Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge

[UTgrad09]

Show me the building from 11th, dammit!

[bwithers1]

Exactly.   The 11th Ave street activation is much more important than the narrow strip on Demonbreun.  Frankly, I'm a little disappointed that the Demonbreun side is being so focused on a garage entrance.  That seems like a waste to me.  I can see the need for a garage access point there, but this rendering makes it look like the Demonbroeun face will be a huge car port with some grass plantings on the side.  Very 1960s anti-pedestrian, street furniture notwithstanding.

 

The length of space that this development will front on 11th means that if it is done well with maybe retail or something on ground level, this building will foster greater pedestrian-oriented development along 11th and stitch the north and south parts of the Gulch together.  But if there are open-faced garage levels, a blank facade covering those garage levels, or even a bunch of stilts going up three floors to where the real building starts, it will doom 11th to being nothing more than an access road.

Show me the building from 11th, dammit!

[barakat]

One of the articles did mention 3,000sf of retail on Demonbreun, so it might be more active than you think. If it's a restaurant, that courtyard could be busy most of the day.

from NBJ: "The building will feature 3,000 square feet of retail space on Demonbreun Street and 16,000 square feet of retail space along 11th."

Edited October 17, 2013 by barakat

[CandyAisles]

I would wager that the retail square footage the article speaks of lines 11th Avenue.  I would think it would be important to continue the store frontage from Velocity to the North towards Demonbreun.

[barakat]

I accept the bet, what's your wager?

I would wager that the retail square footage the article speaks of lines 11th Avenue.  I would think it would be important to continue the store frontage from Velocity to the North towards Demonbreun.

[CandyAisles]

I accept the bet, what's your wager?

 

 

One. Million. Dollars.

[fieldmarshaldj]

One. Million. Dollars.

[bwithers1]

I get that a restaurant could "activate" the Demonbreun side, particularly with patrons outside during nice weather.  But again, look at that rendering.  Where is this 3,000 SF retail space that supposedly activates Demonbreun?  It is maybe way off to the left and back a ways from the street? If so, I'm going to guess that it would be something like 30' wide by 100' deep.  But out of the total width of the building's frontage along Demonbreun, it looks like a sliver of restaurant space or something, a row of exposed elevator banks, some grass plantings, and a ton of car access.  I hope that the 11th Ave South side does a much better job of activating the street.

One of the articles did mention 3,000sf of retail on Demonbreun, so it might be more active than you think. If it's a restaurant, that courtyard could be busy most of the day.

from NBJ: "The building will feature 3,000 square feet of retail space on Demonbreun Street and 16,000 square feet of retail space along 11th."

Edited October 17, 2013 by bwithers1

[UTgrad09]

Is "activating" 50' of Demonbreun really going to do anything, when you have a giant rift between any other development. Forget that this building is in the middle of the viaduct, but there's nothing on either end that currently "activates" the street. Maybe if Eakin gets built, or if the MPH property gets redeveloped...otherwise...I think it's pointless to complain about this spot not being "activated". 11th is what matters here, period.

[volsfanwill]

Is "activating" 50' of Demonbreun really going to do anything, when you have a giant rift between any other development. Forget that this building is in the middle of the viaduct, but there's nothing on either end that currently "activates" the street. Maybe if Eakin gets built, or if the MPH property gets redeveloped...otherwise...I think it's pointless to complain about this spot not being "activated". 11th is what matters here, period.

I think some people might get "activated" on the north corner of 13th and Demonbruen

[UTgrad09]

I think some people might get "activated" on the north corner of 13th and Demonbruen

 

That's an extra $20.

[CenterHill]

The viaduct access still seems a bit odd, as did the short-lived bus access to the "landport" next to Cummins Station. The viaduct is two lanes with no center turn lane and westbound afternoon traffic today backs up to cummins station, or even 8th. Add to that people leaving or entering the Crossings and things might get messy. As I've said before the viaduct with its narrow sidewalks was designed for swift moving traffic, not for pedestrians. There's really nothing to "activate" out there. 11th is where the Crossings needs to focus on street activation. Agree with you guys that those are the renderings we want to see!

