Committee approves land‑use change and PUD for River & Post hotel and parking improvements in Riverside‑Avondale

The Land Use & Zoning Committee unanimously approved two companion items on Oct. 21 — small‑scale land‑use amendment ordinance 2025‑495 and the companion PUD rezoning 2025‑496 — to permit a hotel and related development at the River & Post / Corner Lot site in the Riverside‑Avondale area.

Planning staff recommended approval for the land‑use amendment (RPI to CGC) and the PUD rezoning, finding the site suitable for mixed commercial and hotel uses given its proximity to existing commercial nodes, centralized utilities and transit. The staff report noted Riverside Avenue and Post Street have remaining roadway capacity and that the site sits outside the historic district so no certificate of appropriateness is required for architecture under the historic‑district rules.

Applicant representatives said they engaged in multiple community meetings and received a letter of support from Riverside Avondale Preservation after months of meetings. The applicant described a public outreach process focused on design and streetscape improvements to May Street; the development concept includes a hotel, retail space and either new structured parking or improvements to existing deficient perpendicular parking to create a more walkable frontage with a larger landscape strip and wider sidewalk area.

Planning staff and the Planning Commission both recommended approval. Committee members asked only technical questions. The committee adopted a condition and revised written description and site plan (per the agenda) and approved the PUD with the condition that a traffic study be undertaken upon PUD verification, with methodology to be set by the developer’s traffic engineer and transportation staff. The votes on both the land‑use amendment and the PUD were unanimous.