Neighbors raise concerns about 60-foot building proposal abutting homes on Medical Mile

Some neighbors of a proposed four-story multifamily development on the city’s Medical Mile voiced objections to the project at last night’s Springfield City Council meeting.

Located at 3302 S. Maryland Ave., the site of the proposed multifamily apartment building, called the Reserve on Medical Mile, is a 7.6-acre parcel bounded by National Avenue on the east and Maryland Avenue on the west with Walnut Lawn Street as its southern border. The roundabout at Maryland and Walnut Lawn is at the southwest corner of the site. The parcel also includes a strip of land on the west side of Maryland.

To the north is a four-story physicians’ office building, the Mercy Smith Glynn Callaway facility, and its parking lot.

Maryland Avenue serves as a sharp line of demarcation between the low-profile, mostly ranch-style houses of the High Meadow East neighborhood to its west and the commercial properties on the east, as well as the medical facilities to the south that gave rise to the original planned development, now in its third incarnation. The area was originally part of the medical center development, according to the staff report.

The building as proposed would include 198 units.

From Maryland Avenue west, the High Meadow East neighborhood is composed of one- and two-story single-family houses, and the chief objection of residents who attended the public hearing on a rezoning for the development was the height of the project, at a height of four stories and 60 feet. Resident James Head called the project gargantuan and said it threatens the vitality of the traditional neighborhood.

Justin Crighton, assistant director of planning and development, characterized the site’s current status as an underutilized and underdeveloped parking lot.

Councilmember Brandon Jenson raised the same concern. He said the design fits perfectly with the development to the east of Maryland Avenue – a bank, medical buildings and commercial structures.

“It doesn’t really seem to take any reference or any deference to the development on the other side of Maryland Avenue,” he said. “We go straight from one- and two-story single-family homes to boom, you’ve got a 60-foot, straight-up-and-down wall with no physical transition, nothing that helps with easing between those two.”

Jenson added that the Forward SGF comprehensive plan advises that corridors be softened as they transition into neighborhoods.

“I don’t see this doing that,” he said.

Councilmember Craig Hosmer said there is a difference between a large multifamily residential structure – used 24 hours per day, every day – and a commercial building that is active during the day. He said the higher building could be problematic to the residential neighborhood.

“I understand the neighbors’ concern that you’re in a single-family residential neighborhood, then all of a sudden there’s a four-story building with people,” he said.

Hosmer also clarified that the density is determined by the developer, and Crighton agreed.

“I think that below a certain density, the project doesn’t really make sense,” Crighton said.

Developer Nathan Reynolds with Bibi Oaks LLC said he loves and “geeks out” on real estate and wants to provide essential housing to benefit medical professionals and others who work in the area.

“I’m trying to put something there that already exists around it,” Reynolds said, referring to the commercial development on three sides of the site. “To the north, to the south, to the east – it already exists, this wall that you’re speaking of. I’m not creating it; it already exists, so I’m just trying to build within that.”

Seven neighbors voiced opposition to the development with none speaking up in favor of it. In addition to the height of the proposed structure, they cited concerns about traffic, noise and neighborhood character.

Architect Brian Kubik of Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective said the project would provide convenient, Class-A housing for professionals while adding that the existing planned development designation already allows multifamily uses.

Kubik added that the current planned development designation has been in place for three decades, and in that time, buildings have grown taller, with higher ceiling clearances and more space for mechanical equipment. What used to be a four-story, 40-foot building is now a 60-foot building, he said.

Kubik said 1,810 people work within a quarter mile of the site, and about two-thirds of them are in health care or social assistance fields.

The project is proposed at a density of 29 dwelling units per acre, which is considered medium density, he said.

Crighton said the current zoning designation allows 352 dwelling units per acre, while the proposed planned development would allow only 198 total dwelling units on the parcel.

Council is scheduled to vote on the measure at its April 20 meeting.