COMMUNICATION URBAN DESIGN REVIEW BOARD CITY OF DES MOINES, IOWA 2 DECEMBER, 2014 MEETING

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1 COMMUNICATION URBAN DESIGN REVIEW BOARD CITY OF DES MOINES, IOWA 2 DECEMBER, 2014 MEETING Subject: Recommendation Prepared by: PRELIMINARY DESIGN PROPOSAL FOR AC HOTEL (401 EAST GRAND AVENUE) X APPROVE DISAPPROVE ACTION OTHER ERIN OLSON-DOUGLAS EODOUGLAS@DMGOV.ORG Attachment Listing: Summary: Heart of America Hotel Group (HOA, Mike Whalen, President, 1501 River Drive, Moline, IL 61265) is proposing a 6-story, 108-room AC Hotel for the city-owned parking lot at the southeast corner of E. Grand Avenue and E. 4th Street in the East Village. AC Hotel is a Marriott flag that is new to the North American market and will bring a boutique hotel to downtown Des Moines. AC Hotels seek urban locations and, thus, bring a mix of hotel features well-suited to this site including underground parking, an indoor-outdoor rooftop lounge, a small fitness facility, and limited food services that encourage guests to walk to the areas restaurants and other amenities. The mass of the building fronts on E. Grand with the southern portion of the site that abuts the alley and SoHo lofts providing a small surface parking lot over the underground parking. The ground floor of the project is occupied with the hotel s public uses, including the main entry, lobby, breakfast area, and meeting rooms along East Grand Avenue and a secondary walk-up entry along E. 4 th Street. The entry and egress to the below grade parking is on East 4 th Street. The project utilizes a mix of light-colored gray/buff brick, grey limestone, metal panels, large expanses of glass curtain wall and fiber cement panels. Materials relate to the context of the East Village, while also bringing contemporary architecture to this area of downtown. The site is under the guidance of the Eastern Gateway District Design Guidelines for new construction and the proposed project responds favorably to these guidelines (these guidelines appear in the Background section of this report). HOA s staff architects are providing architectural design services with Confluence and Raker Rhodes assisting with landscape and civil design services. The project cost is estimated at approximately $18.5M. The Board provided preliminary design review and final financial review on October 21, Final design was presented to the Board on November 18, 2014; the Board requested additional study of the following issues: Provide a single (vs double) drive off E. Grand Avenue Revise the canopy and entrances with appropriate human scale on the north side and the south side coming from the parking lot. Consider a change of material and incorporating warmer tones. Revise the streetscape in entirety including: update tree species on 4th Street, add a tree at the NW corner, review opportunities on the west side, including public art At the December 2 UDRB meeting, the development team will present updates to the proposed design including the elimination of their drive from E. Grand Avenue in favor of a pocket park at the east end of the building, revisions to the streetscape, and revisions to the canopy height and materials. Board comments at the November 18 and October 21 meetings are included in the Background section of this report.

2 PAGE 2 Scope of Review Board to make recommendation to City Council on: Design review of renovation /remodeling/new construction for City-owned or leased project Design review for urban renewal project with specific development requirements Whether a proposed urban renewal project qualifies for funding from tax increment. Whether the level of financial assistance funded from tax increment revenues proposed for a specific individual project are reasonable and appropriate. The selection of urban renewal sites for clearance or rehabilitation and problems relating to acquisition, clearance or rehabilitation of property, relocation of displaced persons and disposition of acquired property. Skywalk System Other Urban Design Review Board Action: The Board is asked to provide a final design recommendation to City Council. Staff Recommendation: Approval. Background: UDRB Comments: At the November 18, 2014 meeting, the Board provided the following comments: The one drive design has better pedestrian access to the building than the two drive design. It is difficult to approve without a clear understanding of the foundation of Norden Hall and how the two drive work together and options that can allow them to work together. Encourage the use of mid-size streets that handle limited soil, drought conditions and something that gets the branches up and is cleaner than crap apples and serviceberry. Like the south façade it is interesting and will fit in with the neighborhood. Feel an additional study needs to take place on the entrance, the canopy is incredibly tall, the scale is not quite right. Also, the other entrances/exits around the building do not offer guest any relief from rain or storm. Previously shown examples showed warm colors at the entrance with either wood or red brick this could make it more inviting, more pedestrian and give a clue that you are in the East Village instead of a suburb. There is opportunity to activate the streetscape on the back and the southwest corner with added plantings and furniture. Recommend reconsidering stone benches, integrate the art, and provide more shade. Appreciate the efforts of the development team, great progress has been made. Believe that the project should be moved on, trust the development team because of what they have done with the recommendations previously given by the Board. On October 21, 2014, the Board recommended approval of the financial incentive package for the project at (net present value estimated at $3.8M total over 20 years) and offered the following comments during the preliminary design review: Concern that the market may be becoming saturated with hotels Unusual to see limestone make contact with the ground, concerned that the limestone may deteriorate more than if it were separated from the ground.

