Foundry Park

[Shakman]

well, in the rendering I count 10 floors of office space plus floors of parking beneath it that are not underground...

[wrldcoupe4]

that was my impression as well, though it does appear that there could be some above ground as well, at least judging by the rendering.

How many acres are left after the MWV portion and the Fed Reserve parking deck? I'm wondering because it seems space is becoming more limited for the other things they want to do here, which means subsequent phases may rise taller

[TBurban]

Id imagine they'd be the heights of similar buildings in Baltimore's Harbor East Project.

[CommRE]

Ethyl will not allow their view to be blocked. 8-10-whatever -- it won't be tall unfortunately.

[Downtowner]

first off why does ethyl even have such a short building cause ethyl is huge and I would think a Tower for them would be awesome. Plus that way they wouldn't have to worry about their view being blocked.

[burt]

Ethyl will not allow their view to be blocked. 8-10-whatever -- it won't be tall unfortunately.

[eandslee]

Seems to me I recall an original Ethyl master plan for the plot which called for three high rises. The tallest one was to be adjacent to the Fed Reserve with two others tierd down as they approached 5th Street (which wasn't there when the master plan was being talked about 15 or twenty years ago).

[wrldcoupe4]

Ethyl will not allow their view to be blocked. 8-10-whatever -- it won't be tall unfortunately.

[burt]

At one time Ethyl was going to transfer workers from St. Louis and build a tower where the newest extension is now - close to 2nd street. Don't know what happened to that plan.

But, they have plenty of land where the old penetentiary was west of 2nd street. Maybe they have future plans for that tract.

From the rendering it appears that the new MWV building will be next to the Federal reserve. If that building is to be the tallest on the plot of land then we're doomed!!!

[Cadeho]

They can still build huge at 5th and Byrd. It doesn't really block much of a view Ethyl gets. And yes that land where the Stete Pen used to be is screaming for development into something big.

[vdogg]

Why r they building so wide in a downtown? I just hate it when people bring suburban developments into an urban area, it's such a waste of land. It's great to have this coming downtown at all but 300,000sq ft can easily translate into a 20-25 story office tower. If they were running out of ideas with what to do with the rest of that land perhaps a small park or plaza would have been nice. It's still early though, and things may as yet change.

[TBurban]

Now that you mention it....it does look like a little Philip Morris, which frankly, looks better where it is by the coliseum, rather than a place such as Foundry Park where MWV is.

[wrldcoupe4]

Why r they building so wide in a downtown? I just hate it when people bring suburban developments into an urban area, it's such a waste of land. It's great to have this coming downtown at all but 300,000sq ft can easily translate into a 20-25 story office tower. If they were running out of ideas with what to do with the rest of that land perhaps a small park or plaza would have been nice. It's still early though, and things may as yet change.

[burt]

As I remarked earlier, MWV and PM will anchor the north and south ends of 7th street with similar sized structures. PM with its fortress like ground level looks pretty suburban, IMO. And I'm hoping for design changes with MWV. It doesn't appear to have much pazazz in the rendering.

But 1000 new workers downtown is a big plus. Maybe Dominion will be spurred to speed up its transfer of 1000 workers from Innsbrook to an imaginatively designed tower on the triangle at 8th, 9th, Cary and Canal.

[jbjust]

Is there a rule of thumb as to the number of square feet/worker? I wonder how big a tower on that little triangle would have to be.

[CommRE]

The general rule of thumb is 250 rsf per employee, but this can vary by the usage of the office space. A call center would have a much smaller number (more workstations), while a lawfirm could have a higher number.

[jbjust]

Sounds like they wouldn't need a very tall tower for those folks even on that small triangle of land -- maybe 12 - 15 stories.

[burt]

Sounds like they wouldn't need a very tall tower for those folks even on that small triangle of land -- maybe 12 - 15 stories.

[wrldcoupe4]

A tower built there could be mixed use, boosting height.

[jbjust]

I've long pictured a signature tower there looking similar to the original plans for the new WTC. How incredible would a gleaming 40 story spire look in the skyline?

[burt]

I've long pictured a signature tower there looking similar to the original plans for the new WTC. How incredible would a gleaming 40 story spire look in the skyline?

[eandslee]

I've long pictured a signature tower there looking similar to the original plans for the new WTC. How incredible would a gleaming 40 story spire look in the skyline?

[wrldcoupe4]

I think jbjust was referring to the triangular lot.

[jbjust]

That's right, the lot between the James Center and the Dominion tower that sits on Cary Street and has lots of surface parking. I think it is a better site for signature tower because it's surrounded by 20-25 story buildings.

[wrldcoupe4]

I've always had hopes a signature would be built there... hopefully one day we'll see it