ATLANTA | Development Thread VI

[montydawg]

Originally Posted by Neighbor

Jesus Christ, what a disappointment. It's as if every development proposed in ATL is modeled after Legos

Inb4 its economically driven. Good design can be made economically, this is just lazy development.

As someone who has lived in Chicago, I know that not every building must be ‘iconic’ to make a great city. Most of the residential towers there are pretty bland looking, but I don’t hear anyone complain there about it. I like the design myself, don’t see what the major issue is. Perhaps people expect ironic designs they might see off the high line in NYC- and you are right, economics dictate that can’t be built in midtown ATL

[arctk2014]

Originally Posted by montydawg

As someone who has lived in Chicago, I know that not every building must be ‘iconic’ to make a great city. Most of the residential towers there are pretty bland looking, but I don’t hear anyone complain there about it. I like the design myself, don’t see what the major issue is. Perhaps people expect ironic designs they might see off the high line in NYC- and you are right, economics dictate that can’t be built in midtown ATL

The proportions are crap...this isn't "Gothic-inspired" but grotesque slapshot architecture with no sense of proportion or scale. Setbacks would go a long way in helping this building look better.

Just take some cues from Robert AM Stern's work on how to do it better:

[jpk1292000]

This is just awful looking. If you're charging $1800/month for a 1 BR apartment, you can sure as hell afford to build something that looks better than that. Look at Modera and Hanover Midtown for examples of much better design. This looks like a 2005-era college dorm at a third tier directional state school.

Does Tim Keane get to take a look at this monstrosity? To me, it's so bad I'd rather the land sit vacant. Hell, build a surface parking lot there and it might look better than this.

It would look 10% better if the phony gothic spire was removed, so if they did that it would look just bland, not stupidly silly.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by montydawg

As someone who has lived in Chicago, I know that not every building must be ‘iconic’ to make a great city. Most of the residential towers there are pretty bland looking, but I don’t hear anyone complain there about it. I like the design myself, don’t see what the major issue is. Perhaps people expect ironic designs they might see off the high line in NYC- and you are right, economics dictate that can’t be built in midtown ATL

You must have low standards then, which is sad because NYC/Chicago are home to some of the most impressive highrises in the country. Even the Midtown DRC wasn't impressed and asked them to work with Tim Keane to improve the design of the building or just don't make it gothic inspired at all. It uses absolutely no stone or brick...how can it even be gothic inspired if it uses EIFS siding? Look at Streetlight's designs in Houston and Dallas. They can design better buildings.

[arctk2014]

Originally Posted by jpk1292000

This is just awful looking. If you're charging $1800/month for a 1 BR apartment, you can sure as hell afford to build something that looks better than that. Look at Modera and Hanover Midtown for examples of much better design. This looks like a 2005-era college dorm at a third tier directional state school.

Does Tim Keane get to take a look at this monstrosity? To me, it's so bad I'd rather the land sit vacant. Hell, build a surface parking lot there and it might look better than this.

It would look 10% better if the phony gothic spire was removed, so if they did that it would look just bland, not stupidly silly.

Fortuantely the DRC agrees with the current sentiments to go back to the drawing board.

Per the ABC Article:

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/..._news_headline

After seeing the renderings Tuesday night, the Development Review Committee was not overly impressed. It suggested StreetLights meet with the Atlanta City Studio, an effort to engage the public to create better urban design.

“We want the public-facing façade of this project to be as strong as it can be,” said Ginny Kennedy, director of urban design for the Midtown Alliance.

Other Midtown projects have been through the City Studio program, such as a dual-branded hotel that just broke ground next to the Fox Theatre.

[jpk1292000]

Just looking at this design ticks me off. Who would put that terrible spire/pitched roof line on top of the building and actually present that in a public forum? I'd be too embarrassed to show that in public.

