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Westin Aloft and residences


vdogg

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Am I the only one who feels as though they just copied the footprint of the cosmopolitan, moved it across the street, rotated it 90 degrees and changed the name to Aloft? The only variance is that the building doesn't top out at the same height all the way around.

I really liked what they did with the design of the Gateway tower, and the rendering on CMSS' site showing the proposed tower on the open parking lot across from 2 Columbus looks very promising, but this, just seems to be cheap & quick space filler...

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Am I the only one who feels as though they just copied the footprint of the cosmopolitan, moved it across the street, rotated it 90 degrees and changed the name to Aloft? The only variance is that the building doesn't top out at the same height all the way around.

I really liked what they did with the design of the Gateway tower, and the rendering on CMSS' site showing the proposed tower on the open parking lot across from 2 Columbus looks very promising, but this, just seems to be cheap & quick space filler...

I agree but I don't... It looks distinctly different in its height, size, and overall shape. I also like the rows of windows, at least in concept, from top to bottom.

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I was gonna say, while it isnt a great design, I think it would be a good urban add to the city center. Plus, the it looks like it might add some variety in colors and shapes to the over all make up of the center.

I am actually happy to see the town center to go this way, I was once worried that it was gonna be an extremely uniformed project, which is fine on large scale urban projects, but when there is no other urban context around, that uniformity tends to read as a big fancy office park.

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I think the grass park in the middle gives the project a uniqueness. I especially like the bridge between the two Westin's, which will help make the hotels one single complex plus help make its shared conference space a jem! People can walk out onto town center and still be attending the conference or reception. It will be so awesome!

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Luxury apartments are out, affordable apartments are in.
Exactly, who are the people that can afford these apartments & lofts in TC? I just signed a lease at Hague Tower in Norfolk for about 50% the price of an equally sized apartment on the same floor in the Cosmopolitan would have cost per month. At that point, you could own a pretty nice house, even around here, it seems like to me.
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Exactly, who are the people that can afford these apartments & lofts in TC? I just signed a lease at Hague Tower in Norfolk for about 50% the price of an equally sized apartment on the same floor in the Cosmopolitan would have cost per month. At that point, you could own a pretty nice house, even around here, it seems like to me.

The cosmo is 95% leased, so apparently the demand is there. I don't think they'd be sinking their money into it if this wasn't the case. Apartments are a completely different animal than condos.

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Exactly, who are the people that can afford these apartments & lofts in TC? I just signed a lease at Hague Tower in Norfolk for about 50% the price of an equally sized apartment on the same floor in the Cosmopolitan would have cost per month. At that point, you could own a pretty nice house, even around here, it seems like to me.

I would say those people that want to live in an urban downtown, but are terrified of downtown Norfolk.

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Although I strongly dislike the architecture of town center, the programmatic elements of town center are what's most important. the sooner town center fills up, the better, I'm dying to see what tc looks like in 2020

Just like building height, building architecture is a product of land value and demand for the product being built. We are not living in a era where smaller beaux art buildings are being put up as urban infill like the 20s and 30s and cheap construction of art deco skyscrapers is possible anymore (thanks to the unions). Instead, there value system has become glass, steel post modern buildings, and to cheapen that, they've moved to reinforced concrete. That is why in areas like town center, where the land is still cheap, we will get cheaper materials and designs of the modern and post modern forms from mediocre architects (CMSS... :rolleyes: ).

However, I believe once Town Center fills up and the mall is upgraded, the HQ area when development begins there will have one or two gems from better architects.

Until then, as you said, the programmatic elements are what should be focused on and completing the beginning of our urban core is most important now.

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Just like building height, building architecture is a product of land value and demand for the product being built. We are not living in a era where smaller beaux art buildings are being put up as urban infill like the 20s and 30s and cheap construction of art deco skyscrapers is possible anymore (thanks to the unions). Instead, there value system has become glass, steel post modern buildings, and to cheapen that, they've moved to reinforced concrete. That is why in areas like town center, where the land is still cheap, we will get cheaper materials and designs of the modern and post modern forms from mediocre architects (CMSS... :rolleyes: ).

However, I believe once Town Center fills up and the mall is upgraded, the HQ area when development begins there will have one or two gems from better architects.

Until then, as you said, the programmatic elements are what should be focused on and completing the beginning of our urban core is most important now.

I totally see the mall's land being looked at for the next move for expanding the downtown, there is much less standing in the way of redevelopment there and the mall owners will be much more willing to go urban for money.

