The second portion of the Fortune Parc development came back with everything the planning board had expected.
Fortune Parc is a 58-acre site bounded by Montrose and Seven Locks roads and I-270. The Master Plan calls for a mixed-use development of houses, retail and offices. The development has been split into two parts. The first, calling for 150 townhouses including 14 affordable housing units was granted site plan approval on Feb. 12.
The townhouses are projected to range in size from approximately 2,300-4,250 square feet for the market-rate units, while the affordable units will be from 1,100-1,200 square feet. Eakin-Youngentob, the company developing phase one may be able to start delivering the townhouses next fall.
This phase includes 450 multi-family dwelling units, 290 apartments and 150 condominiums. This portion of the development will have 61 affordable housing units.
In the initial proposals, the first phase of the development had called for a transit center to be built along with the development, but that portion was shifted to phase two. The planning board had indicated that they would expect to see that portion in this phase, and they did.
In addition, the developer, Folger Pratt, will be purchasing a ride-on bus to serve the route which will go through the development. “It will decrease the time in half from the site to the White Flint Metro,” said Robert Kronenberg of Park and Planning.
The bus will not operate as a shuttle, but will stop at all of the stops on the current Ride-on route. “The model that is being developed, here, I think is a good one,” said Commissioner John Robinson.
This phase will also contain 820,000 square feet of commercial space and 30,000 square feet of retail. The buildings will be between four and seven stories tall. “What you are seeing is very compliant, very consistent with the Master Plan,” said Brian Folger of Folger Pratt.
The entire project is designed to look and feel like it’s own downtown area. “It is designed to have the feel of a [central business district]’” Kronenberg said.
Area residents came to ask the planning board for some of the same concessions they had wanted in phase one. Jerry Garson of the Seven Locks Civic Association asked that the developer construct a sidewalk along a portion of Seven Locks Road and lengthen the turning lane at the intersection of Seven Locks and Tuckerman Lane.
The county does not have sufficient right-of-way to build a sidewalk along Seven Locks Road, and the traffic analysis does not support requiring the developer to construct a new turning lane.
“At this point, I think we have done our very, very best to meet all our requirements,” said Barbara Sears, attorney for the developers.
The board voted 3-0 in favor of the project, commissioners Meredith Wellington and Allison Bryant were absent.
Folger expects that construction on the internal roads and infrastructure for the project will begin this summer, and that units may be available for delivery as early as next year. Prices are expected to be in the upper brackets.