New condos coming to downtown Plano: Energy-efficient buildings should have monthly utility bills under $50

A new housing complex is coming to downtown Plano, but unlike many of the luxury apartments already lining 15th Street, the new condominiums should be priced considerably lower.

The project's construction manager told the city council Monday night that he planned on building 40-50 units, with 80 percent of the units reserved for people who have household incomes at or below 80 percent of the median area income, which is currently about $82,000. The remaining 20 percent will be reserved for Plano teachers, firefighters and police officers.

While the units will not be expensive, Steve Brown said they will have a nice curb appeal and feature state-of-the-art energy efficient construction materials that keep the home's energy envelope -- the area bordering the conditioned living area -- tightly sealed. He said the lack of workforce housing in Plano is something that needs to be addressed, and he was happy to provide homes with low utility rates to lower income residents.

"We are looking at building under the Builder's Challenge guidelines from the Department of Energy," Brown said. "These homes start at 40 percent more efficient than the Energy Star baseline product. With the code changes across the nation you are starting to see more stringent work to get a tighter energy envelope, and we have one of the tightest in the industry."

If the council approves the site plan for the project, Brown said construction could begin in the next 3-4 months and the condominiums could be on the market by this time next year. He said plans are in place to build one-, two- and three-bedroom units, ranging from 800 to 1,200 square feet. With the energy efficient building techniques, he said the three bedroom, two bath units would likely have utility bills in the $30-$50 range.

The units will be built on property formerly owned by the Plano Housing Authority, located at the southwest corner of the intersection of G Avenue and 14th Street.

The orange, boarded-up public housing buildings will be demolished, a process which will partially be paid for by money from the city's Tax Increment Finance District No. 2. The city council tentatively agreed Monday night to reimburse the developers for up to $150,000 of the cost of demolition and environmental remediation.

In a memo to the city manager's office, Planning Director Phyllis Jarrell said city staff recommended the funding be approved.

"A goal of the city, as affirmed in the Downtown Plano Transit Village Plan, is to increase the number of housing units within walking distance of the DART rail platform," Jarrell wrote. "The city's Consolidated Plan, required by HUD, recommends that the city continue to create affordable homeownership opportunities through homeownership assistances, new construction and/or acquisition and rehabilitation of land and properties for income qualifying households. Redevelopment of this property will eliminate abandoned and boarded up buildings, and address a need for affordable housing with access to transit."

Jarrell said this is one more tool to attract developers and continue the redevelopment of downtown.

"We have offered financial incentives to a variety of the developments in the downtown area," she said. "It hasn't been in the form of assistance with demolition, it has been more in the form of infrastructure, land banking and that type of thing."

Assistant City Manager Frank Turner said reimbursing developers for site clearing is not unprecedented, noting that funds from the Tax Increment Finance District No. 2 were also used for the recent demolition of Eisenberg's Skate Park.

The public housing property was purchased by Green Extreme Homes, a Lewisville nonprofit, in conjunction with the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation. The homes will be built by Brown's company, Carl Franklin Homes, which has previously built homes in Plano, including several in the Douglas Community at 14th Street and H Avenue.

Jean Brown, the executive director of Green Extreme Homes, said while the city is being asked to help with the demolition costs, it will benefit from having the property back on the tax roll for the first time since 1954 when it was purchased by the housing authority.

The purchase of the property for residential uses comes after the city held discussions last year to turn the existing buildings into art studios. Last July, Turner said the discussions were "very preliminary" and the city was still determining if the studio plan was a "workable concept." At the time, he said with the buildings having no working plumbing, the cost of renovations may prevent the art studio project from ever getting off the ground.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...