I've imagined that this area would be great to see an assortment of rowhouses and low rise apartment buildings similar to Penfil along Eighth, Hosmer, Eureka and Prospect while sticking to mixed use buildings along the main streets. I'd also really like to see the two bigger warehouses along Hosmer reused also (the one in the 600 block and the one at Hazel and Hosmer). I couldn't agree more on this area being the frontier, if downtown takes off the way I expect it to I would expect the southeastern edge of downtown to approach Hazel and Pennsylvania, probably filling in all the way west to REO Town. That's looking decades into the future though.
Hopefully the lack of a riverwalk on the west side of the river will not be permanent. I'm hoping they restore it from Michigan to Kalamazoo whenever the next project goes up along that side of the river.
I've seen those wood steps before, I'm pretty sure I went down there, maybe by a different set of steps though. I also liked checking out some of the old foundations sticking out from the bank, especially the one or two behind the On the Grand rowhouses. One is a fairly large corner of a building sticking out about halfway down. It's funny that they didn't really tear everything out after the fires.
Not quite the same thing, but speaking of interesting places - I wonder if the city will ever reopen that bridge over the railroad tracks into north-central Potter Park. If I lived in that neighborhood I would definitely want that bridge open - otherwise it's quite the walk to get into the park. I've heard conflicting stories - one person told me that the bridge was closed just after someone jumped off it in a successful suicide attempt. Another person told me the city closed it at a time just after there had been several bridge collapses in the state.
We had some friends that lived in that neighborhood. I feel like I remember using that bridge to walk to the zoo one time, but I could be mistaken. It would have been 6 or 7 years ago though, so maybe the access to it has changed.
I had forgot that the public hearing for 616 S Washington was back on July 28th, there were a few details on what's proposed in the meeting packet. I figured it'd be easiest just to copy this paragraph:
"The property to be rezoned is located at the northwest corner of E. St. Joseph and S. Washington
A venue. The purpose of the rezoning is to permit the construction of a 4-story building that would
consist of first floor office/commercial space and 51 upper level residential units ( 18 efficiency units,
15 1-bedroom units & 18 2-bedroom units). Although no parking would be required under the "G-1"
Business zoning, 44 interior parking spaces would be located on the first floor of the building. In
addition, the applicant intends to construct 3 5 surface parking lots on the property to the north at 608
S. Washington Avenue and 27 spaces to the west at 611 S. Capitol Avenue for a total of 106 parking
spaces altogether which would be more than adequate to accommodate the needs of the proposed
building."
And a rendering:
I really don't think I like this design, especially the fact that only 1/3 of the buildings frontage on Washington will be retail, the rest will be first floor parking. But bravo to Studio Intrigue for doing something different for a change, even if it does look ugly in that rendering.
Comments
In trying to find something on that bridge I found Potter Park's master plan.
"The property to be rezoned is located at the northwest corner of E. St. Joseph and S. Washington
A venue. The purpose of the rezoning is to permit the construction of a 4-story building that would
consist of first floor office/commercial space and 51 upper level residential units ( 18 efficiency units,
15 1-bedroom units & 18 2-bedroom units). Although no parking would be required under the "G-1"
Business zoning, 44 interior parking spaces would be located on the first floor of the building. In
addition, the applicant intends to construct 3 5 surface parking lots on the property to the north at 608
S. Washington Avenue and 27 spaces to the west at 611 S. Capitol Avenue for a total of 106 parking
spaces altogether which would be more than adequate to accommodate the needs of the proposed
building."
And a rendering:
I really don't think I like this design, especially the fact that only 1/3 of the buildings frontage on Washington will be retail, the rest will be first floor parking. But bravo to Studio Intrigue for doing something different for a change, even if it does look ugly in that rendering.