Quote:
Originally Posted by PHXFlyer11
I agree with you in that I think the renderings are very out of date now. I think the ground level will be much better than we anticipated based off the first rendering. I also wonder if the increased retail could push this baby higher, above Chase? I wouldn't be shocked if that was a surprise announcement. Isn't it very close as proposed?
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No, there is no retail underneath the apartment tower. All of the commercial space is contained within the ground level of the garage; the present plans show small spaces along 1st Ave and Central - one for the transit office, one for the incubator. Van Buren is just garage ramps. So, either the grocery store is the same kind of hype that every developer used during the boom to attract attention (and it really doesn't fit into the design), or they reconfigured the garage so that the commercial space extends beyond just the edges. Either way, any added height would be to the garage, not the tower.
It's cool if people want shiny towers and amenities and don't care less about creating an actual city (which
is the sum of the connections made by buildings, interactions with pedestrians, etc.); I disagree and while I'll try to keep my points shorter, my opinion isn't any less valid than yours. 90% of what I defend/expect the City to defend is directly from the Urban Form which the City itself adopted years ago. If you disagree with those guidelines, you have that right, but why shouldn't I expect the City to follow its own rules?
Just 1-2 years ago, people went apeshit over this rendering, which would have replaced a parking lot with a major office development. The reasons were the blank facades on 2nd and 3rd Aves, and the monstrous presence of the parking structure. Why was this terrible for Phoenix, but Central Station - as proposed - a great thing? I am genuinely asking because I don't see the difference - except that this old project left room for future development, whereas Central Station takes up the whole lot.
