Quote:
Originally Posted by southtucsonboy77
Ted, the "edges" of downtown can be debated and argued, but there's definitely an inner and outer. The inner, or core, I would say is defined by I-10 on the west, railroad tracks to the north and east...and obviously the south is a little more blurred...I would landmark it by St. Augustine/TCC South/Cushing. To go even further, the north west boundary is tricky due to the neighborhood, but the large lot in front of El Charro and the COT owned lots adjacent to the tracks are left for interpretation.
With that said, the HORIZONTAL 4-5 story Junction at Iron Horse and District on 5th apartments are outer edge of downtown. Those developments are very appropriate. The Mercado, west end stuff...fine, 3-6. However, these Urban Flats on Church, La Placita, and 151 Stone are inner core. To have 3 of these long horizontal developments in the center of downtown is alarming. Yes, some of this has to do with the market, with demand. But look at the # of units for UofA student housing compared to the units in these structures. Very close...yet developers at Main Gate are going 10-14 stories. Downtown developers are going 6.
Its the DESIGN and LAYOUT. The Urban Flats are taking more area than originally planned. The development is taking more of the plaza at the NE and SW corners of the total area. They went horizontal rather than vertical. Sure, market studies dictated that a 23-story structure was a pipe dream. I can accept that. But to go from 23ish to 6? Come on. Our planning/design/architectural community in Tucson are small-timers. I can go on a tangent on that. If this development would have went from 23 to 15...I would have been sadden, but still excited. 23 to 10? Extremely sadden, but reason out that 10 would be the tallest since 1986. BUT 6 WITH THAT LAYOUT?
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I was honestly curious what your conception was because I thought about it myself and the areas I would consider to be edges of downtown are limited and, where they do exist, are often further limited by historic status.
The area around the mercado is the best example of a place that these developments would be appropriate. However, north of the train tracks, historic status becomes an issue for many lots near the streetcar, which has limited development. To the east of downtown, there are a lot of potential development sites, but no streetcar. The southern edge is almost completely blocked by historic zones.
What this all means is that, if developers want to do anything near the streetcar, downtown is actually their easiest option, which I think partially explains why these projects have focused there even if they may not be the absolute best use of their lots.
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