This morning, Veronica Fountain called to say she had heard that the Paces Foundation, an affordable housing developer, was no longer interested in building apartments on the site of the former J. Lee Pickens School at 2501 N. Hayne St.
Shannon Nickinson of the Studer Community Institute has confirmed that the developer has withdrawn its offer for the land owned by Manna Food Pantries. Read more.
Paces faced the same problem that Manna had to deal with when it wanted to relocate its operations to the parcel–the land development code, which was approved in 2011 by the city council, has the site zoned for medium-density residential.
Unfortunately, city staff failed to follow up the council vote with the correct zoning changes to the city maps. Manna bought the land thinking the non-profit could build its warehouse on the property. Paces also needed a variance to build its apartments.