3 PAGE 3 Would encourage the team to look at carrying the concrete base on the west side of the building around the building to create a podium expression that is fairly consistent in the area. The context of materials in the area are more warm and inviting than the current design. Suggest moving the emphasis to the entrance form rather than a bay off on the main elevation Believe there is value to the neighborhood to bring a different demographic than is already staying in the area. Feel that there may be parking education issues and challenges that need to be addressed. Encourage HOA to explore options for employee parking. Work on the exiting of the parking area on E. 4th Street. This area is already creates some pedestrian-vehicle conflicts due to the existing underground parking access to SoHo and the E-W alley with the current on-street parking and roadway configuration. Concern that the color pallet does not fit in to the East Village neighborhood. Would feel more comfortable if the limestone were more yellow and the brick were similar to other buildings in the East Village. Look at bridging the large gap in the streetscape on the west side of the site. The development team responded to these recommendations by adding a concrete podium that wraps the base of the building, providing a listing of their sustainable considerations, making some revisions to the underground parking entry at E. 4 th Street, continuing collaboration on a joint curb cut along E. Grand Avenue, and studying the material palette w/ the AC Brand (however, the development team did not propose changes to the material palette). General The project fills a key block connecting the East Village to the Riverwalk and will contribute to the East Village s expansion northward to E. Grand Avenue. The proposed density, massing and uses support the desired development pattern in this section of downtown and will bring increased visitor activity to existing East Village businesses. Its ground floor includes the hotel lobby and other semi-public uses, providing the desired street level activity. The site provides for its own parking needs and buries this parking at the interior of the block and below grade. A boiler mechanical system is proposed. Rooftop equipment will be screened by extending façade material to provide a mechanical enclosure. The site is one of several anticipated redevelopment projects on the south side of E. Grand Avenue. The site plan for the AC Hotel reflects a larger plan for enhancing pedestrian activity and safety in the area by reducing the north-south crossing width of E. Grand Avenue with the addition of permanent on-street parking and corner bump-outs on the south side of the street. The project team is working with the owners of Norden Hall to the east to combine their site accesses on E. Grand Avenue. While there are still details to develop (grading, costs, easements, maintenance, etc), there is conceptual agreement to implement the single drive. Staff and the Board challenged the project team to explore an alternate configuration of the below grade parking entry/egress to co-locate with the alley curb cut and avoid the concentration of curb cuts on E. 4 th St. This is proving technically difficult; the development team has proposed some mitigating measures, including revision to the perimeter walls to allow for better pedestrian visibility and the addition of a pedestrian notification device to alert those walking near the drive of a car approaching from the hotel s underground parking. Applicable Design Guidelines The project is in the area covered by the Eastern Gateway District Design Guidelines. The project interprets these guidelines in a contemporary architectural proposal while respecting their intent.

