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Originally Posted by Jdawgboy
I'm starting to dislike this proposal. What do they even mean by "respectful and appropriate"? Specifically the appropriate part. In this case appropriate can be subjective depending on the person. You can be respectful and still push the boundaries on design.
Also another 40 story range building? In that location??? Another 400-500ft boxy flat roofed residential in a prominent location is not acceptable. We get these initial announcements that claim that we will see some of the tallest buildings in the city ~60 floors was mentioned for this if I'm not mistaken only to downscale and diminish the final product. If they are designing the buildings even remotely close to what's in those renderings then the second tower will be the shorter of the two. The readings are out of scale as it is, no way will a 40 story residential be that tall.
Developers might as well start off announcing the most bland, dull and boxiest buildings in the 400-500 foot range so at least we don't get excited over nothing because that's what we end up with now.
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The two renderings I posted are of the old project that Sutton was planning. Sutton stated that one of those towers would be a 60-story tower that would have been the tallest in the city. I'm willing to be patient. Sutton had said a year ago that they'd be starting construction right about now, but now their project has been bought out. So nothing is a done deal. I would even take the stated size of the project at the moment with a grain of salt. It could be larger or smaller. Either way, I sort of thought Sutton's plan was a bit tacky. Those towers looked like they landed there in the middle of the night hoping no one would notice. They looked like a modern interpretation of 1970s international style architecture. If that's the design they really were going with, then I'm ok with getting something else. Those would have been better suited on the other side of downtown a few blocks north of the river on a lot that is in the middle of the grid, not fronting the curving natural character of the river. I'd rather have something with a little more shape and personality if it's going to become the face of our skyline. I've always admired Corpus Christi's Shoreline Plaza towers. I'm not saying we have to copy that style, but I have always loved the way the towers face away from each other looking out over the water. I have always wanted something like that for our waterfront. It's pretty much the only way I'd ever agree to have twins on our skyline.
As for the Waller Park Place design, I'm not a huge fan. The designs seem gimmicky and too fanciful, but not in a playful creative sort of way. They just don't feel "real" somehow. I don't know. Maybe it's the renderings. I did like the plan they had for the curved towers that would have included one really tall one, but they went and changed it again. I hope they change it again before it moves forward.