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Council OKs office complex

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Developers got the go-ahead Thursday for what is slated to become an 11-building office condominium complex at The Park at Summit Point.

Fayetteville City Council members voted unanimously to approve the rezoning request that will allow a total of 32,500 square feet rather than the 20,000 square feet included in the original plan for the Summit Point commercial area on S. Glynn Street.

The rezoning request was submitted by Piedmont Capital Partners, LLC. The original Planned Community Development (PCD) called for two office buildings totaling 20,000 square feet. City Planning & Zoning Commission members recently declined to sign off on the request to increase the project size to 32,000 square feet spread over 11 buildings.

Kent Rose, representing Piedmont Capital Partners, told the council Thursday the current business climate was more conducive to smaller buildings. Rose said the company’s request was market-driven in nature, with the current business climate more conducive to local business owners purchasing property rather than renting it.

Also representing Piedmont Capital, Jeff Pittman told council members the development was designed to attract high-end buyers. During the discussion, he confirmed that two of the 11 buildings would be two-story structures with the remaining nine buildings limited to one-story.

In a prior Planning & Zoning meeting, board members said they understood the developer’s concerns but said they could only approve project parameters designated in the original plan for the area’s development. They cited the significant public input in meetings when the the area was being proposed for development and their belief that the project, especially the square footage, should be held to the original agreement.

The site is currently zoned PCD and is consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map, City Planner Eldridge Gunn told council members in a July 7 letter. Gunn said Piedmont Capital Partners had provided city staff with a concept plan to show how the office condominiums would be arranged on the site. The applicant seeks to have more, but smaller, buildings on site without an increase in impervious surface, he said.