Alvarez scrapping plans for offices at Jamestown

Changing market conditions have prompted builder Carlos Alvarez to change his plans for a portion of Jamestown that was originally intended for office space. Instead, the developer wants to build 51 single-family homes on the 8-acre tract. Alvarez has filed a revised plan for the Jamestown Square portion of his planned unit development on Perkins Road with the Planning Commission, and says the new plan is a better use of the land. “I don’t want to say there is no market for the office space,” says Alvarez, who originally hoped to develop 17 office buildings in the square, each between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet. “But it’s a difficult market right now. For us being home builders, this was a better avenue to get that land developed.” The homes in the revised plan will be zero-lot line homes, but will have more upscale amenities and amenity options than other homes in the development. Prices will range from $275,000 to $300,000. Plans for the 108-acre Jamestown, which has 280 homes built so far and 48 undeveloped lots, also call for retail development. Alvarez says he has several promising leads but no deals just yet. —Stephanie Riegel