Three of us met with Sonny Bonacio in his office at 18 Division Street to review his new plans for replacing Moore Hall. At the last Zoning Board of Appeals meeting some months ago he announced plans to demolish Moore Hall and build twenty-eight condos. His latest plan is to build twenty-six.
The price range is still around $700,000.00 per condo. He indicated that he would incorporate the parking on site with most of it underground.
The design looks quite good. The project will match the height of the adjacent buildings. The architecture will also be designed in a way that is consistent with the surrounding Victorian era homes. The set back from Union Avenue will be consistent with the adjacent properties.
My only reservation is that to do this will require an extraordinary area variance. In this case, though I do not believe the variances will have an adverse effect on the neighborhood. The removal of Moore Hall will certainly be an improvement and this new Bonacio plan will be consistent with the density and character of this area of town. An additional major improvement will be the project’s provision for sufficient on site parking.
We had some discussion about the impact on North Lane which is quite narrow but currently two-way. North Lane empties on to Regent Street. Mr. Bonacio acknowledged that in view of the increased traffic it would probably be advisable to have the street be one way with the entrance of Regent and exit on Clark. He indicated his willingness to work with the city to upgrade the intersection to improve its safety.
I was kind of amused in meeting with Sonny Bonacio by the contrast between the very beautiful and obviously expensive design of his offices and himself in jeans and funky athletic shirt.
I am attaching his full application here.
Below are the designs.
Most will park on the road and not in their condos’ garage its just natural. So the impact will be on the existing parking…but better than the unsightly pink…shave off another 5 or six units, it appears he is still getting more than what was there and the front set back to the other existing buildings is still out to far. Go back once moore for a smaller plan.
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Nice plan, parking underground and aesthetically pleasing, especially the height of the building. Seems like an awful lot of condos and apartments in Saratoga though.
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Affordable workforce and senior housing be d*amned. I fault not Mr. Bonacio for more condos, but rather the neighborhood that cheered him for even ‘moore’ of them rather than than finding a way to help our seniors and workforce. Shame on you all.
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Where is the nature aspect? I see a lot less greenery. I wish the designs for downtown all had much more nature in them. There will be a loss of light for everyone with tighter, crowded spaces. It makes me sad to see very little outdoor spaces in so many current designs for the city.
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