Mixed-use housing development 23 West underway

Another eda product, 23 West is a mixed use traditional neighborhood development located in northwest Gainesville, Florida. The project recently commenced construction and work should be completed in 2018. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished product!
Here’s an interesting article recently published in The Gainesville Sun about the project – now under construction.

Land has been cleared as site work begins for a mixed-use housing development northwest of Gainesville.

23 West, at the corner of Northwest 98th Street and Northwest 23rd Avenue, received its construction permit July 25 and has been under construction since, said Christine Berish, an Alachua County development services planner. Once the development is complete, it will have 174 apartments and offer about 10,000 square feet of retail space and 31,000 square feet of office space.

The complex should feel like a close-knit neighborhood to its tenants, said Dave Stockman, director of real estate for 23 West developer Viking Companies.

The exterior of the 23 West will look like townhouses, Berish said. However, inside the apartment buildings will be traditional one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartments, equipped with household appliances.

Every apartment will have a front porch and door that leads either directly into the apartment or a shared hallway — depending on the apartment, Berish said. The 23 West clubhouse will offer a coffee bar, fitness center and there will be a pool.

And because the property has been deemed a low-density area, which means it has one to four units per acre, it will allow 23 West to be a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly environment without a lot of vehicle traffic, according to an Alachua County Development Committee staff report.

Tenants will have their own garage, equipped with stairs that lead directly into their apartment or a shared hallway, Berish said.

Tenants having their own garage provides convenience but also safety, Stockman said. The developers are expecting tenants to be young or single-parent families, he said, so tenants being able to pull into the garage, close it behind them and walk upstairs to their doorstep is a built-in security feature.

“It’s kind of just a new style of design,” he said.

Tenants of the retail and office spaces have yet to be determined.

Plans to develop 23 West came after Viking Company executives took notice of several developments near Northwest 39th Ave, like the expansion of UF Health Shands Springhill. Stockman said it gave rise to a need for family housing in that area of Gainesville.

“It ends up being an opportunity for people who don’t want to own and want something secure and more single-family like,” he said.

Alachua County commissioners approved the preliminary development plans in 2011, and the final development plan was approved in May 2015.

Gainesville-based Contemporary Management Concepts will manage the property, and although rent prices have yet to be calculated, Stockman said prices will fall in line with the Gainesville apartment market.

There’s no set-in-stone finish date for the project, he said, but it’s expected to take about a year to complete.