4 PAGE 4 excerpt from Eastern Gateway District Design Guidelines New Construction The intent of this section is to establish objectives and minimum standards to guide new construction project design. 1. Reinforce the unique existing character of the Civic Center Historic District. New construction should build upon the commercial style brick character of the Eastern Gateway district and set off the Beaux Arts style of the Civic Center Historic District. The east side of the Civic Center Historic District includes the Des Moines Municipal Building (City Hall), Federal Courthouse, Police Station, and the Armory Building. New construction projects should not imitate the classically inspired architecture in the Civic Center Historic District but compliment the commercial quality of buildings in the larger surrounding district. 2. Reinforce the early 1900 s context and pedestrian-scale in the District through the choice and use of exterior building materials to further the image of the Eastern Gateway district as predominantly an area of masonry construction with red, rust, and buff tones brick for commercial buildings. Use of building materials should allow for the introduction of contemporary building materials; these contemporary materials are to be used in a manner to strengthen the context of the area and compliment brick as a predominant feature material on the primary building façade. A traditional brick size is encouraged. Brick color is preferred in the range of the red, rust and buff family of colors to complement the existing palette of brick and reinforce to the District s existing context and image. Other materials, such as stone, glass, metals, etc., may also be used if used in a manner which are compatible with the use of brick and enhance the historic precedence for brick as an exterior building material in the area. Secondary walls are encouraged to use brick and/or highlight brick material to offer ongoing district continuity and context. 3. Promote a compatible building height and density to encourage an appropriate level of development intensity and achieve consistency with existing structures. Therefore, new buildings are encouraged to be a minimum of 24 feet, or two stories, in height. One-story buildings are discouraged. However, a greater building density of 3-5 stories is strongly encouraged. Building heights shall be consistent with Capitol View Protection standards. This measure is intended to ensure that new construction does not overwhelm adjacent historic buildings as well as maintain significant views of the State Capitol Building. To meet this guideline, new buildings cannot exceed 75 in height in Capitol Dominance Overlay District A. Any structure in Capitol Dominance Overlay District B shall have a maximum building height of 55 feet. However, if the portion of the structure over 55-ft. height is devoted entirely to a residential use, the maximum building height shall be 75 feet.

5 PAGE 5 Chimneys, cooling towers, elevator bulkheads, antennae, and necessary mechanical appurtenances extending above the roof of a building may exceed the maximum elevation established for such district by not more than fifteen feet provided they are set back at least fifteen feet from all faces of the building adjacent to a street. 4. Maintain the concept of a street wall and provide a dynamic, pedestrian-friendly public realm. New construction should promote building up to the property line. The building is encouraged to be oriented and designed to provide a strong visible main entry from the primary street. The ground floor should also enhance pedestrian appeal with ground floor openness through the use of windows with clear glazing or very lightly tinted glazing. When possible, the design plan is encouraged to provide desirable streetscape amenities such as attractive awnings, signage, outdoor seating areas, etc. All designs should be developed with human scale in mind and create spaces which are comfortable for people to use. Typically, buildings close to or at the property line and which maintain a sidewalk width of feet offer a more desirable human scale and a compatible scale with the intended development and uses targeted for the neighborhood. It is recommended that 50% of the building s façade be set at the property line and 60% of the remaining building frontage be set no more than 8 feet back from the property line. 5. Promote ceiling heights that enhance architectural emphasis on the street level. New construction is encouraged to have a street level ceiling height no less than 11 feet above the finished floor. A ceiling height of 16 ft. 18 ft. is encouraged to support ground level retail development. 6. Incorporate street level uses that build upon the pedestrian character of the Eastern Gateway district. Projects along E. Locust St. should have a predominantly retail/commercial, civic/cultural uses or entertainment uses at the street level. 7. Reinforce a pedestrian-friendly scale and rhythm to the street façade and achieve a scale of new construction which is similar to the scale of the existing historic building pattern in this area. To achieve this result, various design measures are encouraged to subdivide the façade and add visual richness to the area. For instance, belt courses and vertical subdivisions may be used to emphasize bays. Other strategies include the using cornices, changes in patterns of masonry openings, material selection, height and other details are encouraged to provide an interesting and appealing pedestrian experience and to avoid long, monotonous facades which typically detract from a positive street level experience. 8. Door and window style, design, placement and proportion are encouraged to complement the historic character of the area, context and building scale. Projects are strongly encouraged to address doors and windows in a manner which offers continuity and compatibility to a district which historically offered significant amount of street level retail, window displays and views in to and out of buildings for an increased sense of activity.

6 PAGE 6 Upcoming Schedule and Process 11/19/14: Board of Adjustment approved relief from 55 height limit, signage area/location requirements, and liquor sales 12/4/14: Plan and Zoning Commission for site plan review 12/16/14: UDRB final review (if needed) 12/22/14: Council to receive, file and set date of hearing w/ 45-day competitive bid period to convey 401 E. Grand 2/??/15: Council action to convey 401 E. Grand consider final terms of development agreement Financial Assistance On October 21, 2014, the Board approved financial assistance recommended for the project that utilizes land sales proceeds ($550,000) and 80% of the new project-generated tax increment for 20 years (estimated to have a net present value of $3.8M). The exact amounts of the annual installment will fluctuate with the property s actual property tax assessment.