Historic Preservation Commission approves Rushmont building's height

By Scott Aust, Journal staff | Friday, September 07, 2007

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RAPID CITY -- After reviewing Rushmont Building’s proposed design on Friday, Rapid City’s Historic Preservation Commission decided the project will have no adverse impact on the downtown historic district.

Chosen out of four proposals submitted at the end of 2006, the $48 million project will increase parking, add office and retail shops and create condominiums downtown on the city-owned lot on St. Joseph Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets.

Because part of the lot is within the environs of the historic district, a review by the historic preservation commission was necessary.

The commission liked the overall concept and design. But the height of the 17-story residential tower was the main sticking point.

“I think it’s just too tall,” said commission member Jean Kessloff. “They have told us this type of building you can find in historic districts in Chicago, Denver and Portland. But this isn’t Chicago, Denver or Portland. It is our unique downtown historic Rapid City.”

Local firm Dream Design International hired RNL, a Denver-based international firm with expertise in mixed-use buildings to be the project’s architect.

RNL conducted extensive research of Rapid City, including its history, culture, climate and downtown architecture and came up with a design that incorporates common characteristics of downtown buildings and mimics the composition of smaller, discrete buildings. Instead of looking like one big building, the design creates a regular rhythm that breaks up the building’s mass at regular intervals.

To respect the Alex Johnson hotel, the upper levels of the 17-story residential tower are set back to reduce its presence at street level and to reduce the overall implied height relative to the hotel.

Almost half the building consists of parking. Almost 600 new parking spaces would be built, about 300 of them designated for public parking, more than double the 140 public spaces currently available on the lot.

Kessloff said the height of the building doesn’t meet the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for new construction in a historic district that limits height to a standard variance of 10 percent of the average height of historic buildings on both sides of the street where a project will be.

Though saying the design is interesting, Kessloff believes the 17-story building violates that standard and, as a result, has an adverse impact.

Commission member Norman Nelson voted no but was conflicted.

Overall, Nelson had good things to say about the design and concept of the project, noting the architect put a lot of effort into matching the flow of downtown buildings, the level of awnings, and creating a feel of individual storefronts at street level.

But Nelson said he is very concerned about the height of the tower, and felt constrained by state law to find an adverse impact.

“In terms of the architecture, I am delighted to see you have picked up on the sense of what the rest of the downtown historical district looks like,” he said. “In this case, I think they managed to make it look fairly light in the sense of not weighing a lot, and have been sensitive to the surroundings. But I can’t get around the 10 percent. I like the way it looks.”

Hani Shafai, president of Dream Design, said under a strict interpretation, no building downtown could exceed three stories. So even if the Rushmont could be reduced to five stories, which it cannot, it would exceed the 10 percent standard, he said.

Also, Shafai pointed out, three tall buildings currently stand next to the West Boulevard neighborhood with no adverse impact on that prominent neighborhood. If those buildings don’t take away from value of historic West Boulevard, he said he doesn’t believe the Rushmont will have a negative impact on historic downtown.

“I believe it will enhance it by creating more activity, and adding more value to the downtown,” he said. 

Commission member Dan Senftner supported the project and said he doesn’t understand why some individuals and groups seem to want to “stifle” growth in the community by opposing this and other projects.

As a businessman, Senftner said he disagrees with those who say the Rushmont will take customers away from existing businesses and harm their operations. But like car dealerships have learned, it makes sense to create more businesses that will draw people into an area, he said.

“We don’t have a crystal ball, but I have to look at having more storefronts as possibly bringing more people, having more energy, having more synergy to our core,” Senftner said.

If downtown is not growing, it’s decaying, commission member Pat Roseland said. Without that injection of activity, Roseland envisions downtown will look the same in 25 years as it does now. 

“You can’t have preservation without revitalization,” he said. “I look at the whole picture of what this project will do for historic downtown. With this building, I can see downtown being revitalized, I can see businesses moving in, people moving in to live down there to make downtown alive.”

The commission voted 6-3, with two abstentions, to find no adverse impact exists. The decision will be forwarded to the state Historic Preservation Office for review.

Shafai plans to coordinate with the Rapid City Downtown Association and Chamber of Commerce to schedule a public meeting about the project possibly in late September or early October. He said the goal of the public meeting will be to provide information to the public about the project, gather input and answer any questions.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com