City coordinates potential Lemon Avenue improvements

City staff members and downtown leaders are circling an idyllic vision for the segment of Lemon Avenue between Main Street and Pineapple Avenue.

Both the city and the Downtown Improvement District have expressed interest in creating a brick-lined streetscape with no curbs. The design would extend the Lemon Avenue mall near First Street south of Main Street, establishing an open, pedestrian-friendly environment along the downtown street.

At the same time, The Kolter Group is in the process of building The Mark, a 157-unit, 12-story mixed-use development at the corner of Lemon Avenue and State Street. As that project advances toward completion in 2019, the city faces a challenge: coordinating the potential Lemon Avenue improvements with the timeline of the private project.

The Downtown Improvement District has implored the city to move quickly toward producing more detailed engineering plans for the Lemon Avenue project, even raising the possibility of sharing the expenses with the city. At its April 3 meeting, the board asked city staff to examine the possibilities for accelerating the planning process.

“There’s a sense of urgency, because construction is imminent at The Mark, and it doesn’t compute with what this design would be,” said John Moran, the DID’s operations manager.

Last year, as the city worked on a master plan for improving Paul Thorpe Park at Lemon and Pineapple Avenue, it also developed concept plans for a new design for Lemon Avenue. The plans call for a resurfaced streetscape and the removal of curbs between State Street and Pineapple Avenue.

Although the goal is to mirror the look of the portion of Lemon Avenue between First Street and Main Street, the city isn’t certain it’s possible to achieve the desired design. City utilities and engineering staff must first determine whether the project can proceed without disturbing utility lines and other underground components.

The prospect of redesigning the Lemon Avenue streetscape is exciting for the developers of The Mark. The project coincides with the closure of a segment of State Street between Lemon and Pineapple avenues, transforming that block into a pedestrian area. Kolter project manager David Arent said a redesigned Lemon Avenue would be in keeping with the vibe the developer hopes to foster at The Mark.

“I personally like the look very much,” Arent said. “I feel like it unifies it as more of a pedestrian-friendly downtown walking area, as opposed to separating the sidewalk from the street.”

The problem, however, is that Kolter doesn’t know with certainty what the city is going to end up doing on Lemon Avenue. Right now, Kolter’s plans call for the construction of a six-inch curb on the sidewalks alongside The Mark property. That’s incongruous with what the city hopes to do on Lemon Avenue, but it’s unclear whether the curbless design can actually come to fruition.

Kolter, then, is stuck in a difficult position. Ideally, the city and the developer can coordinate the two projects, allowing the streetscape to come together harmoniously. But Arent said Kolter would like to know for sure what the city is doing within the next six months. Any longer than that, and the developer might need to push forward on its own — and the city might have to undo the curbs later.

“The end goal is that nobody takes out anybody else’s work,” Arent said.

The Downtown Improvement District pledged to discuss the streetscape project further at its next meeting. Board members have identified the Lemon Avenue redesign as an undertaking they believe could help beautify downtown.

As a result, they’re determined to find an avenue for providing the necessary details to Kolter as quickly as possible — and for moving forward with the street improvements.

“The sooner we have the information, the better off we are,” Arent said.