The intersection of Glenn Avenue and Gay Street will remain closed through the remainder of the week until utility work is complete. It should reopen next week, weather allowing.
Auburn's Water Resource Management Department began utility work this week in advance of construction on The Standard student apartment.
City workers dug up sewer infrastructure in the intersection to replace a sanitary sewer line under the intersection. The intersection was closed to traffic since Monday.
As part of preparations for the six-story, 683-bed apartment, the sewer main under Gay Street from East Glenn Avenue to the railroad tracks needed to be upsized and replaced to be in compliance with regulations.
Offsite utility work will continue in the area until August when demolition of existing buildings begins. Grading and foundation work will begin later this year and in early 2018, according to city documents.
The Auburn City Council approved an agreement with the developers of The Standard student-housing complex in August 2016. The plans were in the works since before the approval of the city's moratorium on downtown student-housing developments last year.
The Standard will sit on 3.41 acres of land along the northeastern corner of Gay Street and East Glenn Avenue currently housing a closed Checker's, Adventure Sports and Da Gallery. The complex will tout 219 apartment units with 683 bedrooms spread over five residential floors, according to city documents.
On the bottom floor of the six-story development, there will be more than 16,000 square feet of retail space. The development will surround a 247,000-square-foot parking garage with 688 parking spaces.
The 683-bedroom complex will stretch 65 feet into the sky and will be one of the largest student-housing developments in the entire city. In comparison, 160 Ross boasts 642 individual beds across 182 two, three and four-bedroom units.
The city said last year that they would work to ensure that infrastructure in the area is upgraded to accommodate the new development downtown. This week's utility construction is the beginning of that process.
The development agreement included plans to also upgrade streetscapes along both Gay Street and Glenn Avenue.
Landmark Properties, the developer of The Standard, contributed $1 million to the city's budget to help cover the costs of the infrastructure and streetscape upgrades. $500,000 was to be paid on Aug. 1, 2016.
Along Gay Street, the city plans to install three new pedestrian street lights, install street trees, add some on-street parking and TigerTransit stop and reconstruct the sidewalks and driveway aprons, as well as resurfacing and re-striping the street itself.
Glenn Avenue will see a reconstructed sidewalk also. When it comes to streetscapes, the city will relocate power lines, install street trees, add four new pedestrian lights and add a new left-turn restricted access to the complex entrance.
In a plan to help relieve a downtown strapped for parking, the developers of The Standard agreed to allow the city to use extra parking spaces as metered public parking in it's planned multi-story parking deck.
Exterior construction would likely be completed in early 2019 and students could begin moving in by fall semester 2019.
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