A property of agricultural product producer Archer Daniels Midland Co. until last March when the company shut down the facility, the grain elevator site, which also holds a 90-ft concrete grain silo, is designated as 1700 Beason St. and 1800 E. Fort Ave. The commission may have signed off on the rezoning, but it is still keeping a tight reign on the project--and for good reason. "Since February 2004 a task force of the Locust Point Civic Association has been working with staff and developer on reviewing, discussing and evaluating the Planned Unit Development for the site," Planning Commission director Otis Rolley III says in the May 20 staff report. "In addition to the concerns the city staff had, the community also expressed concerns about a number of items in the PUD as introduced. They have strongly objected to any hotel use on the site." Silo Point had originally planned to develop a hotel within the grain elevator. "There were concerns about the nature and amount of the retail, the amount of office space; they wanted the site design to fit in better with the neighborhood and there was concern about the amount of parking."

As per amendments noted in the staff report, the property as a whole will accommodate no more than 500 condominium units, including a proposed 120 townhouses to be built around the 80-year-old grain elevator. Office space will be built in a new structure and will be limited to 130,000 sf, while the retail space will have a cap of 50,000 sf.

And the restrictions go even further; retail space shall be leased out at a maximum of 10,000 sf per tenant, except in the case of grocery stores, delis, and the like, where the limit will be 25,000 sf. Finally, as per Silo Point's plans, the silo will be converted into a parking facility; the commission requires that parking at the site be sufficient to accommodate a minimum of two spaces per residential unit. The Silo Point team expects the project to take anywhere from three to five years to complete.