SAN ANTONIO | St. John’s Square | 8 FLOORS | Proposed

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by jaga185

New Renderings, again. Goes to the HDRC on Wednesday. HDRC PDF

Ugh. They changed it to that same boring design going up in every city in the country... with added orange crap!

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

Ugh. They changed it to another boring design going up in every city in the country... with added orange crap!

I edited this for you.

The original design was in the same mold. At least this one hides the parking garage better, has a pop of color, and has retail space that is actually obvious to passerby (and will thus hopefully actually be used by pedestrians).

[sirkingwilliam]

My opinion, just let it get built before you pass judgment. Basing off renderings isn’t fair. Who’s to say this won’t look much better in actuality and in person once built.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

My opinion, just let it get built before you pass judgment. Basing off renderings isn’t fair. Who’s to say this won’t look much better in actuality and in person once built.

I get your point and appreciate it. But judging off of renderings is fair. I studied architecture at the UT College of Architecture, just like many people here (or with similar backgrounds, often with much more expertise than mine). I know how to make and how to read a rendering. Its purpose is to show what a building will look like before it's built. If we can't judge this off its renderings, what's the purpose of the renderings?

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

I get your point and appreciate it. But judging off of renderings is fair. I studied architecture at the UT College of Architecture, just like many people here (or with similar backgrounds, often with much more expertise than mine). I know how to make and how to read a rendering. Its purpose is to show what a building will look like before it's built. If we can't judge this off its renderings, what's the purpose of the renderings?

I get what you’re judging it off of and I’m not saying you can’t, but my point is that you shouldn’t put all your weight of your opinion on this project based of drawings and renderings.

This could be much better when built.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

I get what you’re judging it off of and I’m not saying you can’t, but my point is that you shouldn’t put all your weight of your opinion on this project based of drawings and renderings.

This could be much better when built.

I hope it is.

[mklunder13]

In my opinion, this looks like a cheap affordable housing project you'd see on the outskirts of a european city. The other design did create a modern take on vernacular architecture. But I do appreciate the retail on the corner and the density of this project. Either way, something going in this area will only bring more infill development in an area with a lot of empty parking lots, so cheers to that success.

[The Model]

It needs something in the front. The building shape is like the Vistana or the Express news building. I needs something!!! Just like the Embassy Suites downtown has nothing in the front, its just a wall of windows with no crown.

[JACKinBeantown]

Then again, their rendering of the Tower of the Americas looks like a Tinker Toy with a pie tin on top. So maybe this finished building with be ASTOUNDING!

[micahinsa]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

I get what you’re judging it off of and I’m not saying you can’t, but my point is that you shouldn’t put all your weight of your opinion on this project based of drawings and renderings.

This could be much better when built.

That may or may not be true. The only problem is it'll be too late at that point, either way.

If it turns out indeed to be awful, no one is going to say "oh god, this is fugly, let's tear it down and start again."

[krondog]

Eh.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by jaga185

I don't know about anyone else, but I would never want to live on the first floor in a downtown. I mean, just look at all those people loitering outside my window. Plus the headlights shining in, the noise, the puke from weekend drunks, the ease of break-ins.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

I don't know about anyone else, but I would never want to live on the first floor in a downtown. I mean, just look at all those people loitering outside my window. Plus the headlights shining in, the noise, the puke from weekend drunks, the ease of break-ins.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

21 apartments on the ground floor.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

21 apartments on the ground floor.

That’s not why I used that smiley.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

That’s not why I used that smiley.

Well, that explains that.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

Well, that explains that.

I was questioning the bizarre fear mongering with regards to first floor residential units. You, being in Boston and being a huge cheerleader for urban development should know there are many buildings in both those cities that have first floor residential units in buildings in their urban areas.

[JACKinBeantown]

Borderline accusation there, buddy. Care to delete your own post?

Yes, I'm a cheerleader for thoughtful urban development. Yes, there are many buildings with first floor residential units. Yes, all the things I listed are negatives that can come with living on the first floor. Yes, having residential on the first floor takes away space for potential retail, which in my opinion is much better suited for the first floor for many reasons.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

Borderline accusation there, buddy. Care to delete your own post?

Yes, I'm a cheerleader for thoughtful urban development. Yes, there are many buildings with first floor residential units. Yes, all the things I listed are negatives that can come with living on the first floor. Yes, having residential on the first floor takes away space for potential retail, which in my opinion is much better suited for the first floor for many reasons.

It’s an accurate description of your comment. There’s no need to delete the post. I did however edit your to the.

Of the many recent (year or two) residential developments with first floor units, you’ve made your opinion known about the loss of retail space or the absence of retail space altogether. But, never have you talked about drunks or break ins or noise. It was a very odd addition to your narrative.

[wwmiv]

I find discussions about lack of street level retail instead of first floor housing units to be really quite funny, considering that a majority of street facing buildings in pretty much every large urban core in the United States and Europe are residential units. People who make this complaint seem to simply ignore the vast swaths of attached and narrow lot semi-detached townhomes, flats, and small apartment buildings that dominate Brooklyn, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and others and think that mixed-used corridors are the norm. They aren't. Manhattan itself is probably majority residential on the first floor. If those cities can't sustain retail on every street facing first floor façade with the population densities that they have, then no other city can even come close. It's a pipe dream, people, give it up.