Planning commission recommends approval of Inglewood Plaza PUD at 401 Inglewood Parkway

The Englewood City Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 7 voted to recommend City Council approve a planned unit development (PUD) for the Inglewood Plaza site at 401 Inglewood Parkway, a proposal from Kimco Realty that would rezone roughly 6.2 acres and allow a 260-unit apartment building and a potential future hotel.

The PUD would change the site’s standards within the Transit Station Area (TSA) overlay and the Mixed Use Central Business District by lowering the proposed minimum density from 75 dwelling units per acre (the TSA baseline) to 40 dwelling units per acre and by reducing maximum building height from 100 feet in the TSA plan to 70 feet in the PUD. Will Charles, Planner 2 with the Community Development Department, told commissioners “this case tonight is for ZON 2020 Four-two, for the Inglewood Plaza PUD” and outlined the project’s footprint, existing zoning and the staff recommendation of support.

Why it matters: the site, formerly anchored by Hobby Lobby and now partly used as a car museum, sits within a quarter- to half-mile walk of the Inglewood light-rail station and is identified in the TSA plan for higher-intensity, mixed uses. Supporters and the applicant argue the rezoning would activate a long-vacant commercial parcel, add workforce and transit-oriented housing and provide public improvements; opponents and commissioners pressed the team on parking, drainage and keeping an existing early-childhood education provider in the neighborhood.

Project details and public benefits

The applicant team, led by Kimco Realty, presented a phased plan. Phase 1 would be a four- to five-story multifamily building with about 260 units and a detached parking structure; a later phase would reserve a pad for a hotel (approximately 100–120 rooms discussed by…