plans for my new view
Ok, I should be ashamed to upload such a badly drawn image as this, but alas, only had 20 minutes. Last night I attended a meeting where the developer who bought the market across the street unveiled the plans. The drawing I made roughly blocks in where all the mass of the buildings will sit - the style is supposedly a historic red brick/brownstone type of facade.
First, here's a before and 'after' of the property:
SO, there's a commercial retail unit on the lower far left, with three "lofts" above (stepped back from the facade with balconies and greenery on the roof), underneath which there is a driveway leading to the parking in back. Then marching along a diagonal to the right are three luxury townhomes. The triangle of green is city-owned land that will be turned into a tiny park, with sidewalk going through it to connect with a nature path that leads to our neighborhood park.
I apporoximated the dimensions and look from basic site plan drawings we saw last night.
How do I feel about it? I've struggled, I just can't say I like it. My view of the setting sun I love so much will now be blocked, but I really don't have any say about that. The concept is straight from 'new urbanism' which I generally like, but it just seems wierd in this corner of an old, established neighborhood of single family homes. I'm trying to like it! I think it would make more sense to me if the design was more contemporary, then it wouldn't be 'trying' to be historical. But I was truly hoping for a couple of restaurants or a cool neighborhood market in that space, instead of a bunch of two story townhomes. Plus, I've had enough complaints from neighbors interfering with my life (remember when someone called the county health department on me?) - those lofts are going to be eye level with my living room.
The other thing that concerns me is Utah is now doing what I thought it would with real estate -- slowed down with prices dropping. My corner is just not established as a high end area...most of the houses (including mine) are kind of scruffy. If I were a developer I'd never build high end multifamily housing in a neighborhood this far away from downtown and in an area with absolutely nothing else like it. But, what do I know!
I guess overall about the project I am pretty bummed! But it generally fits within the allowed use for the space, so it's probably a sure thing. I'll think more about it, and try to like it.
First, here's a before and 'after' of the property:
SO, there's a commercial retail unit on the lower far left, with three "lofts" above (stepped back from the facade with balconies and greenery on the roof), underneath which there is a driveway leading to the parking in back. Then marching along a diagonal to the right are three luxury townhomes. The triangle of green is city-owned land that will be turned into a tiny park, with sidewalk going through it to connect with a nature path that leads to our neighborhood park.
I apporoximated the dimensions and look from basic site plan drawings we saw last night.
How do I feel about it? I've struggled, I just can't say I like it. My view of the setting sun I love so much will now be blocked, but I really don't have any say about that. The concept is straight from 'new urbanism' which I generally like, but it just seems wierd in this corner of an old, established neighborhood of single family homes. I'm trying to like it! I think it would make more sense to me if the design was more contemporary, then it wouldn't be 'trying' to be historical. But I was truly hoping for a couple of restaurants or a cool neighborhood market in that space, instead of a bunch of two story townhomes. Plus, I've had enough complaints from neighbors interfering with my life (remember when someone called the county health department on me?) - those lofts are going to be eye level with my living room.
The other thing that concerns me is Utah is now doing what I thought it would with real estate -- slowed down with prices dropping. My corner is just not established as a high end area...most of the houses (including mine) are kind of scruffy. If I were a developer I'd never build high end multifamily housing in a neighborhood this far away from downtown and in an area with absolutely nothing else like it. But, what do I know!
I guess overall about the project I am pretty bummed! But it generally fits within the allowed use for the space, so it's probably a sure thing. I'll think more about it, and try to like it.
posted by mnlop at
12:12 PM
7 Comments:
I like the over and under spatial stuff a lot. Altogether I like it - you could have done a lot worse. Could have been a rectangle with stucco. Maybe you'd like it more if you thought less about why they used brick and more about the good qualities of brick? Perhaps the restaurants will come in time to some other corner.
Why was it they called the health department on you anyway? That sounds like great fun to me!
Heh, I was turned it to the health department for having raw trash along the side of my house. What was really there? Three bags of leaves.
The inspector told me that whoever called and reported this needs to get a life.
I love the idea of a park across the street, that will be so great, you can keep an eye on your kids while they play baseball (remember playing in the parking lot of the white church? good times :) )
Ah, the two-edged sword of modernity. One issue with lots of townhomes, though, is parking. Alhambra and Pasadena have this problem. I would count on three cars for each townhome -- two for the occupants, and at least one every day for visitors. I don't know how this compares to the amount of parking that was available on that lot before, but it's worth considering if you want to find an issue. It's true, though, that at least it's a somewhat modernish eyesore. But I would be wary of stacked development like this, it's kind of fun to have mixed-use, but landing it in the middle of your neighborhood isn't the right place for it. So I'm with you on not being comfortable with the plans.
Ah, but mixed use is what Emily was hoping for, as I understand it...
I was hoping for less residential and more retail (but still a mix), without filling up every available bit of the lot. I was hoping whatever went there stayed in basically the same place as the old building, but going up another story. Parking was addressed at the meeting, and according to the city meets minimum requirements with 6 residential spaces and 5 visitor spaces located behind the building, with parking on the street. But it will still be very hard to find a place to park for anyone coming to this building.
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