New renderings, new concerns in SouthPark over a proposed 10-story mixed-use tower
A local developer’s plan to replace the Regal movie theater in SouthPark with a 10-story, mixed-use office tower would be the tallest building in the area, according to discussion at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Lincoln Harris is seeking a rezoning of a roughly 4-acre site in the Phillips Place Shopping Center. City Council did not take a vote during the public hearing. The soonest a vote could come is next month.
Some neighbors on Monday voiced opposition to the building’s height, worried it would set a precedent for taller building heights.
“(SouthPark) is not a skyscraper area,” Robert Aulebach, vice president of the SouthPark Association of Neighborhoods. The nonprofit was established in 2017 and advocates for the majority of homeowner and condo associations.
If approved, the building would surpass the roughly 190-foot Capitol Towers about a mile away. Lincoln Harris also developed that project, which includes 472,500 square feet of office and about 6,000 square feet of retail across two 10-story towers.
The neighborhood association is supportive of the new project, Aulebach said, but wants the building capped at a similar height to the Capitol Towers project. Plans for the Phillips Place tower call for a maximum building height of 250 feet.
It’s not clear when the theater would close. A Regal spokesman, who could not be reached for comment this article, has previously told the Observer the theater had a lease through 2025.
A new precedent in SouthPark?
In Phillips Place, plans call for a 250,000 square foot office building with up to 20,000 square feet of retail, said Collin Brown, an attorney representing Lincoln Harris.
Lincoln Harris is seeking to bring more architectural “flourish” to the site as opposed to a flat-roofed building, Collin Brown, an attorney representing the developer, told council members Monday night.
As part of the rezoning petition, Lincoln Harris is committing to building out a portion of the Loop at Phillips Place. The 3-mile pedestrian walkway is a top priority of Aulebach’s neighborhood group. Neighbors have been pushing for more walkability in SouthPark.
While his group is supportive of the project, Aulebach worries what precedent building up to 250 feet in SouthPark would set.
Aulebach has been seeing increased density of both office and apartment buildings coming to SouthPark. His group’s members are OK with that. They just think it should be more manageable with the surrounding residential neighborhoods.
“They need to co-exist,” Aulebach said.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 2:53 PM.
