Plenty of land in Lancaster already has been developed. Using air rights to build atop of existing buildings is intriguing. [editorial] | Our Opinion

THE Challenge

“A 10-year-aged downtown Lancaster garage could attract a new form of growth most very likely never viewed right before in the county — out of skinny air,” LNP | LancasterOnline’s Tom Lisi reported Sunday in the “Lancaster Watchdog” column. “Through a community data request, LNP | LancasterOnline obtained a acquire settlement from the South Central Transit Authority to sell the ‘air rights’ for the space in excess of the Pink Rose Transit Authority’s Queen Street Station Parking Garage at North Queen and East Chestnut streets. Lancaster-based mostly developer Eberly Myers LLC agreed to invest in the air legal rights for $790,000, with remaining approval continue to necessary from the Federal Transit Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Closing on the offer is also contingent on the developer securing building funding and contractors to start out creating, according to the settlement.” Eberly Myers secured an initial settlement to take a look at establishing the air rights in June 2020.

At very first glance, the idea would seem strange.

Air rights?

How could air be a real estate commodity?

But when land and housing are scanty, especially in cities, making vertically is smart. So we’re intrigued by the prospect of vertical progress coming to Lancaster.

Lancaster city’s skyline is beautiful. Creating upward only will insert to it.

Developing atop of current buildings can be a clever way of maximizing the use of land, the availability of which is at any time shrinking.

As LNP | LancasterOnline’s Lisi documented Sunday, “Eberly Myers would like to build a 4- to six-story condominium building on leading of the parking garage that would involve 70 to 90 studio and one particular-bedroom flats, according to Benjamin Myers, a lover at the developer team.

“It could be the very first-at any time housing advancement in Lancaster County crafted on property obtained via air legal rights — mainly the ‘land’ above an present constructing.”

As Lisi documented, “Air rights explain a fundamental facet of house rights in the United States, which have their roots in English popular regulation, in accordance to Matt Crème, a Lancaster-dependent land-use attorney and solicitor for numerous municipalities in the county.”

That principle: “The ownership of a home extends all the way down to the main of the earth and up to the heavens,” Crème said. “And you can — the phrase is ‘sever’ — the mineral rights for instance, or the air rights and offer those independently.”

Down “to the main of the earth and up to the heavens” — how quite poetic.

A deal was in area in the 2010s for a developer to establish luxury condominiums over the Queen Avenue Station Parking Garage, but the program evaporated in the wake of the Terrific Recession.

Then, in 2017, the Lancaster-centered nonprofit developer HDC MidAtlantic “had an selection agreement to acquire the air rights for an inexpensive housing progress,” Lisi pointed out. “But the affordable housing builder was not able to resolve a $3 million funding hole to transfer ahead on the task, in accordance to Dana Hanchin, HDC’s president and CEO.”

That is a serious shame. Lancaster city and county wanted, and however will need, extra affordable housing units.

Even though this newest venture isn’t going to build $500,000 condos like the 1 that fizzled in the 2010s, Myers explained to Lisi that the target would be to hire the studio and a person-bedroom models at about $1,100 to $1,600 for every month.

Christopher Delfs, director of Lancaster city’s Office of Neighborhood Scheduling and Financial Enhancement, stated one key information resource estimates that the average hire in the town in 2021 was $845 for studio residences and $1,141 for one particular-bed room flats. (The typical for two-bed room residences: $1,277.)

So these rental units would expense a lot more than the recent city averages. We only can hope the rental selling prices do not boost involving now and when the project is concluded.

Which is not a certainty, but as Greg Downing, executive director of the South Central Transit Authority — which operates equally the Pink Rose Transit Authority and the Berks Spot Regional Transit Authority — explained to Lisi, the authority has “never been this close” to a final deal.

Downing stated the $790,000 rate is dependent on land appraisals of the air legal rights.

Federal and condition regulations tied to the parking garage have to have that air legal rights be offered at “fair current market benefit,” Downing defined.

If the deal is accepted, the South Central Transit Authority will use the money for Pink Rose Transit Authority operations — which would be a boon to the procedure.

Myers claimed building on an by now-existing composition removes some of the risk for a developer. “I know the hazards of vertical setting up setting up at 85 ft vs . digging in the ground and getting water or rock,” which can generate shock costs, Myers informed Lisi. (The metal-and-concrete parking garage was developed to be capable of dealing with added flooring.)

Yet another bonus for the developer: the opportunity to supply parking devoid of possessing to commit dollars to build it at a typical expense of extra than $20,000 per parking area.

Concentrating housing near transportation hubs is superior organizing. And it could be advantageous for the environment, except that the motorists who use the Queen Road Station Parking Garage are not using it for its first objective, which was to park their own motor vehicles and then use community transportation.

The 395-space garage is thoroughly occupied, Downing mentioned, and has a waiting around record. County workforce get a discount on the $65 monthly fee — Downing, inexplicably, declined to disclose the low cost volume. (Enterprises can get team costs at $55 a thirty day period with a yearlong agreement, in accordance to the Red Rose Transit Authority web site.)

“The federal transit cash that compensated for the $20.2 million parking garage were being meant for ‘multimodal’ transportation,” Lisi explained, “meaning the expectation was that folks who parked at the garage would then hop on a bus” to the Amtrak station, which is a mile away and has minimal parking.

But only a handful of garage consumers in 2022 take the bus to get to the Amtrak station, Downing said.

This is disappointing.

And we’re not positive that the problem is heading to make improvements to when condominium renters are parking in the garage.

But vertical progress utilizing air rights is an intriguing probability for Lancaster. We hope it pays dividends not just for builders, but for the neighborhood.