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City looking to build "Wedge Lot" parking ramp and mixed use - across from VAA


GRDadof3

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1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

A few more (better) images of the project. What do people think about the actual design? :) (ducks)

1058971695_WedgeLotrendering1.thumb.JPG.89126896619b35c21e62791526821776.JPG

 

1599969897_Wedgelotrendering2.thumb.JPG.7dda05db75f1cecf3f9acaf3ea8e3b12.JPG

 

408020598_Wedgelotrendering3.thumb.JPG.d8fd2664e1b7b261eb7b2252a56c75ac.JPG

I hoping the final building will look nicer. However I am excited to see both this and 10 Ionia get built and really connect Ionia street south of Fulton to Monroe Center. It'll be nice to have a continuation of street level activity between Louis and Fulton on both sides of the street.

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46 minutes ago, discgrab21 said:

I like the scope and scale of it a lot.  Fits nicely on that lot and with the the nearby buildings.  My goodness, though, is the aesthetic atrocious.   It's like they looked at 20 Fulton East and said, "let's go for that, but be sure to make it way uglier!"

OMG I was thinking this, and I tend to be one of the few on here that doesn't mind some of the characterless boxes they are building.  I'm assuming this is conceptual, and if something actually gets built here won't look anything like this.   It made me wonder that I may not be above chaining myself to an asphalt lot to save it.

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4 hours ago, discgrab21 said:

I like the scope and scale of it a lot.  Fits nicely on that lot and with the the nearby buildings.  My goodness, though, is the aesthetic atrocious.   It's like they looked at 20 Fulton East and said, "let's go for that, but be sure to make it way uglier!"

Right? I think they (FTC&H) assigned it to the parking ramp department CAD guys/ladies, whose experience includes the parking ramp at the Ford Airport, the Monroe Center ramp and the Fulton/Ottawa ramp. Their goal was to just make a parking ramp look palatable? They should really hand it off to someone with mixed-use experience. 

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On Fulton, it seems to me that it could become much more pedestrian friendly without being narrowed.  Adding a median or pedestrian refuge islands, and adding more landscaping to the existing sidewalks, would both make a big difference. Frankly, just extending the design that already exists east of Division would work. 

Of course, new buildings going up on the surface lots would really help as well. Part of the reason Fulton feels so wide is because it doesn't have a coherent street wall, especially on the north side of the street (the angled street pattern north of it doesn't help). This building and 10 Ionia would go a long way in that regard.

And there's not a ton that can be done with the police HQ, other than maybe some murals, but that's not particularly pedestrian friendly either. Was the Fulton frontage that bad when it was a department store?

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This reflects my own design bias, but I think this has to be one of the best parking lot projects ever, with the explanation behind it:  http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature107.htm

Feature0107_02x.jpg

Feature0107_03x.jpg

 

Those ground floor retail spaces in those new buildings on Fulton seem to be difficult to lease.  Perhaps it's because the buildings are very unwelcoming on the main floor, and violate sound New Urbanist principles that have been fairly successful when applied?  If there is such a thing as a "New Urbanist" parking ramp that is not a liner ramp, I would say the above photos come pretty close to the ideal.  

 

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