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Old Posted Oct 8, 2007, 1:43 AM
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BigKidD BigKidD is offline
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: KCMO (Plaza)
Posts: 642
Quote:
Originally Posted by pj3000 View Post
I fully agree. With what's going on down on the bayfront, the Perry Square area seems like a natural extension of that redevlopment effort. Positive changes in that area are occurring though. The plans for the area focus on relandscaping the park itself with new sidewalks, benches, fence, etc. and removing the unnecessary traffic lanes around its perimeter.

When I was last in town, I noticed some relatively minor changes in that area that are very encouraging though:

-the upper floors of the Exchange Bldg. on N. Park Row have been converted to residential
-Gannon U's Business School is undergoing a major exterior renovation
-the long-vacant circa 1830s Dispatch Bldg on W. 5th St. is undergoing a complete renovation for conversion into retail
-the American Surplus Store on State St. (awful building covered with light blue vinyl siding) is being restored to reveal its historic 1820s brick (Horace Greeley published the Erie Gazette in that building in the 1830s)
Sounds like some great stuff is starting to happen there. If you ever have the chance to get back into Erie with a camera, I'll appreciate it if you could snap some photos of the redevelopment. Especially the renovation of GU's Business School. Also, I remember the Director of Development in Erie remarking about the restoration of the American Surplus Store when I interviewed him for a paper.
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“Most planning of the past fifteen years has been based upon three destructive fallacies: the cataclysmic insists upon tearing everything down in order to design from an absolutely clean slate; the automotive would plan for the free passage of the automobile at the expense of all other values; the suburban dislikes the city anyway and would just as soon destroy its density and strew it across the countryside.” Vince Scully
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