Construction will begin next Wednesday, December 16 on New Albany‘s Breakwater apartment complex on the former Coyle Chevrolet site, 411 Spring Street. The $26.5 million project will bring 191 apartments in two new buildings and 1,650 square feet of retail space in the renovated Coyle showroom building.
Developers at Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins are marketing the project as luxury living with “resort-style amenities” including a heated swimming pool, outdoor movie screen and kitchen with grills and a fire pit, pet wash room, dog park, fitness center, and gigabit internet infrastructure. Flaherty & Collins expect the complex to be popular with young professionals making between $50,000 and $60,000 a year.
“The Breakwater will bring a lot of high income residents to the downtown New Albany,” David Flaherty, CEO of Flaherty & Collins, said in a statement. “We believe this will provide employers with a fantastic, high-end housing option for their employees that does not exist today.”
The project includes a swath of surface level parking (an exact number of spaces was not included in the press release) and includes dedicated bike storage. Strangely, the parking was not listed among the “amenities” in a press release while the bike storage was.
Apartments range from around $800 for a studio to $1,200 for a two-bedroom unit. They include nine-foot ceilings, smart thermostats, washers & dryers, and high-end finishes. The design of the complex was handled by Indianapolis-based firm Cripe.
The Breakwater is funded in part by $3.3 million in state tax credits from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the city of New Albany will contribute another $4.3 million through the New Albany Redevelopment Commission. The $26.5 million figure is up sharply from the original estimate of $16 million.
You can attend the official ceremony Wednesday, December 16 at 11:00a.m. at 411 Spring Street in New Albany. Eventually, a website for the complex will be found here or you can get more info on the developer’s website.
The first units at the Breakwater will be available in the Spring of 2017 following 18 months of construction.
$136k per door. Heck of a gamble.
Not as big a gamble when the public is footing so much of the bill. Plus, the original estimate was stated multiple times in $13-14 million range. Then it became 16 and now, as if by magic, it’s 26.5. Not much has changed in terms of the number of units or proposed amenities, though. 10 -1 the mayor’s office will tout the higher amount as investment with little concern for what’s actually invested. Per the original numbers, more than half the project is being built with tax dollars, almost five million of which the City bonded at interest. Because that bond was financed with TIF dollars, the development won’t contribute a single cent to the local property tax base for 20 years.
It seems pretty incredible, to me at least, that according to the recent article about the Germantown Mill Lofts studios there will start at 650 while they will be at least 800 at this development. New Albany is nice (despite regressive leadership that doesn’t seem to realize the value of its downtown) but hasn’t the biggest draw of the area over Louisville always been the affordability? Personally between the two developments I know where I would rather live given the price difference. I wonder how many will be willing to pay that rent.
191 units and that’s how big the pool is? Good god, this is a disaster.