Lynchburg planners endorse changing Barker-Jennings building into lofts

The Lynchburg Planning Commission unanimously approved Cameron Lofts LP’s request Wednesday to rezone the Barker-Jennings building and issue a permit to turn it into an affordable housing complex.

“I think this is great,” said Andy Sale, vice chairman of the planning commission. “This moves in the right direction. It’s redeveloping a neighborhood that has a long and rich history.”

City Council still needs to approve the plan, and developers also will wait to receive historic tax credits before they move forward.

The approval didn’t come without feedback from a Campbell Avenue resident, who expressed to the commission that such a change should also provide traffic and law enforcement solutions.

Jamie Rodriguez told city officials that the neighborhood around the Barker-Jennings Corporation building, located at 1300 Campbell Ave., has problems with traffic, litter and drug activity. She wants the building to be redeveloped, but she said the city should make sure those problems don’t get worse.

“If you’re going to add all these people to the area … you’ve got to have more coverage,” she told members of the Lynchburg Planning Commission in a public hearing.

The building was built in 1919 as a dormitory for workers at a nearby factory. In the 1960s it became home to Barker-Jennings, a wholesaling firm, which is looking for a smaller location in the city.

Andy Rosen, a developer based in North Carolina, learned that the building was for sale and looked at it earlier this year. It fit the criteria for a historic renovation and a housing complex, he said.

The renovation would cost about $9.5 million and would create 62 apartments with one to three bedrooms in each.

James Ross, an architect working with Rosen, said a major part of the renovation involves making the area attractive. The developers would replace a paved area in front of the building with green space and a shelter for a bus stop, he said.

The back lot will be cleaned up, and some non-historical additions to the building would be demolished to create parking spaces, Ross said.

It would be an affordable housing complex using Virginia Housing Development Authority money, Rosen said. “The folks who live there can make no more than 60 percent of the area median income,” he said. Apartments would cost between $450 and $700 per month, he said.

Rodriguez expressed worries about who might be attracted to the apartments. She said her family has spent more than $2,000 to put a fence around their home, and said still they have had trouble with drunken trespassers.

She also expressed worries about on-street parking and traffic. Other vehicles have hit her car about three times in the past few years while parked on Campbell Avenue, she said.

The area also has a problem with litter, she said.

Ross and Rosen said that having the apartments in the neighborhood could help with those problems.

Ross said that about 200 more people would be living in the area, and therefore would be seeing and reporting suspicious behavior.

“This is better for all the single-family homes along the street than some other commercial use,” Ross said.

Rosen said the residents probably would not park on the street. The city requires 2.5 parking spaces per apartment, so 155 spaces will be created behind the apartments.

“We spent significant time to meet that requirement,” Rosen said. “There are ample spaces for parking at the property.”

Ross said that the complex would use 13th and 14th streets as exits onto Campbell Avenue, which he said could help ease the traffic situation.

City Planner Tom Martin said that the city’s traffic department did not have any concerns about traffic produced by the apartments.

Planning Commission Chairwoman Laura Hamilton asked about safety and security features of the building. Ross said that the complex would be well lit outside and would have controlled instances. Security cameras could be an option, he said.

Rosen said that he would know sometime this summer whether the project would receive historic tax credits, which would allow the project to go forward. Until that is certain, he won’t buy the building from Barker-Jennings.

The planning commission voted 6-0 to rezone the property from I-2 light industrial to B-5C general business, which would still allow Barker-Jennings to operate there if the apartments don’t go forward. Commissioner Sharon Oglesby was absent.

City Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss the project on May 12.