[Street Advocate]

Originally Posted by montydawg

As someone who has lived in Chicago, I know that not every building must be ‘iconic’ to make a great city. Most of the residential towers there are pretty bland looking, but I don’t hear anyone complain there about it. I like the design myself, don’t see what the major issue is. Perhaps people expect ironic designs they might see off the high line in NYC- and you are right, economics dictate that can’t be built in midtown ATL

This is a personal anecdote rather than Chicago’s standards, which are much more stringent than Atlanta’s. Chicago’s community and architecture community is actively engaged in projects throughout the city and they are loud. Aldermans (essentially neighborhood city council members) must approve a project before developers can move forward. Lastly, reviewing the designs of recent projects in Chicago is vastly superior than what we’ve seen in Atlanta, which is expectable considering Chicago is the home of the skyscraper and deeply engrained with quality architectural design.

[MdtwnATL]

I literally just LOL’d when seeing this rendering. It’s literally Piedmont House with a point on the end. That was their attempt at “gothic inspired” architecture. Hahahaha. Jesus Christ. It’s time to hold these folks accountable and DEMAND quality design. Otherwise they can go to another city with this crap.

[montydawg]

Originally Posted by Street Advocate

This is a personal anecdote rather than Chicago’s standards, which are much more stringent than Atlanta’s.

Yes, if you took the boat tours with the tourists, yes, you will see architecture that blows the doors off of Atlanta architecture in general. If you go to the neighborhoods and look at residential high rise architecture, in general, it consists of simple glass boxes from various eras. I lived in Gold Coast and also Uptown. Gold Coast consisted of many simple glass boxes (pictured). Uptown consisted of many 60's and 70's era towers, which looked much more utilitarian than the more upscale structures in Gold Coast. This is a residential tower on a secondary street, not a commercial property off of West Peachtree or Peachtree. Just my opinion, but I think this is a nice project and think it beats many of the current projects under construction (Hampton Inn, Yoo on the Park) but if falls short of other projects (the new 13th street building next to Yoo).

https://opportunityurbanism.org/wp-c...ed-845x321.jpg

You will see a great looking spire on the building in the foreground (which is a mixed use building right off Michigan Ave), but all other buildings you see are pretty bland looking

[Street Advocate]

Originally Posted by montydawg

You will see a great looking spire on the building in the foreground (which is a mixed use building right off Michigan Ave), but all other buildings you see are pretty bland looking

Gold coast isn't even where many of the new projects are being developed in Chicago. Yes buildings built in the 60's and 70's will look like they were constructed during that decade and that is a good thing!

I'm not going to debate this any further after this post and let others decide for themselves.

https://chicago.curbed.com/maps/high...nstruction-map

[bigstick]

Our good friend , he is mine at least, posted these some time ago, hell of a lot better.

[Pemgin]

That takes the cake for worst proposal in a long, long time.

[joecool]

That is absolute garbage and they know it!!! Feel free to blow up their inbox. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can shoot them an email under 'Contact Us'

www.streetlightsres.com

[Sura]

Originally Posted by joecool

That is absolute garbage and they know it!!! Feel free to blow up their inbox. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can shoot them an email under 'Contact Us'

www.streetlightsres.com

Sent them a note.

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by Sura

Sent them a note.

Me too....The more I look at it, it is a disgrace to St. Marks Church..

[MdtwnATL]

Sent them a note.

[PhunkyPho]

Originally Posted by MdtwnATL

Sent them a note.

Good news...

https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/6/12...er-development

[bryantm3]

those are some really beautiful houses back there along juniper. i have been hoping they would come up with something smaller that preserves the houses. i am really tired of these whole block/half block developments on top of parking podiums. midtown needs to change the zoning to encourage smaller lot sizes.

[montydawg]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

those are some really beautiful houses back there along juniper. i have been hoping they would come up with something smaller that preserves the houses.

I think you are thinking about Piedmont ave. There are some smaller condo and apartment buildings right across the Juniper from this lot, and the only homes in that area are converted to restaurants and will probably bite the dust in a few years. Piedmont a street over is lined with beautiful homes however.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

Dewnothing has a new site, maybe he is finally serious about being a developer. All the old vapor ware crap is gone. He does show a new condo proposal called The Ansley

http://www.dewberrygroup.com/our-por...wberry-living/