SW Bloomington

Bloomington plan commission (July 10, 2023)
Travis Vencel , Sullivan Development
Angela Parker, attorney for the Summit District PUD development team.
Tyler Ridge, president of The Ridge Group, and managing member of Sudbury Development Partners LLC
Rachel Knoble, Weimer Road resident

At its regular Monday meeting, Bloomington’s plan commission completed the first round of its deliberations on a 140-acre rezone request for a tract of raw land in southwest Bloomington.

The property is located east of Weimer Road, and west of the RCA Community Park. It’s also west of some land owned by the Monroe County government. The county-owned land has received some discussion as a possible location of a new county jail facility.

The planned unit development (PUD) rezone of the property, which is proposed by Sudbury Development Partners, LLC, would allow up to 6,000 units of housing to be constructed, in five different neighborhoods over the course of the next eight years.

Commissioners voted unanimously to put the item on their Aug. 14 agenda for another hearing.

By the time of the August meeting, it’s possible that a new regional housing study will have been released. Also hoped for by the time of the second hearing is a utilities study for the development area that is being done by city of Bloomington utilities (CBU).

Another set of information, which will eventually help refine the details of the project, is a traffic study that the development team will be conducting. Continue reading “New studies could inform August plan commission review of 6,000-unit development in SW Bloomington” →

Bloomington plan commission to hear 6,000-unit housing proposal for 140 acres of undeveloped land

The image is taken from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

A 140-acre tract of raw land in the southwest part of Bloomington could become the site of a five-neighborhood development with up to 6,000 housing units.

A proposed planned unit development (PUD) appears on the Bloomington plan commission’s Monday agenda, which would rezone the area to allow for the Summit District proposal to be built—over the course of the next eight years.

The property is located east of Weimer Road, and west of the RCA Community Park. It’s also west of  some land owned by the Monroe County government. The county-owned land has received some discussion as a possible location of a new county jail facility. Continue reading “Bloomington plan commission to hear 6,000-unit housing proposal for 140 acres of undeveloped land” →

Holcomb visits Bloomington, Cook Group president tells locals: “We can’t sit around and wait for the governor…to solve our problems.”

Eric Holcomb.
Pamela Whitten.
Pete Yonkman.
It’s a sign. (Feb. 16, 2023)

On Thursday, the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon at the Monroe Convention Center featuring Indiana governor Eric Holcomb.

The main event highlighted Holcomb as he fielded questions from Indiana University president Pamela Whitten, as the two sat in easy chairs in front of an audience of about 450 people.

But for many in attendance, it was the remarks delivered by Cook Group president Pete Yonkman, towards the start of the program, that might have left a more lasting impression. Cook is Bloomington’s second largest employer behind Indiana University.

Yonkman said at the start that he did not have prepared speech to deliver, as he does on most occasions.

But the impromptu remarks that Yonkman did make were organized around one basic theme: Bloomington’s local leaders need to overcome their differences to make progress on important issues.

Specific issues that Yonkman highlighted included housing, conditions at the county jail, and the lack of progress on the convention center expansion. Continue reading “Holcomb visits Bloomington, Cook Group president tells locals: “We can’t sit around and wait for the governor…to solve our problems.”” →

Vacation of alleys for hospital site redevelopment gets yes from Bloomington council on second try

Looking west from Morton Street down the alley city council was asked to vacate.
Looking south from 2nd Street down the alley that city council was asked to vacate.
Highlighted in yellow are the alleys the city council was asked to vacate.
Schematic drawing by local architect Marc Cornett showing alleys in red where he thinks they should be added.
Proposed addition of alleys to be worked out after vacation of alleys. (June 1, 2022)

At its meeting on Wednesday, Bloomington’s city council voted unanimously to vacate parts of two alleys in one of the blocks near the former site of the IU Health hospital.

The request came from the Hamilton administration through the Bloomington redevelopment commission (RDC).

The block in question is bounded by Morton and Rogers streets on the east and west, and by 2nd and 1st streets on the north and south.

The vacation of alleys approved by the council on Wednesday was the same proposal that had failed on a 4–5 vote in the first week of April.

But the council used an uncommon procedure from Robert’s Rules—called “renewal” of a motion—to consider the question again on Wednesday.

