15-story project rejected on State Street hill, blocks from Purdue
Too tall, WL City Council says, despite developer’s offer of affording housing units. Plus, city council taps the brakes on a New Chauncey land-use plan update as neighbors call a 'Trojan horse'
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WL REJECTS 15-STORY PROJECT PROPOSED ON STATE STREET HILL
The lure of setting aside a portion of its high-rise units as affording housing by near-campus standards and a parade of Purdue students describing hectic searches for options in walkable distance to Purdue weren’t enough to push a rezoning request for a 15-story Chauncey Annex proposal over the top Monday night.
Rezoning for a 279-unit, 792-bed project Texas-based LV Collective wanted to build the northeast corner of State Street and Chauncey Avenue was rejected by a West Lafayette City Council that objected to the project’s height.
The vote was 5-3 against a planned development that had been in the works for a couple of years. Council members James Blanco, Colin Lee, Larry Leverenz, Rabita Rajkarnikar and Iris O’Donnell Bellisario voted against it. Council members Stacey Burr, Kathy Parker and Nick Schenkel voted in favor. Council member David Sanders was absent.
The project would have joined two existing high-rises on the opposite side of State Street – The Hub and The Rise – and diagonal from the former Chauncey Hill Mall, where construction at the Hub at Chauncey complex is expected to deliver 681 units with 1,687 beds.
Andree Sahakian, senior development manager with LV Collective, made a case that the city’s downtown plan targeted the site on State Street for the most intensive development. He said the developers had heard the concerns about height and parking, working to step down the part of the project to 12 stories on the back of the high-rise and upping the parking ratio.
“I know there’s some fatigue in the community with approved new projects under construction and high rises,” Sahakian told the city council. But he said Chauncey Annex was part of a market answer to more than 15,000 additional students at Purdue over the past decade.
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