New mid-rise apartment building coming to downtown Tucson
Too bad they didn't stick to the original footprint. Which brings to mind comments about "towers", "skyscrapers", "mid-rise"...Each parcel(s) has its circumstance, size, location, opportunity. The 6-7 story "buildings", not mid-rises, are appropriate in my opinion for the two parking lots at the corners of Stone and Broadway. I would have liked to see taller, but the risk, timing and size of the lots made the 6-7 stories a success. However, these future loooong 5-6 story buildings...come on. Just because some of us don't always fall under the "something is better than nothing" category...or "any infill is good infill" team does not make that person a "tower"-only guy. For myself, I take each development on a project by project basis.
The 3 large horizontal apartment complexes will be architectural disasters. They are not mid-rises, they are not towers, they are taller than usual apartment complexes. A Design Review Committee should comment, condition, break-up, or stop the redundant facades, architecture, texture, patterns, etc. What's sad is that its typically the local developers building/proposing this stuff. Outside developers seem to have a better vision on larger scale projects. Again, the Main Square developments have been extraordinary. The "Sol" and "Luna" had the same owners, but built at close-to-maximum height into 2 buildings. If this was downtown by a local developer, it would have been ONE complex at 5-6 stories.