More housing is on its way to downtown Chapel Hill.

The Town Council unanimously approved the Shortbread Lofts, a 7-story, apartment complex on West Rosemary Street Monday night, saying it will bring more people downtown and offer more rental opportunities for residents.

The vote was 7-0, Council member Donna Bell was absent and Council member Laurin Easthom excused herself from the vote because her husband's law firm represented the developers.

The Chapel Hill Town Council will reconsider a proposed apartment building for downtown tonight.

The 7-story Shortbread Lofts would sit at 333 W. Rosemary St. with 85 apartments, 121 parking spaces and a first-floor of retail. We wrote about the project here , in January, when many on the council criticized its planned mustard yellow color and modern, flat front facade with metal-looking panels.

In an e-mail to the Town Council this week, Pat Evans, president of the Friends of Downtown and a former council member, asked the council to approve the project:

"An economically viable and sustainable downtown needs housing to support the existing downtown and to attract new business.  ShortBread Lofts located in a prime redevelopment area of West Rosemary Street will provide needed housing and will encourage a diversity of new businesses to locate in our downtown.
Simply put, please support this project that provides additional housing and improves an area in the downtown that needs redevelopment," she wrote. "I like the project.  The only thing that would make it better would be the use of red brick."

The council will also receive a report from the Community Policing Advisory Committee tonight and hear comments from the public about the town's budget priorities. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

The proposal for a new mixed-use apartment tower on West Rosemary, has changed from its early stages, but developers still have some work to do.

Developers for the Shortbread Lofts,a 7-story apartment complex proposed at 333 W. Rosemary Street, presented their modified plan to the Town Council Wednesday night, and opened up the plan for public comment.

The Shortbread Lofts include 85 rental apartments, and 121 parking spaces on 1.4 acres on West Rosemary Street between Mitchell Lane and Church Street. The first floor of the building would include  3,560 square feet of retail.

Several council members said they thought the building, which is depicted by developers has being a mustard yellow color with a modern architectural style, didn't fit with Chapel Hill's style and looked too much like Greenbridge.

"In the end buildings like these will define the aesthetic of downtown for decades to come," said Council member Matt Czajkowski. "I look at his building and I can’t see any basis on which it reflects the nature of Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina ... it does remind me very much dismayingly of Greenbridge."