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Old Posted Aug 22, 2020, 3:49 PM
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mville1 mville1 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Lancaster, PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deja vu View Post
Interesting. I like the conceptual design at least.

Emporis lists the Griest Tower at 192' which would make this proposal the second tallest. That might be roof height only, so 210' might include any rooftop equipment / antennae? Either way, this would be a skyline impact for sure.

I'm not crazy about the pedestrian bridge over N Queen St. either, although I guess I understand its purpose to connect to the existing parking.

I'm wondering, is that proposed vehicle entrance on E Chestnut meant for loading / unloading / drop-offs only, or is there also going to be some below-grade parking? It is very close to the intersection of N Queen & E Chestnut...
The Griest Building has a telecommunications tower on top of the mechanical penthouse, which you can see in my thumbnail picture. I am unsure whether the 210 foot height listed in the article refers to the Griest Building's roof height or the height to the top of the telecommunications tower. In any event, this proposal will definitely make a significant impact on the skyline. And because North Queen Street gently slopes upward toward Chestnut Street, this building will probably appear to be taller or roughly the same height as both the Griest Building and the Marriott Hotel. Unfortunately, that means the Griest Building will be blocked out when viewing the city from the north.


After examining the renderings of the building's W. Chestnut Street side again, I am becoming more disappointed with this building's street interaction. It is mainly a blank wall and a vehicle egress/ingress for, if I read the plans correctly, approximately 10 below grade (or at grade ) parking spaces. I mean the stretch of Chestnut Street from Prince to Duke is arguably downtown's worst as far as pedestrian experience goes. The County Government Center, the Holiday Inn Express, two parking garages, the Police Headquarters, etc. are all large scale buildings with little street level engagement. This building does little to help improve the situation, but at least there will be retail on North Queen Street . So overall it is a slight improvement in terms of pedestrian experience over the Magnolia Place travesty on the corner of N. Duke and E. Chestnut Streets.

What I do not understand is this property has a right of way back to N. Market Street so why not locate the vehicle entrance/exit on the building's northwest corner leading to N. Market. It is not like 10 more cars are going to overwhelm Market Street. Instead, it looks like the developer is planning on constructing a pedestrian cut-through from North Queen Street to North Market using that right of way.

After investigating the developer's background, Berger Rental Communities, this is their first foray into urban development and there are certainly elements of the building's design where their inexperience shows. Hopefully, the design changes a little (for the better) and Berger can get financing for this project. Although their inexperience in urban development leads me to believe, they may not have the expertise to get a project of this scale off the ground especially in this environment.

Last edited by mville1; Aug 22, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
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