[glowrock]

Originally Posted by King of Chicago

I was just there at the meeting, and even though the design is not perfect, it is better than what it could be. I asked the question, "How many floors of parking will there be? Because if it has more than one floor of parking, I won't support it, as I don't want a repeat of the disasters that are Broadway Marianos and the development on Addison, which have cavernous parking garages, which take away from the character of the neighborhood". Tara Hovie, the developer, responded with "There will be only one floor of parking". lol

I am supporting the project and I approve.

I talked to Tara after the meeting, and asked her if there are any other design options other than the "glass box", such as Terra Cotta, or a darker brick color, she said "No, Optima specializes in Modern design". She emphasized to me though, that they are a quality developer and that this won't look cheap or crappy, I said ok.

I approve.

What's interesting here is that there's so much hatred for the Mariano's complex on Broadway. I realize there's a lot of parking in the multi-story garage, but isn't that more or less inevitable when you've got a huge supermarket, large, pretty posh gym along with a few other larger retail establishments? Other than the big curb cut which is both the entrance/exit for the garage, I don't really see why it's such a massive problem to the streetwall of Broadway. Frankly, a bigger issue along Broadway, as well as its extension down Clark towards Fullerton, is the relatively large number of vacant storefronts. Some churn is expected, but it seems that the vacancy levels are certainly higher than would be considered typical.

Aaron (Glowrock)