Convincing the council to revisit the question were several concessions made by the administration in connection with the planning for the former hospital site, which has been named the Hopewell neighborhood. Continue reading “Vacation of alleys for hospital site redevelopment gets yes from Bloomington council on second try” →

Bloomington OKs 213 new apartments, 340 bedrooms on north side

At its Monday evening meeting, Bloomington’s plan commission approved the site plan for the construction of 213 new apartments on the northeast side of the roundabout at 17th Street and Arlington Road.

The project to be built by MHG Apartments takes up about 7 acres of land, which is made up of a half dozen different parcels.

It’s a four-story multi-family building that will be home to the 213 new units with their combined 340 bedrooms. The breakdown on the mix of sizes is: 93 one-bedroom units; 113 two-bedroom units, and 7 three-bedroom units.

The plan commission’s vote was 7–1 with dissent from Ron Smith, the city council’s representative to the plan commission.

Smith objected to what he described as the “monolithic” character of the building. “I worry that we have a lot of monolithic apartment complexes in town,” Smith said. Continue reading “Bloomington OKs 213 new apartments, 340 bedrooms on north side” →

Bloomington city council balks for now at vacating some public right-of-way on former hospital site

Looking south from Madison Street at 2nd Street across the parcel where Madison Street is planned to be extended.
Looking west from Morton Street down the alley city council was asked to vacate.
Looking south from 2nd Street down the alley that city council was asked to vacate.
Highlighted in yellow are the alleys the city council was asked to vacate.
Schematic drawing by local architect Marc Cornett showing alleys in red where he thinks they should be added.

A request from Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) to vacate parts of two alleys in one of the blocks near the former site of the IU Health hospital was denied by Bloomington’s city council at its Wednesday meeting.

The vote was split 4–5, but not along familiar lines.

Voting to give up the right-of-way were: Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Sue Sgambelluri, Jim Sims, and Ron Smith. Voting against the vacation of the alleys were: Matt Flaherty, Dave Rollo, Kate Rosenbarger, Susan Sandberg, and Steve Volan.

The RDC’s request came in connection with the planned redevelopment of the site, which Bloomington is acquiring from the health provider in a $6.5 million real estate deal. Continue reading “Bloomington city council balks for now at vacating some public right-of-way on former hospital site” →

Catalent tax abatement OK’d in first of two Bloomington city council votes: 9–0

Bloomington’s city council voted 9–0 on Wednesday night to approve a tax abatement for Catalent in exchange for a capital investment of $350 million and 1,000 new jobs.

Final approval will require a confirmatory vote on March 2, after a public hearing.

The additional jobs would grow the pharmaceutical company’s local workforce by about one-third.

Catalent is looking to spend about $10 million on development of real property, possibly by buying more land. The other $340 million would be invested in personal property, which includes all the non-permanent fixtures inside a building, like manufacturing equipment.

The investment by the pharmaceutical company would be contingent on a tax abatement on the additional value for both real and personal property. Real property would be abated at a rate of 50 percent a year for 10 years, making a total of $826,760 in additional paid property taxes and $826,760 in abatement.

The bigger break comes for the personal property, which is 90 percent for 20 years, and totals an estimated $43,450,785 in abated taxes, which is calculated to have a net present value of about $28.4 million.

Because tax increment finance (TIF) capture is calculated on real property but not personal property, the impact of the abatement on TIF revenue would not be significant.

In the state of Indiana, the tax abatements don’t have an impact on the tax levy, that is, the amount of taxes collected by local governments. But an abatement does have an impact on how the tax burden is distributed across different taxpayers.

Councilmember Ron Smith was sanguine about the tax abatement. “I just think this is a fantastic opportunity,” Smith said.

Some councilmembers said they were voting yes Wednesday night, but seemed to leave open the possibility of voting no two weeks from now. Their concerns included: some skepticism about the “but for” criterion for tax abatements; the ability of Bloomington’s market to absorb the demand for additional housing; and the diminished income tax benefit of the new jobs due to out-of-county location of workers. Continue reading “Catalent tax abatement OK’d in first of two Bloomington city council votes: 9–0” →

Bloomington to woo Catalent with tax break as pharma company might invest $350M, add 1K jobs

By the end of 2026, Catalent might spend $350 million, in order to expand its Bloomington operation at South Patterson Drive in the southwestern part of town.

