Last week, we asked what you thought would be good in the three-story office building at . Formerly leased by Pfizer, it's now unoccupied and U.S. Properties is seeking someone new to move into the building.
There wasn't a big response on the article itself, but on Facebook we got a couple of suggestions. One person thought the building should be converted into affordable housing for those on SSDI. Another said the building could be a good site for a homeless shelter or offices for social services.
According to Shelly Briscoe, land use assistant at the , 194 Howard is in the general commercial district. This allows "for a wide range of commercial and limited industrial uses along major arterials" such as retail stores, restaurants, churches, television or radio studios, and quite a few other things.
It also puts a damper on some of the suggested uses, since residential development is "discouraged except in certain instances." New residential development is permitted only as part of mixed-use development, but both this and a homeless shelter would be permitted upon approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Check out the full list of permitted uses in the PDF attachment.
