IOOF-theater landmark razed
Large commercial building approved for site
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Ketchum is one step closer to realizing affordable housing
and architectural design features in a building that was crafted within
the parameters of the city’s new design review ordinance.
Eve of destruction: before and after the
demolition of Ketchum’s old IOOF lodge. The building was torn down to
make way for a new commercial building—including affordable housing,
commercial space and market rate housing—that will take up the entire
half block. Express Photos: Gary Rasmussen and Willy Cook
Monday night, the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission
unanimously approved designs for Copper Ridge, a 39,000-square-foot
commercial and residential building. It will be built on the entire half
block that included—until last week—Ketchum’s old IOOF lodge and old
Magic Lantern movie theater.
It’s the first building to be designed within the
revised design review standards, which the P&Z and Ketchum City
Council spent the entire fall and winter reworking. The building will
provide affordable housing in exchange for additional density.
"Nice project," Commissioner Susan Scovell told
the building’s architects after the commission approved the plans.
"Really nice project. You did everything right."
The building will boast four affordable housing units—two
studios and two one-bedroom units—on the second of three floors. The
ground floor will include office and commercial space, and the third floor
will include market-rate residential units.
Including two second-floor units, there will be six market
rate residential units in all.
Ketchum planning administrator Lisa Horowitz said the
architects succeeded in getting the project approved in what might be
record time for a building of this size. City review of the building
lasted only one pre-application design review hearing and one design
review hearing.
Architect Michael Blash designed the building to appear as
several separate buildings. Wood, stucco and two kinds of brick are the
primary exterior materials.
All aspects of the affordable housing components have not
been determined. Their price range and whether they’ll be for rent or
sale will be up to the city council for final approval, Horowitz said.
Ketchum and Blaine County housing director Gates Kellett,
however, has drafted a recommendation for the Blaine County Housing
Authority’s and city council’s review.
Kellett suggested in the memo that the two studio
affordable unit be rented to people making up to $27,960 a year. One of
the one-bedroom units could be offered for rent to a person who makes
$36,750 and the other to a person making up to $42,000.
Monthly rents would range from $699 for a lower-income
person renting a studio, to $984 for a higher-income person renting a
one-bedroom unit. Actual rents, Kellet said, would be lower after
utilities are subtracted.
Kellett’s monthly rent suggestions represent maximums,
she wrote in the recommendation.
"This stratified income restriction allows for some
diversification within the four units and allows for a place for ‘mid-management’
to reside in the building," Kellett wrote.
See related story on Page C2.
