I'm riding from my house to my home-away-from-home, Peet's Coffee on 19th (FYI: another Peet's will soon open at the corner of 20th and J, at the north end of the MARRS building) and I pass this big empty lot that was, until a couple of months ago, an old auto repair shop. It abuts Alta Plating, which will, apparently, also soon be history. So, I decide to call the number of Heintz General Contractors, which has a big sign up in the middle of the barren dirt. I ask what's going to be built there. The lady says, "Condominiums." OK, I say, and hang up to focus on my pedalling.
I walk into Peet's and, while waiting for my latte, I see two youngish, well-dressed guys with blueprints spread out in front of them. Me being me, I walk over and say, "Whatcha buildin'?" (I may have actually used a "g" on building, but whatever...). They stop and say, "Condominiums."
Turns out these guys are developer Mark Cordano and a contractor named Roger (Hume?), whose employee I'd just spoken to (this guy obviously does not do the heavy lifting - he is expensively coiffed and wearing an out-of-place-sharp pinstripe suit). They show me the plans, briefly (they have no idea who I am) and note that there will be retail along the lower level, including a bakery, along S Street. The Grid needs more bakeries, for sure - what greater sign of real civilization can there be?
4 comments:
Very cool. Ever since I noticed that corner getting demolished, I have been waiting to see some plans submitted to the city. Being that you got a sneak peak, about how many stories did it look like the project would be. This neighborhood will have quite a transformation if this and the Ice Blocks project get built.
Looked to me like four stories, sort of layered - hmm, my descriptive skills are not well-honed when it comes to architecture - TIERED, I guess. With lots of plants. I think it looked good, but they didn't really SHOW me, I was sorta just peaking over their shoulders. But I wrote to Cordano, so we'll see if he responds.
I saw some plans for the spot too, and the building was more like 8 stories tall, with a two-story podium, a 4-5-story structure set back from the street, and a 1-2 story penthouse on top of that. This matches what I heard from Roger Hume, who is listed on the city's website as the applicant interested in developing the site, a few months back. The plan was for an eight-story building, with what he described as "artisan-driven" retail on the street.
The bakery idea is interesting: at one point the old Orchard Supply building was going to be occupied by a La Bou bakery facility, although later I heard that the plan was to put a local ecologically-friendly building supply store in the site.
While I don't mind seeing the industrial site being put to better use, I'm a bit concerned about the effects on the residential neighborhood across the street. This kind of interface, between dense new uses and traditional central city neighborhoods, are going to become more common as more projects like this appear, and how they deal with each other is important.
A neighborhood association I am involved with has invited Hume and the development team to present on the project at an upcoming neighborhood meeting. I'll try to spread the word about that meeting as soon as I hear anything.
There is an office being set up on the corner of 18th and S and you can see the plans for this project through the window. I live just a few blocks away and have been watching the evolution of this block. Currently Alta Plating is a huge homeless camp with plenty of urban art (graffiti) and garbage everywhere. That is the alley where the woman was recently attacked. Does anyone know when demolition is scheduled for Alta Plating?
Post a Comment