Dean Knuth / Arizona Daily Star

Related articles:

Condo plans for WWI-era apartments Downtown

Other articles by Rob O'dell:

2 Rio Nuevo design firms ranked tops in profitabilityCity to close for 5 added days to save some moneyCouncil: 'Safety initiative' means huge tax hikeDevelopers want Rialto's back rentSpring training evidently near endFinal cost to city for short film: $820,000City delay may doom Downtown dealDowntown deal revamped, drops housing, arts space Electric shocks could be problem at 3 parks Letcher promotes 3, hires new aide

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator

Past proclamations about the urgency to redevelop Downtown notwithstanding, the City Council unanimously told the developer of 53 proposed condominiums to wait Tuesday.

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff suggested the council put off the vote because of concerns raised by colleagues that background information about the plan wasn't sent out to them until late last Friday, giving them little time to review it.

That concern came on top of a push by Councilwoman Regina Romero to add low-income housing requirements to the project, including imposing a 1 percent fee on the deed transfer when the unit is sold for the first time.

Money from the fee — $1,500 on the sale of a $150,000 condo — would go to the city's housing trust fund.

Developer Ross Rulney wants to convert apartments into 53 condominiums in a 91-year-old building near the southwest corner of East Broadway and South Fifth Avenue. The project is called the Flats at Julian Drew Block.

Units would be mainly one-bedrooms, with a few studios, he said. Prices would range from the low to mid-$100,000s.

The condos would be the first of three phases of a $10 million project to rehabilitate the World War I-era building and two adjacent buildings at Broadway and Fifth.

Rulney, who has pledged $5,300 to the housing trust fund, agreed to the one-week delay but said after the meeting he could not agree to the 1 percent transfer fee because he could not impose that on his buyers. He said the requirement could also make it harder for his customers to get mortgages.

Under the development agreement, the city would put in utility upgrades and a streetcar line and upgrade the streetscape along Broadway and Fifth, but only after Rulney starts construction to convert the existing apartments to condominiums.

Romero said she didn't have enough time to review the item because it came too late. However, she said she did speak with Rulney about the agreement before the council meeting.

Material added to the council agenda late went out Friday at 3:30 p.m. Delivery to the council at that hour, and even on the Monday before the council meeting, is not uncommon, and most items are approved with little problem.

Aides to Councilwoman Karin Uhlich also said the agenda item came too late on Friday.

Romero said she wants to talk about "suggesting" a "voluntary" 1 percent transfer fee to help fund the city's housing trust fund. She said she "absolutely" supports the development without the 1 percent transfer fee.

But Romero said given the fact the city is accelerating its plans for infrastructure and streetscape for the project, the city should look into whether it could get more low-income units as compensation. "We should at least talk about it," Romero said.

The delay does not send a bad message for revitalizing Downtown, Romero said, because the development agreement was only delayed for a week.

Councilwoman Shirley Scott said the vote was "sad" because the developer is "ready to rock and roll" and the council is delaying.

Trasoff said she believes this is exactly the type of project the city needs to help revitalize Downtown. She said the prices for the condos are already low enough to attract low- and middle-income owners.

Trasoff said she didn't push forward with the vote because she felt it could have resulted in a 3-3 deadlock, delaying it for a week anyway. Mayor Bob Walkup was absent.

"When a developer wants to build a good project, I don't think it's fair to come in at the last minute to add another requirement," Trasoff said. "I don't want this to send a negative message to businesses."