After getting pushback from neighbors and design advice from the Planning Board, Savarino Companies has revised its plans for a new apartment building at 1 Howell Street. The 66-unit building is proposed for the south end of Bush and Howell streets in Black Rock, dead end streets that run off of Amherst Street west of Wegmans and north of the Scajaquada.
The project was tabled in June over parking plans and increased traffic on the narrow streets. Savarino is proposing to purchase a City-owned parcel at 18 Howell to increase the amount of parking for the project but also to provide off-street parking for nearby residents. A new pocket park is proposed east of the added parking lot.
From the project application:
1 Howell Street parcel consisting of approx. 60,000 sq. ft. (15,550 sq. ft. footprint) that will consist of sixty-six apartments (55 one-bedroom units and 11 two-bedroom units) and related site improvements including forty-three (43) parking spaces beneath the new building and eleven (11) surface parking space adjacent to the new building.
In an effort to accommodate any spillover parking need that the redevelopment project may need, the vacant parcel at 18 Howell Street was added to the proposed site plan. This additional parcel will include a new public pocket park situated along the Howell Street frontage, a proposed Reddy Bikeshare Hub, a surface parking lot containing and an additional thirty-three parking spaces (with seven of those designated for existing Howell Street residents and visitors). In all, the proposed 66-unit redevelopment project will have 80 parking spaces.
A fourth-floor building setback was added to the northern section of the building (above, right). Both first floor and fourth floor amenity areas are planned including an outdoor fourth floor patio area overlooking Scajaquada Creek. Elev8 Archicture is designing the project.
A two-story masonry building currently occupies the property, a historical structure sitting on property that has been subject to extensive environmental remediation due to past heavy-industrial use. The building itself has been altered over time, suffered damage from a fire last year, and sits atop dirt that requires remediation. The site will be remediated under the NYSDEC Brownfield Cleanup Program.