Mill House restaurant to be turned into apartment complex

Chris Tretter, co-owner and general manager of Sultan’s Run, presented plans to turn The Mill House restaurant into a multifamily residential complex with seven units at the Jasper Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on Wednesday.

Tretter said the company purchased the property in 2023 with plans to use it as a catering kitchen while expanding its clubhouse. After attempting to sell the building without success, they decided to pursue the apartment conversion.

The project involves converting the existing restaurant building into five single-bedroom apartments and constructing a new duplex with two two-bedroom units on the adjacent parking lot at 14th and Mill streets.

The Jasper Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved three variances for the project. The first allows multifamily dwelling use in the R3 medium-density residential district. The second permits apartment units smaller than the required 900 square feet, with proposed units ranging from 616 to 720 square feet. The third variance allows shared and off-site parking in a residential zoning district.

Brad Eckerle with Brosmer Land Surveying and Engineering presented the technical details of the project. The existing restaurant building will house four single-bedroom units, ranging from 616 to 720 square feet, on the main floor, and one unit on the second floor, with no exterior changes to the structure planned.

Eckerle noted that the apartment units, while smaller than the R3 district’s 900-square-foot requirement, would meet the standards for R4 high-density residential zoning, which requires only 550 square feet for one-bedroom units.

The parking arrangement requires 11 total spaces for both buildings, provided through a shared parking agreement between the two properties. The existing parking lot will be reconfigured to accommodate the required spaces while maintaining access to both structures.

The project also requires combining two tax parcels on the west side of Mill Street through an administrative subdivision process. The duplex will be constructed on this combined lot, while the existing restaurant building sits on a separate parcel.

Two residents raised concerns about parking and traffic impacts during the public comment period. Michael Stallman, speaking on behalf of his mother, who lives at 216 East 14th Street, expressed worry about maintaining access to her driveway if the parking lot exit is eliminated.

Stallman’s mother’s driveway is directly across the street from the parking lot entrance. He explained that in the restaurant’s heyday, customers’ curbside parking could create such a tight space that it was difficult to get out of her driveway. The parking lot exit provided a way to navigate turns onto the constricted street.

Ed Young, who has lived at 1411 Mill Street since 1964, voiced concerns about increased congestion on 14th Street, which he described as already difficult to navigate due to parking on both sides.

“14th Street is very congested and it’s a two way street. People park on both sides of the street and even today it’s hard to get through,” Young said.

According to the developer, the former Millhouse restaurant previously accommodated more than 125 customers at capacity, representing a significant reduction in the volume of activity at the site compared to the proposed residential use.