Developer seeks neighbor input early.
Picture the outer edges of downtown Santa Fe as a dense urban gateway, complete with bustling businesses, hip galleries and spacious, affordable lofts.
Too expensive? Too extreme? Too bold?
***image1*** Just wait, says Don Wiviott, who developed The Lofts, the condo style complexes off of Cerrillos Road, on the city's south side and Marquez Place, close to downtown.
Now, fresh off his work on the Santa Fe Railyard, where Wiviott has been working with local residents to build a development where artists both live and work, Wiviott has another idea.
This time, he wants to turn the 11,000-square-foot building at 519 Cerrillos Road, formerly Club Luna, into a mixed-use affair complete with retail and office space.
"This is part of the gateway to downtown and it certainly needs improvement," Wiviott, who has a contract to buy the building from its owners, The Beers Family Trust, says.
No stranger to controversy, Wiviott has in the past clashed with the city and neighborhood groups on his projects. In 2001, Wiviott successfully sued the city after the City Council struck down his plan to build The Lofts on Marquez Place. This past summer, he came under fire from neighborhood activists opposed to his live-work concept for the Railyard, an idea some dismissed as nothing more than a glorified big box complex.
Ostensibly, Wiviott has learned his lesson. That's why, on Nov. 19 and 20, he and his staff went door to door in the area around the property with flyers encouraging neighbors to attend a series of meetings on the proposed development.
The first meeting was scheduled for Nov. 22 inside the old Club Luna building, now a massive, decaying warehouse-looking structure, scarred with graffiti and debris. Subsequent meetings are scheduled for Nov. 30 and Dec. 10.
Some adjacent property owners are already weighing in.
"It's certainly better than what's there now," Brian Graves, manager of the Santa Fe Motel and Inn, which sits directly across the street from the proposed development says. "To have shops and stores and businesses there…we're all for it. Between the Railyard and now this, downtown could be a really vibrant place."
Peter Komis, president of the Don Gaspar Neighborhood Association which would be peripherally affected by the development, says he's in favor of any sort of mixed use project at 519 Cerrillos, although Komis, a commercial landowner himself, notes he's been on vacation for nearly three weeks and has yet to speak with Wiviott about his plans.
"The area is already zoned for commercial use," Komis, who grew up in the neighborhood and remembers seeing businesses come and go at that address, says. "If it's anything like the lofts and the housing is affordable then I think this would be an improvement for the area."
Like Komis, Janet Williams has seen much turnover at 519 Cerrillos. Williams and her husband Michael Bauer own the thin strip of property directly next to 519 Cerrillos, which holds two businesses-Paseo Pottery and Bauer Freeman McDermott Architects. Williams, a potter, remembers well the days of Club Luna and says she's excited at the prospect of having neighbors again as opposed to an empty building.
"I'm just fine with the idea," Williams says. "I have no problems with it. I'd like to see the building occupied."
Mike Walsh, who works with Williams, is less enthusiastic.
"I'm ambivalent," he says. "I like the idea of mixed-use, but I'm concerned about the height. Those lofts are very tall."
It's these very concerns Wiviott plans to address at the meetings. And, given his past problems, Wiviott seems content to let the neighbors do the talking, at least for now.
"In the past we usually proposed our ideas," Wiviott says. "Not this time. We're waiting to get other ideas on the property from people at the meeting. At this point it's a blank project."
City Councilor Karen Heldmeyer, whose District 2 includes the area of Wiviott's proposal, says it's premature to take a position on his plans at this point.
"I never have a preliminary feeling about land use issues," Heldmeyer says. "It sounds like a major project, and it will invariably come before the appropriate committees."
Heldmeyer, who served for years on the Planning Commission, also sits on the Business Capital District/Design Review Committee which oversees development in parts of downtown, including 519 Cerrillos.
Wiviott would not reveal how much he's slated to buy the property for, only saying, "It's a lot."
"I'd like to do residential downtown middle class housing as part of this," he says. "I don't know if it will work. It could be that everyone wants law offices or restaurants. It's a great location to do something cool and appropriate."
Hubert van Hecke, president of Don Diego Neighborhood Association, says his group has had mixed experiences with local developers in past years depending on how much and how early those developers decided to include neighbors in the planning process.
This time, however, with Wiviott reaching out during the preliminary stages, van Hecke thinks there's a strong possibility neighborhood associations like his could indeed play a pivotal role in shaping the project.
"This town lives or dies on whether people are living in it, especially in the core part of the city," he says. "Personally, I'd like to see more residential ideas on the street level in downtown, and I think the live-work idea is a not a bad concept. This could be a positive thing for our area."
