261 + apartment complex on 331

[Smiling JOe]

I will say this, when the economy turns back around, and all of the foreclosures are sold off, and rental homes are more difficult to find, a good apartment complex should work very well in this area, since there are none. I just don't think that demand will happen in the next two-three years. I may be wrong. I'm very familiar with that location, and I'm sure some of the single-family home neighbors will not like an apartment complex on the property which some think of as an estuary, not to be confused with the SubDivision, The Estuary, just to the east. As noted, being close to the high school, the library, the college, dog park, etc, could be a helpful thing to entice people to rent there.

Someone has been piling up dirt along the southern side of Cedar St (maybe the State, for road construction), on this property, on land which used to be nicely treed. I'm sure the one or two homeowners on Cedar St already hate to look across the street at that 20ft pile of black dirt every day. It is rather an eyesore. Put 500-ish people across the street, and that quiet neighborhood, suddenly, isn't very quiet.

 

[John R]

think density and traffic light.

 

[Miss Critter]

I'm not sure that there are 261 new jobs down here that pay $80,000 per year.

Or even 26.1, maybe 2.61 . . .

 

[Jim Tucker]

Rather than condos or upscale apt.s my guess is this development would become known as "The Projects Of South Walton", with low rent and cheap construction. Unless the developer is trying to get a DO for buildout for many years down the line.

 

[traderx]

Rather than condos or upscale apt.s my guess is this development would become known as "The Projects Of South Walton", with low rent and cheap construction. Unless the developer is trying to get a DO for buildout for many years down the line.

What is your "guess" based on?

 

[scooterbug44]

Is the land zoned and the traffic count approved for a 261 unit apartment building?

Sounds more like NIMBY than concern for birds or potential Indian artifacts (since part of the building process requires researching the presence of artifacts).

 

[wrobert]

Sounds like this would be a great thing to have in the area. If that Publix ever gets kicked off you could do your shopping really close to your home. Curious as to why they want males making more than females though. Maybe they are going to offer some sort of matching singles service. Since this is clustered building it would be environmentally sound. Thanks for the information, I will be urging the BCC to approve what looks to be a world class developement.

 

[scooterbug44]

It seems like a great location for apartments for people working in Sowal - just off 331, South of the bay, near schools, churches, library, the annex, 10-15 minutes from the major resort employers.

Perhaps we could tone down the NIMBY long enough to realize that something like this (done well of course) would be a great asset to our community. Before you start freaking out about the riff-raff potentially moving in, realize that the target income figures they cited were more than 1.5-2.5x the current average salary in Walton County, so there is still quite a bit of leeway in rent price before it becomes the Cabrini Green o' Sowal!

Affordable (and I am NOT using that as a euphimism for gov't subsidized or poor people) housing is hard to come by in this area and $1200 a month for a crappy apartment in Sowal used to be considered a deal before the real estate market tanked.

 

[Andy A]

Is the land zoned and the traffic count approved for a 261 unit apartment building?

Sounds more like NIMBY than concern for birds or potential Indian artifacts (since part of the building process requires researching the presence of artifacts).

Very good question and the first one that should be asked. Since we don't have zoning it would be the land use codes instead. Just a correction in semantics.

 

[wrobert]

Very good question and the first one that should be asked. Since we don't have zoning it would be the land use codes instead. Just a correction in semantics.

Zoning is a curious animal. Everyone, from commissioners to developers, have told me that zoning would solve so many problems. I have even had promises from commissioners, since been broken, that when elected they would make zoning a priority, yet we can not even get a discussion started about this.