[RP TownTalk] Wachovia - points of contention

[Rob Oppenheim]

At the last M-UTC meeting (Jan 4), Joe Caputo of Potomac Development
Corp. discussed plans for a Wachovia Bank building at the corner of
Route One and E-W Highway.

The M-UTC committee had several issues with the proposal, and Mr.
Caputo was discouraged by the response.

The point of contention that generated the most discussion is that M-UTC 
wants an urban style (with the building touching the streetscape)
while Wachovia wants a suburban style (with the building in the
middle of the lot with a traffic pattern that circles the building).

M-UTC members wanted to "stay true to the M-UTC vision" and appeared 
unwilling to allow a suburban style.

Mr. Caputo expressed that he tried hard to convince Wachovia to build
in the urban style, but they were not interested, and that he was unable 
to find any tenant that was interested.

The M-UTC committee wanted to talk directly to Wachovia about this
and another meeting was scheduled for January 25 at 7:30 pm in Town
Hall that will include Wachovia Bank representatives and architects.

You can see the urban style setback that is currently in this block
in the Lynn Animal Hospital and Calvert House Inn, and you can see
the suburban style on two other corners of this intersection (the
McDonalds and the office building).

Other points of contention that were discussed (both sides seemed to
be more willing to work with these): 1) Wachovia wants more parking
than M-UTC allows. 2) The standard Wachovia building is one story and
M-UTC wants a two-story building.

There is the possibility that Wachovia would allow their parking to
be used by the Calvert House Inn during the evening thus helping
with overcrowded parking there.

There is the possibility of placing a faux 2nd-story on the building.

Some people expressed concern over the number of drive-thru bays,
saying "It looks like a car wash." Wachovia wants two bays with 5
lanes; one lane is for an ATM. It was not clear if this ATM would be
for cars or walk up use.

One audience suggestion was to build a faux urban streetscape to cover
the parking and another suggestion was to run a canopy from the building 
entrance to the sidewalk to give some streetscape appearance.

-Rob