I do hope when that happens that development firms start to look outside of the area for architects, Hampton Roads has never been known for their quality of architecture firms. CMSS would be looked at as a joke compared to the firms the same size here on the west coast.

I am curious what will happen with the new mayor in play, granted VB goes with a weak mayor system like what we have here in Portland, so it requires a number of city council people to work together, but I have a feeling the new mayor will have a strong push for development. It would be interesting to see the city to get into building civic projects in the area (like the performing arts theater, which is a good example of better quality architecture from what I have seen). Also would be interesting if there was a college expansion in the area or something, not sure which college could do that, but would be cool to see an urban college in the area.

So how is the Main Library doing? There are some world renowned architects out there that have designed some amazing libraries, would be cool to see something like that happening closer to the town center.

Sure these are all just maybes and wishes, but it is fun to think about the possibilities. Hell, I hope one day I will be able to design architecture in Hampton Roads. Would be amazing doing projects in the city I grew up in, but that is many years down the line.

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I totally see the mall's land being looked at for the next move for expanding the downtown, there is much less standing in the way of redevelopment there and the mall owners will be much more willing to go urban for money.

I do hope when that happens that development firms start to look outside of the area for architects, Hampton Roads has never been known for their quality of architecture firms. CMSS would be looked at as a joke compared to the firms the same size here on the west coast.

I am curious what will happen with the new mayor in play, granted VB goes with a weak mayor system like what we have here in Portland, so it requires a number of city council people to work together, but I have a feeling the new mayor will have a strong push for development. It would be interesting to see the city to get into building civic projects in the area (like the performing arts theater, which is a good example of better quality architecture from what I have seen). Also would be interesting if there was a college expansion in the area or something, not sure which college could do that, but would be cool to see an urban college in the area.

So how is the Main Library doing? There are some world renowned architects out there that have designed some amazing libraries, would be cool to see something like that happening closer to the town center.

Sure these are all just maybes and wishes, but it is fun to think about the possibilities. Hell, I hope one day I will be able to design architecture in Hampton Roads. Would be amazing doing projects in the city I grew up in, but that is many years down the line.

Yessss -- instantly I thought of the Francois Mitterand Library in Paris -- absolutely iconic. Something like that (probably / most likely scaled down) would be the perfect thing to go in an emerging downtown, say, along with an urban branch of a state college/university. With the shops and restaurants throughout Pembroke, it would be a great location for a new urban campus: lots of new patrons for the restaurants and shops, places for students to go, a walkable area/district (no need for freshman year cars, etc.) and - with the library and the existing performing arts center and art galleries - access to cultural amenities.

There is infinite potential... we'll see what happens when VB emerges on the other side of the economic crisis...

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Thats pretty nice looking... I just wish it were in downtown Norfolk or Portsmouth instead.

I don't see the residences being sold for a couple years though.

Umm why would you rather this be in downtown portsmouth?? And why do you think the residences won't be sold for years? People are dying to live in town center...

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Umm why would you rather this be in downtown portsmouth?? And why do you think the residences won't be sold for years? People are dying to live in town center...

I see the downtown Portsmouth/Norfolk area as the core urban area of Hampton Roads and would much rather have all of our urban development stem from there rather than in 15 "town centers" spread across the region.

The residences will probably be over priced and it doesn't seem like much of anything over $200k is selling right now.

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I see the downtown Portsmouth/Norfolk area as the core urban area of Hampton Roads and would much rather have all of our urban development stem from there rather than in 15 "town centers" spread across the region.

The residences will probably be over priced and it doesn't seem like much of anything over $200k is selling right now.

These are apartments, nothing needs to be sold. The Cosmo across the street is 100% occupied. They'll do alright.

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I see the downtown Portsmouth/Norfolk area as the core urban area of Hampton Roads and would much rather have all of our urban development stem from there rather than in 15 "town centers" spread across the region.

That is the core, but that doesn't mean that Va. Beach shouldn't have an urban area just because Norfolk does. Would you rather have us sprawl all the way to North Carolina? Cause that's exactly where we're headed if you don't change these ridiculous growth patterns. We need to develop dense and walkable communities, that's just smart growth. If we don't develop these areas then any thought of extending light rail to the beach would also be a moot point seeing as we wouldn't have the necessary densities to support it.

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HR is a collection of cities, each city should respectively have their own downtown. For a long time I have felt that Chesapeake should reinvest into South Norfolk and make that their downtown.

But seriously, we probably shouldnt talk about this here because it always seems to go way off course.

I like the new rendering, if it turns out looking close to this, it will be a good addition to the city's downtown.

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