[bwithers1]

I agree with everyone here that the 11th design details are most important, but I also feel that writing off Demonbreun frontage as unimportant is shortsighted at best. So the city did spend a bunch of money a while back (when the Gulch was a wasteland) to rebuild the Demonbreun viaduct and put in some really nice, non-utilitarian decorative touches which are meaningless to cars but interesting to pedestrians. A few short blocks away, the city city spent close to a billion dollars to make the convention center astonishingly attractive to pedestrians on the Demonbreun side (not KVB, and definitely not at the roundabout). Developers are rushing to put in new hotels across from said Convention Center on Demonbreun that will dump a ton more pedestrians onto Demonbreun street. A few short blocks in the other direction, the city is pushing for and getting very pedestrian-oriented developments along the Music Row Roundabout.

 

But the connection between the two is unimportant?

 

I, for one, feel that something pretty nice is going to go on the Eakin site some day, and that something pretty nice will also go where the strip club is now, and all of those will have frontage along Demonbreun. Demonbreun may have some pedestrian-unfriendly spots right now (so does Church, and so will Broadway for our lifetimes regardless of how wide the sidewalks are), but actively making those spots more geared towards cars than pedestrians is a step in the wrong direction. Demonbreun needs to be a complete street from the Roundabout to Riverfront Park.

 

Is "activating" 50' of Demonbreun really going to do anything, when you have a giant rift between any other development. Forget that this building is in the middle of the viaduct, but there's nothing on either end that currently "activates" the street. Maybe if Eakin gets built, or if the MPH property gets redeveloped...otherwise...I think it's pointless to complain about this spot not being "activated". 11th is what matters here, period.

[Leif]

On the MCF front it looks like it is just being refranchised as City Fire which is eerily similar to MCF (and according to some Yelp reviews some of them used to be Urban Flats).

[Leif]

Also as someone who walks on Demonbruen frequently I think addressing the situation with the interstate bridge is more pressing than sexing up the viaduct near term. The railing on the interstate bridge is kinda low, there's a lot more traffic so the relatively narrow sidewalk is more noticeable. Viaduct might be barren but I don't feel uneasy on there.

[UTgrad09]

Also as someone who walks on Demonbruen frequently I think addressing the situation with the interstate bridge is more pressing than sexing up the viaduct near term. The railing on the interstate bridge is kinda low, there's a lot more traffic so the relatively narrow sidewalk is more noticeable. Viaduct might be barren but I don't feel uneasy on there.

 

Railing won't be an issue when we build the interstate cap, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...in the year 2525...if man is still alive.

[ariesjow]

Glass was going in on one of the floors of the Mondrian when I drove by this morning. I drove by twice to try to determine the exact color. It looked light blue to my eye, but it was difficult to tell with the overcast skies. 

[East Side Urbanite]

Yes, glass being installed. Should be a medium blue. will check today.

 

WW

[bigeasy]

Is the Mondrian the building on 12th and Laurel?

[dmillsphoto]

Is the Mondrian the building on 12th and Laurel?

 

Yes it is...

[timmay143]

Also called the Laurel, I believe.

[TMcKay9]

They are taking core samples today on the 11th & Pine site.  This is a much needed piece to the Gulch puzzle, I hope they start soon.  Once something is built on that lot it will give sense of completeness in the heart of the Gulch.

[dmillsphoto]

Hopefully Gulch Crossings doesn't hamper that building. IIRC, it's only ~26k SQFT and 3 floors with ground level retail. Hopefully this one can go at the same time.

[MLBrumby]

Are you talking about the northwest corner of 11th and Pine, where Ron Bloom wants to build the 60-story Four Seasons Mixed use tower, or the southwest corner (in the triangle) where that retail block was proposed a year ago?

[dmillsphoto]

Are you talking about the northwest corner of 11th and Pine, where Ron Bloom wants to build the 60-story Four Seasons Mixed use tower, or the southwest corner (in the triangle) where that retail block was proposed a year ago?

 

The triangle building.