Westville’s Kehler Liddell Gallery entertained more than one kind of design Thursday night as some 40 neighborhood residents and politicians gathered to ask developer Tim Mulcahey (pictured) direct and specific questions about the future of the upscale apartment complex he’s building at 446 Blake St. The developer said the apartments will become “a community in and of itself,” while some residents worried that the upscale apartments would inevitably gentrify into a segregated enclave of the wealthy.
Characterized by a tone of cautious optimism, this meeting was the first of a series of monthly gatherings at which Mulcahey will meet with Westville residents to discuss the project. Several community members indicated displeasure at the secrecy with which they felt some parts of the process had transpired, but all expressed a sincere hope that the development would live up to expectations and benefit Westville.
“If you have a concern, you’ll at least see me once a month,” promised Mulcahey. “At the end of the day, if I’m completely wrong, then there will be someone else standing here in front of you.”
Although activist and community leader Thea Buxbaum (pictured) stated at the beginning of the meeting that the issues up for discussion would be limited to amenities, building materials, and the developer’s marketing plan, community residents asked questions that ran from parking and traffic density to market feasibility and community involvement. The gallery at times took on the feeling of a high-intensity legal drama as residents fired questions at Mulcahey and attorney Michael Milazzo.
One theme was the question of how the developer expects to attract tenants willing to pay $1800 – 2000 per month for an apartment but do not want to own their own homes. What if their strategy fails?
The people in question, responded Milazzo, in fact represent a largely untapped market. To pay perhaps $1200 per month on a mortgage, plus taxes and property maintenance costs, is generally more prohibitive than a situation in which the rent is high but all upkeep and amenities are included.
“A lot of these people just want to come home and turn the key,” said Milazzo.
Mulcahey and Milazzo passed a series of collages around the chilly gallery representing “moods” that their designers had selected for the 293-unit apartment complex. At this point in the process, the landscape plan, exterior materials, and lighting concept are all definitive; less concrete are the specific designs of the building’s communal spaces, which include athletic facilities and a tenant gathering area.
The development’s guiding principle, stressed Mulcahey, is to encourage long-term tenants and market Westville as a place people would want to call home.
This commitment represented a strong point of agreement between the developer and community residents: a hope that the project will strengthen Westville’s community base as much as its tax base. Nevertheless, to some community members the very idea of a literally gated building in the center of Westville, behind which lie hundreds of high-rent apartments, smacked of gentrification.
“What are you going to do to attach this to the community?” asked St. Raphael’s employee Janet Brodie. “An enclave of rich people sitting around their nice fireplace is just as bad as a slummy student enclave. At least slummy students might grow up to live in my community.”
According to Thea Buxbaum, Blake Street currently houses one of the densest student and transitional populations in the city. Neighbors said they hope the project does not exclude students but encourages a stable pedestrian community.
“We’re a close community,” Buxbaum said. “We’ll be the people who market this.”
At the end of the night, most citizens seemed willing to embrace the possibilities that the development might bring. Even Buxbaum, who has acted as a community watchdog throughout the process, expressed her hope that all of the developer’s rosy predictions would come true. “I hope it’s fantastic,” she said with a smile.