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The board of Downtown Greensboro Inc. will recommend that the City Council approve a request for incentive money for a controversial new building on historic South Elm Street.

The board of the center city advocacy group endorsed the proposed $3.6 million project earlier this week, but the vote was not unanimous, said Ed Wolverton, DGI’s president and CEO.

He declined to say how many of the board’s 28 members — only 18 were present — supported the request, which will go to the City Council on Wednesday.

A number of downtown stakeholders worry that the five-story, 25,000-square-foot project is too modern-looking for such a historic area. The building will occupy a vacant lot at 324 S. Elm St.

The developers, LindBrook Development Services, say the building will include two floors of restaurant space, two floors for offices and a top floor with two corporate apartments.

“We are very enthusiastic about this project,” Wolverton said. “It will obviously generate significant activity. It will fill in a missing hole along Elm Street.”

Efforts to reach Jim Marshall, president of LindBrook, were unsuccessful.

The developers want a portion of the adjacent public parking lot and a $100,000 forgivable loan from the city to make the project work financially.

The City Council had been scheduled to consider the request Jan. 6, but the developers asked that it be delayed until Wednesday so they could address issues raised about the building’s design.

Wolverton said his board appreciated the changes the developer has implemented so far, but would welcome more.

The changes include the willingness to add more brick covering to the building, reduce the size of windows, and add architectural details above the windows.

Wolverton said Marshall has agreed to “continue to look at the design.”

The city has no design standards for downtown buildings, but a task force has been working for a year and a half to develop some.
Wolverton said the guidelines should be ready by this summer.

Marshall has said work on the building could begin by spring.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com