By Barry Owens
The old houses are bulldozed and the ground leveled into a muddy plain. Barring bad weather, things may actually start standing around the Parkstone development site this month.
Crews are expected to roll in by mid-April to begin work on the first phase of the project, the building of a row of brownstone-like townhomes at the corner of Rutan and Victor Place.
A groundbreaking ceremony was set for April 3. Developer Mike Loveland said construction could follow within days.
“Utilities are going to be complete in the next week or so and then we should have our permits and everybody can start mobilizing,” Loveland said late last month.
Construction of the first phase was to begin months ago. Design changes forced the delay, the developer said.
Commercial storefronts that were to be included in the rowhouses built during the first phase were rethought and then removed. The change meant a redesign of the corner structures planned at Victor Place and Rutan–they are to be soley residential. Retail space will be included elsewhere on the site, Loveland said.
The first phase of townhomes are expected to be complete and occupied by December. A pocket park fronting the townhomes along Victor Place could be complete by September, Loveland said.
The development plan includes the construction of dozens of townhomes, to be built in phases, and a 14-story residential tower. Work on the tower is set to begin next year. When it is complete, it will supplant the Hillcrest as the tallest building in College Hill.
“It is very human scale,” architect Bill Livingston said of the plan. “The tower is surrounded with lower structures. You will be aware that the tower is there, but it won’t be imposing on you.”
