AMHERST — A three-building development featuring 140 residential units, 12,000 square feet of commercial space and 180 parking spaces is being proposed for 7.7 acres of vacant land owned by Hampshire College in the Atkins Corner area of town.

Plans for the mixed-use project on parcels on Gould Way and Lannon Lane, the roads that circle Atkins Farms Country Market and connect West Bay Road to West Street, were recently filed by Archipelago Investments LLC of Amherst. The project comes before the Planning Board on March 19 at 6:35 p.m.

In its application package, Archipelago is requesting both site plan review and special permits, due to the buildings exceeding the 40-foot maximum height allowed in the business-village center, or B-VC, zoning district. The maximum building height in the district is 40 feet, but the buildings, at their tallest, will rise to 49 feet, 8 inches.

The 140 apartments will have space for up to 262 tenants, and 17 of the homes will be set aside as affordable, for individuals and families earning from 60% to 80% of the area median income. Of the 180 parking spaces, 117 will be reserved for residential tenants, with 63 set aside for the commercial tenants.

Designs by Modus Studio Architects of Fayetteville, Arkansas, show three buildings, each with wood siding on the upper floors, rising to four stories. Two of the buildings are located closer to West Bay Road and the third is located nearer to West Street.

Archipelago is also seeking Passive House certification, meaning the buildings will be energy efficient, and the streetscape is described as having “landscape design seek(ing) an active storefront environment on pleasant street and densely planted landscape.” The plans describe one of the parking areas as a woonerf, a Dutch term for a living street to be shared by pedestrians, cyclists and low-speed vehicles.

Christine Brestrup, a part-time planner for the town, said she anticipates the initial Planning Board meeting won’t make any decisions. She observed that some of the questions may center on the 180 parking spaces because town zoning would normally require 364 parking spaces, and the use of a former apple orchard, where there is likely arsenic in the soil from the use of lead arsenate, which was commonly used as a pesticide through much of the 20th century.

The filing of the plans comes after a February 2024 decision by the Zoning Board of Appeals to reject a variance request for the development that would have cut down the required nonresidential space from 30% to 10%. Archipelago principal Kyle Wilson told members of the ZBA that there were challenges, due to the slope of the property, in providing that much commercial space.

Hampshire College’s vision for the properties has been to provide housing for faculty and staff, as well as more commercial spaces that could be accessed by those on the campus, as well as those who live at the nearby Applewood Apartments and Upper Orchard.

Archipelago won the request for proposal, issued by the college in 2021, seeking development potential to connect the campus and its cultural village, including the Eric Carle Museum and the Yiddish Book Center.

After the reconstruction of the roads at Atkins Corner, with the double roundabouts completed in 2012, Town Meeting two years later rezoned the properties from limited business to business-village center to accommodate future development.

Archipelago has done several mixed-use developments and apartment buildings in recent years. In Amherst center, this has included Boltwood Place, Kendrick Place, One East Pleasant, 11 East Pleasant and 26 Spring. North of downtown, Archipelago has also completed Olympia Place, an apartment building for college students, and has a second student apartment building under construction on an adjacent property on Olympia Drive.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.