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Prolific downtown developer Patrick Kennedy submitted plans this week for one more five-story, mixed-use building. This one is proposed for the site of Darling Flower Shop on University Avenue. 

If approved, the Touriel Building, at 2008 University Ave., will have 32 units of one and two-bedroom apartments, 17 parking spaces and 1,630 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The commercial space will be occupied by the family-run Darling Flower Shop, which has operated out of the site’s existing buildings for more than 60 years. 

“This is the archetypal infill housing project,” said Kennedy, who is the president of the real estate development company Panoramic Interests. “It’s right in the thick of things and will appeal to people who work in downtown Berkeley, and students.” 

City Planning Manager Mark Rhodes, said the project was just submitted and won’t begin to work its way through the city’s approval process for another two months. He said the project will be considered first by the Landmarks Preservation Commission because of the age of the existing building, which will have to be razed to make room for the new one.  

According to a historical study prepared for the project by San Francisco company Page and Turnbull, the site is