Developer wants to put 46 new housing units in New Town

A developer wants to transform a vacant lot in Key West’s New Town into a residential complex with 46 four-bedroom, four-bath units.

The large units, for Key West, are designed to house roommates rather than large families.

“It’s a super neat housing solution,” said private planner Owen Trepanier. “Roommates are sharing houses all over town. It’s not the most pleasant thing to be in a house designed for a traditional family and have three roommates in it. These are going to be designed specifically for roommates.”

For example, each bedroom will have a wet bar space.

Plans recently filed with the city’s Development Review Committee call for 13 two-story buildings designed to cover 92 parking spots at the corner of Northside Drive and 14th Street. Each unit would measure 2,240 square feet.

The property is next to the Stadium Trailer Park.

“The definition of a single-family house includes up to four unrelated adults,” said Trepanier. “These houses are designed to accommodate roommates. Houses are allowed to have more bedrooms but for roommate-designed houses, if you design them for more than four, then you could potentially get sideways with the city code.”

Fifteen of the market-rate units at 1213 14th St. would be deed-restricted as affordable housing.

“The layout of the site will allow for future expansion,” the project application reads.

The developer is Kenneth Harding of Island-West Investment Corp., and the project awaits city approval. The application is on the DRC’s agenda for its Thursday meeting at City Hall. The firm also owns the Stadium Trailer Park.

Island-West is asking the city for 46 rate-of-growth building permits so it can build the complex. The city allots 90 such units each year, half for market-rate and half for affordable units.

The project would take one to two years to complete and include the demolition of a commercial building on site, which would be replaced with five housing units.

Also on the agenda is a proposal to demolish an office building at 638 United St. and replace it with five townhouse-style single homes and off-street parking. The site is within the city’s historic district and the land is owned by Uphoff Investments of Virginia. Steven Uphoff is the managing member.

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Developer wants to put 46 new housing units in New Town."