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The "C" / Circle at SouthEnd by Crescent (Duke)


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As this new thread was created with the release of the renderings, this should be the thread to discuss "C". So many projects are now happening in the South End thread.

Please see the South End thread for past discussion on "C".

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...5072&st=600

The facade design of this project is mediocre, but the siteplan really is reminiscent of a commie block housing! This will be fodder for all the anti-transit folks who believe the city is trying to force that kind of living on all of us. That, to me, makes the whole project a waste. This is a horrible project, and exactly what I would have expected from the people of Duke/Crescent intent on ruining this city for posterity. I'm surprised Perkins Eastman even felt this design was worthy of printer-ink.

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Obviously Duke isn't aiming very high, but I will offer a few chips in their defense. The Arlington has plenty of empty ground level space. And South End does have other vacant space dotted around like the old flooring store. Is the Pancake House open anymore? It looks dark whenever I go by there.

So, bring the people, and the demand for retail will be there. This is a population increasing project... and that's still something that is needed.

I'm willing to look at it like A2 - and figure seeing some construction happen beats an empty field used as a CATS storage yard.

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But how long must wait for this potential to be fulfilled. I have lived here for almost eight years, and Nothing to date has been done. Will it take another eight with a Huge wasted field before someone will use this land for its rightful purpose. Don't get me wrong I HATE the looks and feel of C, but just maybe we can build off of it. It will just be "filler" space in my eyes. At least it wil be a developed lot that leaves no "holes" in Development from Uptown to Southend. Again, I am no fan of this style and really, really HATE it, but at this point at least we have to concede that it is adding more and more residents to the Southend and Center city. This can only be positive to attracting retail, which has PLENTY of choices to choose from along abandoned retail fronts along South.

A2

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I definitely hear what you are saying, I am just on the opposite side of the fence. I would rather wait another eight years to get what should be built there as opposed to being stuck with 'filler' for the next fifty. I just don't like the idea of having this sitting there in twenty years; I think it will look aweful.

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I definitely hear what you are saying, I am just on the opposite side of the fence. I would rather wait another eight years to get what should be built there as opposed to being stuck with 'filler' for the next fifty. I just don't like the idea of having this sitting there in twenty years; I think it will look aweful.
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Pancake House -- go by on the weekends and look at the people lined up in the street for an average breakfast. They are doing quite well.l

Arlington -- no frontage or good ability for signage for business. That pretty much means those spaces are good only for office. The project has a negative vibe to many people due to the changes from the original plan, the distaste by most for Jim Gross, and the negative press.

The old flooring store is really large so it will be a pretty large user with plenty of cash to use and make that space successful. There are never problems in Southend leasing or selling 700 - 2000 SF spaces. Those are more neighborhood use scale and that is what "C" really should have put lining South Blvd.

Bottom line is Duke / Crescent couldn't give a shiite about the area -- it is just business to them. I wish they would just cash out and leave.

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The biggest problem I have with this project is that it creates a rather unwelcoming streetscape. That long wall is not the kind of thing you want at street level in a "vibrant" neighborhood. This could totally change the atomosphere of its part of South End, to be even more unwelcome than the empty lot (which was at least an open area with no dark corners).

Even though it will be relatively easy to tear down and rebuild this project 30 years down the line, it'll do some damage to the neighborhood in the meantime.

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I'm amazed that the Dilworth homeowners association fought a 42 story tower so heavily but won't bother to fight this.

It is awful. Really awful. I've changed my mind after viewing the "wall" that's going up on South. Soul-less and uninspiring. A waste of a prime parcel of land.

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The more I think about it, the harder it is for me to shake the feeling that this is going to really hurt the neighborhood as a whole. The kinds of problems that you see in declining neighborhoods (the Eastland area, for example) begin with this kind of short-sighted, quick-money development. Next thing you know you have a serious problem on your hands, with the built environment not reflecting thoughtful design.

I don't want to exaggerate the importance of a single development on a single block, but this project is going to set a very low tone for the future of the South End district. It's on a critical parcel of land, and is basically going to depress street life in the center of the neighborhood. I really hope that, given the number of connections this forum has to local development institutions, that someone on here is going to relay to Crescent the sheer unpopularity of "C"'s design.

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