The project would add 1,000 new jobs, growing its local workforce by about one-third.

The pharmaceutical company is looking to spend about $10 million on development of real property, possibly by buying more land. The other $340 would be invested in personal property, which includes all the non-permanent fixtures inside a building, like manufacturing equipment.

The investment by the pharmaceutical company would be contingent on a tax abatement on the additional value for both real and personal property. Real property would be abated at a rate of 50 percent a year for 10 years, making a total of $826,760 in additional paid property taxes and $826,760 in abatement.

The bigger break comes for the personal property, which is 90 percent for 20 years, and totals an estimated $43,450,785 in abated taxes, with $4,827,865 in additional taxes to be paid.

It’s not a done deal, even if Bloomington’s city council grants the abatement, in a series of steps that will start at its meeting next Wednesday, Feb. 16.

That’s because Bloomington is just one of a number of other places in the country that are in the running for Catalent’s potential expansion in production capacity.

At the city council’s Feb. 4 work session, Bloomington director of economic development Alex Crowley put it like this: “[Catalent has] not made a decision—we are competing for this investment with other areas in the nation. They have biologics plants—as you’ll hear as part of their presentation, around different parts of the country.”

Crowley added, “Bloomington, I think, stacks up pretty well, from a talent perspective, from a quality of life perspective, the site, and the adjacent land availability.” Continue reading “Bloomington to woo Catalent with tax break as pharma company might invest $350M, add 1K jobs” →

Monroe County commissioners deny rezone for 125 single-family houses: “No matter what we do, people are going to be angry with us.”

A rezone petition for a 44-acre piece of land south of Bloomington’s current boundaries was denied on a unanimous vote of the three Monroe County commissioners at their regular Wednesday meeting.

The rezoning, from estate residential (RE1) to medium density residential (MR), would have allowed around 125 single-family houses to be built there, about three times as many as the roughly 40 that would be possible under the current zoning.

Part of the pitch from developers Donnie Adkins and Kevin Schmidt was that the denser development would allow for the houses to be priced around $300,000 to $400,000. That’s lower than the $700,000 or more that houses built under current zoning would likely cost, they said. The site is currently largely open, the site of the former Robertson farm. Continue reading “Monroe County commissioners deny rezone for 125 single-family houses: “No matter what we do, people are going to be angry with us.”” →

Requested tweaks to zoning for 340-bedroom mixed-use project on east side to be weighed by Bloomington city council

bordered R Map Curry PUD YYYlowresFor Beacon
The orange area is the parcel where Curry Urban Properties is proposing a planned unit development.
The orange area is the parcel where Curry Urban Properties is proposing a planned unit development.
Old Layout
Old Layout
New Layout
New Layout

In the pre-pandemic times of early February 2020, Bloomington’s city council approved the planned unit development (PUD) zoning for the 3.2-acre empty lot at the northwest corner of Pete Ellis Drive and Longview Avenue.

The lot is not yet developed with the project that the new zoning allowed: a building with studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom apartments totaling 344-bedrooms, which also incorporates a 306-space parking garage and 19,000 of commercial space.

It’s also not exactly the project that will eventually be constructed, based on a request from developer Tyler Curry (Curry Urban Properties) for the zoning to be tweaked.

After the Bloomington plan commission’s approval on Monday night, the next step for the changes to the PUD will be review and a decision by Bloomington’s city council.

Under the modified zoning request that was approved by Bloomington’s plan commission on Monday night, the bedroom count doesn’t change much—from 344 to 341 bedrooms.

It’s the mix of unit sizes that Curry would like to change. In addition to the studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units previously proposed, Curry would like to add up to 35 3-bedroom units.

Besides the unit mix, the other significant change is a request to be released from a condition that a “green wall” be constructed as a facade on the south side of the building, to help mask the parking garage from view. Under a proposed new design, the parking garage is wrapped by apartments—it’s not visible from either the north or south side of the building. Continue reading “Requested tweaks to zoning for 340-bedroom mixed-use project on east side to be weighed by Bloomington city council” →