The Vestcor Companies proposes a mixed-use development in Murray Hill, the more than century-old redeveloping neighborhood west of Riverside and Five Points near Downtown.
TVC Development Inc., part of Vestcor, needs a zoning exception to redevelop the former Bank of America property and parking lot on 3.69 acres at 840 Edgewood Ave. S., at northwest Edgewood Avenue and Kerle Street.
The company has a contract to buy the property, said TVC President Ryan Hoover, but plans are contingent on approvals.
Hoover provided an updated site plan to replace one filed with the application.
That plan shows 117 multifamily units, retail space and a leasing and amenity center along with surface parking.
The project is designed as a four-story building.
The ground floor comprises 11,000 square feet of retail space; a 5,000-square-foot leasing and amenity center; and several units.
Apartments comprise 59 one-bedroom, 42 two-bedroom and 16 studio units, according to the plan.
Hoover emphasized that the project is preliminary and that an exception is needed to proceed.
“We need to get through this process first and then figure out what we are going to do,” he said.
Murray Hill is attracting restaurants, taprooms and retailers.
“To us, it looks like a great location in a growing area,” Hoover said.
“We look at lots of locations trying to find one that’s going to work. We usually have a lot of feelers out there,” he said.
Hoover said there is no time frame, or other details, about the Murray Hill property.
EWE Warehouse Investments XIII owns the property. Lawyer Steve Diebenow, a partner with the Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow firm, is the applicant for the exception.
The project seeks a zoning exception for multifamily residential integrated with a permitted use.
The property is bordered by Edgewood Avenue, Talbot Avenue and Kerle and Falmouth streets. A corner of the property is not included.
It is zoned commercial community/general-1. The other surrounding uses include pet care and church developments; retail and office; and church and library uses.
“The project will not have a detrimental effect on the future development of contiguous properties or the general area,” states the application.
“As contemplated in the comprehensive plan, mixed-use projects that include integrated residential uses are beneficial to and will help support the Edgewood Avenue commercial corridor,” it continues.
The Bank of America building has more than 22,000 square feet of rentable area.
Bob Gittings, of Gittings Real Estate Services LLC, said Bank of America vacated most of the first floor, but there are tenants upstairs and another on the ground level.
The structure was built in 1956, property records show.
Jacksonville-based Vestcor has been busy Downtown developing affordable and workforce housing “Lofts”-brand apartments.
Hoover said the company didn’t know the type or rental range of the prospective Murray Hill apartments.
