Downtown Apartment Complex Proposed

Developer Thom Darga will appear before Traverse City planning commissioners Tuesday night to discuss a proposed residential development on the former Fifth-Third property along Garland Street between Union and Pine streets.

Darga hopes to receive accommodation to build a four-story building up to 60 feet high, an increase over the 45 feet allowed by right on the property. In a letter to planning commissioners, Darga wrote he intends to build up to 120 rental apartments "of varying size and configurations" with views of the Boardman River and Union and Garland streets on the top three floors. The units would be "above a street-level retail/commercial storefront complex surrounding parking for up to 500 cars within the Warehouse District."

Project plans also call for the roof of the interior parking garage to offer a "tenant common space rooftop green space with gathering areas for residents, recreational activity courts, exercise rooms, micro-garden plots and walking track all with views of both Grand Traverse Bay and the Boardman River."

According to Darga, the proposed height - four stories of 15' each - "enables living, work, and circulation environments to expand interior living space on efficient footprints and accommodate efficient space to conduct heating, ventilating and cooling (HVAC), fire suppression and electrical systems in a manageable and energy-efficient and durable-high life cycle design."

Planning commissioners will only review and discuss the preliminary plans Tuesday; they will not yet vote on the height request. The Traverse City planning commission meets at 7:30pm Tuesday in the Governmental Center.