Twenty loft-style apartments and an adjacent park will soon break ground at the Water Campus, officials said during today’s Downtown Development District meeting.
The 20 apartments—called 200 Water Street—will take up four floors in a standalone building that will begin construction sometime within the next week, says Tina Rance, vice president of marketing for Commercial Properties Realty Trust.
Around the same time, more than $1 million worth of work will also begin on Main Square, a planned park located in between the apartments and 1200 Brickyard Lane, the multilevel office building anchored by Stantec. Serving as the park’s centerpiece will be a fountain, modeled after the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in London, with bikeshare stations and electric vehicle charging stations also located in the space.
“It will be a gathering place for the campus where people can go out and eat their lunch and enjoy being near the water,” Rance says.
Construction on both developments will last approximately 10 months, with pre-leasing beginning in three months. Meanwhile, she says efforts to access the Water Campus from South Boulevard will likely take a few more years, as the campus progresses and there are buildings north of Water Street.
Also discussed at the DDD meeting:
- Construction continues on Phase II of the Downtown Greenway, with officials estimating a four-month timeline until project completion.
- DDD and BRPD officials are meeting with the mayor’s office and downtown service providers to address homelessness in the area.
- First United Methodist Church expects to open its $3.5 million, renovated sanctuary to the community by Easter.
- Work on the downtown library is slated to wrap Oct. 30, with a public opening in early 2020.
- Beauregard Town is trying to become designated as a historic district.
The DDD is expected to approve its standstill 2020 budget at its November meeting.
Editor’s Note: This story has been modified from an earlier version, which incorrectly stated the 20 loft apartments would be located in a 13-floor building, and that soil and railroad crossing issues were the reason efforts to access the Water Campus from South Boulevard would take a few years. Daily Report regrets these errors.
