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Boone Town Council Approves Mixed Use, Parking Deck Project at The Marketplace

King Street
The King Street elevation of mixed-use parking deck project at The Marketplace property in downtown Boone.

By Jesse Wood

In a 4-1 vote, the Boone Town Council approved the mixed-used development featuring a parking deck at The Marketplace property surrounded by Water, King and Howard streets.

The project is being developed by John Winkler, Kenneth Wilcox and Roger Wright.

The mixed-use development will contain 99 units with 159 bedrooms aimed at “young professionals” and college students, both grad and undergrad. The parking deck will accommodate 367 parking spaces with 88 bicycle spaces. Commercial space includes 8,500 square feet for retail and 9,380 square feet of restaurant area.

The project has changed quite a bit since it was first proposed last September at a Downtown Boone Development Association meeting. Initially, the proposed project featured 450 parking spaces and 72 one-bedroom units and 10,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

In April, the developers held a required “neighborhood meeting” under the town’s planned development process and met with nearby property owners. Then, the preliminary plans for the $17-18 million project called for 180 bedrooms (100 one-bed; 31 two-bed; and 6 three-bed) and between 320 and 355 parking spaces.

At this meeting, a couple folks spoke out against the scale of the project. They felt it was too big and didn’t resonate with historical downtown Boone.

Boone Town Council Member Loretta Clawson, who cast the lone nay vote, agreed that the project was too big on Thursday. “I just don’t think [the community] will like what happens with the huge footprint there,” Clawson said, adding that she didn’t think The Marketplace lot was “right place” for a parking deck.

Proponents of the project note that it will nearly double the amount of parking in downtown Boone, which is certainly a commodity next to Appalachian State University. After meeting with the Boone Area Planning Commission during the planning process, the developers agreed to reserve at least 40 percent of the parking spaces for hourly parking.

Site plans show two driveways to the site, one off of Water Street and one off of Howard Street. Both of the driveways access the proposed parking deck. Jim Deal, an attorney who is representing the developers, said that the building is designed to resemble – as much as possible – the old Watauga Bank building that is now a part of Farmers Hardware.

See elevations below:

Water Street
Water Street
King Street
King Street
Howard Street
Howard Street
East Elevation
East Elevation