65MAX, thanks for stopping by to take a look at the Rosefriend and the Ladd Tower Block, and also for giving thought to other options developer and church might consider as an alternative to their currently proposed design. Why would the Jefferson street façade of the Rosefriend necessarily have to be eliminated? This might be true if it’s assumed a new tower must make a continuous transition from the Rosefriend, but what if the new tower were to step back slightly from the Jefferson and Broadway sides of the Rosefriend building? A transition becomes much easier under such a design treatment.
Other possible ideas for aiding in this transition: an atrium, a suspended walkway, a green roof for the Rosefriend, maybe tennis courts.
Regarding siesmic issues, keep in mind other historic vintage buildings that have been successfully upgraded. Pioneer Courthouse has been upgraded to withstand an 8 magnitude earthquake. As far as money is concerned, the first thing you do, after you’ve figured what such an expense might amount to, is ask for the money. Has the developer made any serious effort to do this? Since no design proposal venturing such an idea has been put forth, it’s hard to seriously speculate about the unfavorability of such an idea.
Take a close look at the Rosefriend. Their isn't a crack in it anywhere on Broadway or Jefferson, unlike the Fountain Plaza on Salmon and 10th. The Rosefriend is a super solid building.
Of course gratitude is in order in regards to the First Christian Church and developer John Carroll with Opus for providing for the continuation of the Carriage House and the sanctuary in their traditional location. Doing this is not a case of pure altruism though. The church will likely get some kind of return for aiding in the preservation of historic structures, and the developer gets a significant feather in his cap for the same. Heroes in some sense, if you will.
On the parking issue, I would like to hear an engineers thoughts about installing parking under the Rosefriend. Of course it can be done. As to the expense, how much would that cost? How many ordinary people really know these things? They don’t, so for the most part, they just take the word of the developer, who, for various reasons, declines to explore options that may be in the best interest of the public. Remember that they jacked up the entire Pioneer Courthouse and installed parking under that historic structure. Smaller yes, federal project, yes, expensive probably. Still, is the public being best served by not knowing what might have been?
Additional notes: Amazing to me how much these glass towers all look kind of alike, but here's one in St. Louis that seems a little more interesting:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=105624
It's the Lindell Condominium Tower in the Central West End.
The base of the proposed Ladd tower looks much like the Bidwell Company building down on 4th or 5th and Stark. That building is a vintage building with rich ornamentation unlike the Ladd. The Bidwell kind of got messed up some years back with a restoration treatment, but it's still a nice building.