Developer Tommy Spinosa has withdrawn from consideration by the Planning Commission his final development plan for the Neighborhood Center at Rouzan. In a letter submitted Thursday to Planning Director Frank Duke, Spinosa says he will make adjustments and resubmit the plan next month, which means the Planning Commission will vote on the plans in May instead of in April.
Earlier this month Spinosa’s design team submitted plans for the eight-acre Neighborhood Center, which will be the commercial portion of the traditional neighborhood development, or TND, located off Perkins Road in Southdowns. Plans call for the center to be anchored by an Alamo Drafthouse movie theater. It also will include more than 71,000 square feet of commercial office and residential space across three, four-story buildings.
Shortly after the plans were submitted, planning staffers found two minor problems with the application. One of the commercial buildings encroaches slightly on the public right-of-way on Perkins Road. Also, the landscaping plan submitted for the TND does not follow the city-parish points system, which is a way of noting that certain standards are met.
Planning staff members met with Rouzan engineers on March 6 to discuss the issues. Assistant Planning Director Ryan Holcomb says they subsequently identified a couple of other minor problems, though nothing that cannot be corrected.
While engineers and designers work out kinks with the project’s commercial portion, the residential phases are booming, according to Level Construction President Todd Waguespack, whose firm bought 23 lots in the Creekside neighborhood last year and has proceeded to develop 15 as single-family homes and eight others as cottage homes. Waguespack says 12 of the 15 homes have been completed and sold. The eight cottage homes should be completed in the next 30 days.
“Sales have been exceptional,” says Waguespack, who intends to buy more lots when the third phase of the development is ready. “It’s just a great location.”
Calls to a spokesperson for Rouzan for comment were not returned as of this morning’s deadline.
—Stephanie Riegel
