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


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Far be it from my job to tell developer's what to do....(ok, not that far from my job) but I'm surpsied that Crescent would still push forward with this awful design considering how thoroughly it has been panned on what is generally a pro-development website. I'm not suggesting that Urban Planet wields a ton of weight in the development community, but I know people from Crescent read these threads, and to get the universal rebuking of a design from developers, consultants, city planners, architects, real estate lenders, surveyors, land planners, landscape designers, structural engineers, and a wide cross section of people not in the real estate industry, then I think the smart move is to at least reconsider a project/design.

I have no clue the way they have this financed, and what difficulties they ran into with their original plan (which at the time, was one of the best large-scale infill plans in the city), but it still is no excuse for this shameful replacement. I'm sure these things will rent, based on location, and marketing firepower alone, but my guess is it will be at a discount to what they are projecting. There is simply too much apartment supply planned for the South End area with direct access to LRT that doesn't look like commie-block housing. I'm not saying that the other projects are superior in design, because they are each ugly in their own special way, but my perception is that Crescent feels that they have a clear market advantage with this product, and I believe they will be proven wrong.

EDIT. I would further qualify myself in making this rant, but perhaps its not wise of me to do so.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Maybe they are trying to spell out a message. Each year, we get a new letter that gives a subliminal message of what Duke Power really cares about. Hmm, what could it be that Duke Power cares the most about. We have C O so far. My guess is next year it will be "The A by Arlington" and in 2009 it will be "The L by Light Rail".

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  • 4 weeks later...

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stori...tml?jst=s_cn_hl

Crescent has now teamed up with a firm from Dallas for this. Retail square footage is up (8,000). Number of apartments (all rentals) is now at 360. No info on height, or mention of where to go for a rendering. Construction could begin as early as next week. Completion expected fall 2009.

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My favorite part of the news release is this.

Someone didn't get the internal memo and doesn't read UP...its Circle at South End :)

There was also an article in today's observer about this. Neither indicated if it had been redesigned yet again....here's hoping that non-communistic design principles prevailed. It does say that it will be LEED certified, which is something, though if they stick with the last design we've seen, the aesthetic damage it does on the environment would be worse than anything LEED is protecting :P

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Pursuing LEED is a very admirable thing, so I don't really want to play skeptic with that regard, but I should point out that LEED gives them points for being on a transit line, redeveloping a brownfield, and building a denser land use. These are all things this project would do anyway, they are just getting their papers to prove that it is a good thing. Granted they will likely need to do more than that to get certification, but I would like to know specifically what. We know they will not be incorporating solar or anything else that reduces the power consumption of Duke Power's new customers moving in. It is possible that they are planning to include some Energy Star appliances and then paying themselves for the energy saved as part of the new law incenting Duke for conservation. However, it is hard to avoid buying energy star refridgerators these days.

I'd say it is easy for them to just hire RT Dooley or other LEED certified contractors to do the work, as it really isn't much of an extra cost to have the contractor to promise to recycle and use FSC lumber and cellulose insulation rather than the alternatives. This is a very good thing, but it isn't really saying that Crescent is going way out of their way to prove their leadership in environment and energy design. Did I mention that it is still a very good thing.

The architecture MUST improve or I do not see these 'luxury apartments' that the market is telling Crescent to build will do well at all.

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We might be getting close to seeing some real construction out here; I saw several guys and new grading equipment driving to work yesterday morning.

I know there are mixed feelings about how this project will turn out, but I am looking forward to that site being something other than an open field.

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Pursuing LEED is a very admirable thing, so I don't really want to play skeptic with that regard, but I should point out that LEED gives them points for being on a transit line, redeveloping a brownfield, and building a denser land use. These are all things this project would do anyway, they are just getting their papers to prove that it is a good thing. Granted they will likely need to do more than that to get certification, but I would like to know specifically what. We know they will not be incorporating solar or anything else that reduces the power consumption of Duke Power's new customers moving in. It is possible that they are planning to include some Energy Star appliances and then paying themselves for the energy saved as part of the new law incenting Duke for conservation. However, it is hard to avoid buying energy star refridgerators these days.

I'd say it is easy for them to just hire RT Dooley or other LEED certified contractors to do the work, as it really isn't much of an extra cost to have the contractor to promise to recycle and use FSC lumber and cellulose insulation rather than the alternatives. This is a very good thing, but it isn't really saying that Crescent is going way out of their way to prove their leadership in environment and energy design. Did I mention that it is still a very good thing.

The architecture MUST improve or I do not see these 'luxury apartments' that the market is telling Crescent to build will do well at all.

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I stand corrected, conformity, thank you. I had assumed that basic site characteristics would get them much closer than it actually does. Granted, it gives them a baseline of 4 or more points that can help get them there, but I didn't quite realize that you needed 26 points to even be certified. They could double that with a LEED certified contractor that recycles and uses certified, reused, recycled, and/or local materials, but they would still then be less that 1/3 of the way to basic certification.

I am absolutely convinced that there will be a total redesign, as they will need to do a lot more to reach certification.

I think the Circle at SouthEnd makes a lot more sense if they are building up the environmental credentials. [Cue Elton John.]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was there ever an architect listed for the "commie-block" design? Your right, this certainly gives hope, and confirms that the design is being changed.

Site work has already started. Notice how hush hush they are being about the new design, I'll bet they dont want to recieve the same flack they got for the last one. Good job UPers!!

My fingers are crossed...

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