Members of the city Historical Commission got what they wanted Monday, when an Exton company agreed to further change its plan to redevelop the former Lancaster YMCA site by saving â not razing â two historic buildings there, not just one.
The Hankin Groupâs concession was the third significant change to its original plan to construct up to 250 apartments, a 440-space parking garage, a 30,000-square-foot medical office building and small retail spaces there.
Commission members praised Hankinâs conceptual redesign of its plan as âbrilliant,â âa successful solutionâ and âvery creative.â The commission did not vote on the preliminary redesign; it will vote when Hankin returns in two or three months with a final plan.
The developer eyeing the former Lancaster YMCA property in Lancaster city disclosed Tuesday it s willing to downsize its ambitious proposal in order to preserve one historic building on the site.Â
But time will tell whether the Hankin Group is willing to trim its plan further to retain an additional historic structure there, enabling it to win an endorsement from the city Historical Commission. The decision could hinge on how persuasive Hankin believes that support would be when Hankin eventually goes to City Council for final approval.Â
Reducing the project even more âwould be a choiceâ for Hankin when it returns to the commission in the coming months for an advisory vote on its proposal, said commission chair Christopher Peters, following an hour-long discussion of the projectâs historic impact at the commission s monthly meeting.
Growth continues both in downtown Gainesville and areas west of town, especially in the Jonesville area.
Here’s a roundup of recent business news and announcements:
New offices for GrayRobinson
GrayRobinson, P.A., a full-service law and lobbying firm with 14 locations across Florida and one in Washington, D.C., is expanding its Gainesville footprint with a new office space in the Innovation District.
Next month, the firm will relocate its Gainesville office to a 3,620-square-foot space in the district‘s Ingenuity Building, 643 SW Fourth Ave. Its current office is nearby on Southwest Second Avenue.
The Innovation District is located between the University of Florida main campus and downtown Gainesville.