Edit: The RalCon Tumblelog has been discontinued.
I threw up this picture on the RalCon Tumblelog but remembered that recently there was good discussion related to 222 Glenwood. It appears that this is the final paint job of the parking deck and the flat wall along Jones St. is looking a little ‘simple’. We also had discussion about the murals of downtown and this blank wall was mentioned as a good space for another mural.
Walked down Glenwood South recently? 222 Glenwood is putting the finishing touches on and is only a couple months away from completion. I’m pretty eager to see this condo building up and running; as well as getting the sidewalk back. This building is a key part of expanding the entertainment factor for Glenwood South as well as helping to connect the district.
Parking options will increase with the addition of 222’s deck. All the residents will have their own spaces and the rest should be used by the public. However, it is yet to be determined whether spaces will be used for valet or for business purposes only. If available for the public, I would expect a small fee during peak nightlife hours. The deck has two entrances/exits but the traffic pattern is yet to be known either. See the picture below for possible ways in and out.
222 almost covers the entire length of the block and there is a good stretch of windows that give any pedestrian some eye candy as they stroll by. There appears to be retail/restaurant space on every stretch of the Glenwood sidewalk, besides the small space for the resident lobby. The “window shopping” effect will be attractive to people walking by and I expect this part of the street to get some good foot traffic.
Lastly, 222 will help bridge Powerhouse Square and the rest of Glenwood South. The zigzag walk down West and up Jones St. is lined with Blue Martini, Napper Tandy’s, 42nd St. Oyster Bar, Prime Only, 518 West, Mosaic, and Turkish Delights. This building will fill the gap up to Lane St., where Zely & Ritz, Sushi Blues, Hibernian, Cody’s, and The Rockford get things started again.
For Glenwood South to grow, we need to fill the gaps that it has with pedestrian oriented buildings and shops. 222 hits it dead on.
[UPDATE 6:58pm]
I noticed some commenters were not so happy with the look, especially the color. I just noticed this today and had to throw it up to get some opinions. Check out the paint job on the parking deck seen from the back, West St.
The RBC Deck is being built pretty fast so of course, we already need another update. The construction has topped out and now reached Blount St. At the current pace, this end of the deck will probably be done before April. There is enough of the brick facade up that we get an idea of what we are going to see. I’m really not too impressed but looking at all the other city decks around downtown, should I really expect something great?
This end of the deck has some advantages from what I can see. Blount St. is a one way street and this may prove favorable with traffic flow as cars can only take right turns into and leaving the deck. At first I was shocked at how wide the stairwell was but I’m going to guess there will also be an elevator. The center space will be for RalCon offices retail and in my opinion this is not a bad spot to set up shop. City Market and Moore Square are just across the street and there is no reason to complain about parking here with 1500+ spaces right above.
Here is a sleeper project that I think is not talked about much. The Green Square project will involve two new buildings and a parking deck on the south side of Jones St. between Dawson and Salisbury St. The billboards placed around the site give the following details:
They also mention the following actions in the near future:
A friend of mine is involved in a small aspect of this project and he told me that these buildings will be coming down very soon. So for those that want to see these brick boxes for one last time, you better make your way out there. Here are the three buildings being demolished and an area map in Google.
View Larger Map
From what I’ve heard about this project is that both buildings will be connected with a walkway over McDowell St. The Nature Center will also be connected to the existing Natural Science Museum with its own glass walkway over Salisbury St. There are no new renderings available except this one on the city’s Livable Streets website, which may be a little old.
Looks like this old rendering during “Bugfest 2004” supports some of the stated bullets. You can see a couple wind generators and lots of green rooftops. The rumor is that these buildings are seeking a Gold LEED standard. I really doubt that a couple of wind generators will be running this building; these will probably be on display as part of the museum. Just my guess though.
At this point, the only thing I’m curious to know about is the parking deck. Will it be well placed behind the office buildings such as The L? If it is put directly next to the sidewalk, will it have retail space on the street? We’ll wait and see.
This may just be the largest Lego set I’ve ever seen. The parking deck is going up very fast. This picture was taken yesterday, Jan. 16th.
To further my point, here is the picture from a previous post, taken on Nov. 29th. Only 46 days later!(including some holidays)
The early winter sunsets are really cutting into my weekday opportunities to go out and take pictures of things downtown. I really think pictures help to add more to the story but we’ve all got a life and a job to do. Anyway, today I have more quick news regarding construction downtown that may be worthy of a short golf clap.
Exciting news… We are approaching topping-out!
The roof-level is being poured this week!
Also, large windows are being installed on the 5th through 7th floors and the exterior sheathing is now up to the 10th floor! Interior framing is up to the 8th floor and exterior framing is up to the 12th floor! West is well underway!
Just a quick heads up today. Check out the RBC webcam. You can see construction starting on the new parking deck that has been planned on the block north of Progress II. This is also the site for the planned “The Edison” building but no renderings have been released for this project.
Hopefully by now we are all done mourning the loss of King’s on McDowell St. I hate that an original place and music venue was destroyed to make room for government offices, but I guess that’s progress.
Anyway, King’s has been demolished and there are plans for the site at the corner of Davie St. and McDowell St. A mixed-use building with offices and ground floor shops will occupy the space. Here is some information from the city’s website:
The project would be on 1.74 acres in the northeast quadrant of the downtown block bounded by Davie Street on the north, McDowell Street to the east, Cabarrus Street on the south and Dawson Street to the west. Planned are a 989-space, nine-level parking deck and a mixed-use development consisting of 109,513 square feet of office space and 11,341 square feet of retail space. The site currently is mainly composed of surface parking lots, although a few buildings would have to be demolished to accommodate the project.
I remember the original plan included some condos but that has changed. I like the fact that there is ground floor retail, rather then a solid wall adding nothing to the street presence and livability of downtown. With a good mix of shops, this site could be the spot to pre-game before clubbing in the warehouse district. No plans for the shops have been announced but it is still early. Below are some updated pics of the demolished site as well as the renderings of the finished project, the deck should be open for use late 2008 with the entire project finished sometime in 2009.
The view walking down Davie St.
The view off of McDowell St.