Quote:
Originally Posted by HX_Guy
Where are you guys seeing these first floor uses? Looks like they put up some glass and tables/chairs but that's it...the glass is transparent and you can see there is nothing but cars on the other side. The tables make it seem like there is retail space there but I don't think that's the case.
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This parking structure was required to be mixed use. When construction was announced a year or so ago (it was supposed to start with the Cancer Center), all of the articles dropped any mention of retail or other uses. So, I emailed the Project Manager directly to ask, and he confirmed that our stifling laws were indeed forcing his company into a design corner by requiring additional uses that would eat up parking space, increase the rates they could rent the spaces to companies for, and the structure would never be able to be built.
He asked that I contact my rep regarding the policies of Urban Form before it was too late, the project died, and a new developer built an even worse garage on a different parcel. LOL
So, on the positive side:
1) They've designed the upper floors to reflect Urban Form
2) There is SOME secondary use along the ground level of 5th Street; the use requirement is vague, and while yes - the tables make me want to say they've gone with retail - it could just as easily be an outdoor plaza. And, the more I look at it, the more I think they got away with just that... everyone at a table appears to be studying or on a phone/laptop, making it seem like an outdoor working area, with the glass panels (which I just noticed are diagonal panels) counting as 'public art' toward making this mixed use.
^ As I told the PM, I can't understand how a national development company couldn't lease ground level space in the middle of 2 large campuses, a Cancer Center, Holiday Inn and a nationally-renowned art district. The students in that area have little in the way of food options, the Cancer Center visitors could certainly use a place to relax, and all of the above could use a Walgreens (jobs for the med school, supplies and meds for ASU students/Skyline+McKinley Apts), cards and gifts for Cancer Center visitors...).
Fingers crossed - retail would be the first design element of the entire Medical Campus that attempted to integrate into the greater City, and hopefully, whatever went there, would be something that makes sense for the area and could be open and used by a large number of people. I'll be upset if this is being built as a single-use structure on City land with glass panels and tables giving it a mixed use designation.
Parking Downtown
As far as the parking debate itself, studies have continually shown that downtown is overparked. With that knowledge, and the goal of creating an energetic, thriving city, it would make sense that the City push for sharing garages, leasing space in garages that are a bit of a walk, incentivizing transit use, etc. to get employees to not just ride an elevator to/from their car each day, and instead, walk the streets and maybe pick up a bagel or coffee; or, try out a new happy hour spot, and so on. This still gives suburbanites their spot, while training them to become more and more open to urban ideals.
The fact that every development comes with a garage in tandem is horrible for the built environment. No matter how well it is designed, it's taking up valuable real estate that should be used on projects that connect the dots, not cut them in half. Walk down almost any street, and the energy is sucked out of the air every time a garage fronts the road. Great if ground level uses are included, but we need density and crave an active streetscape; cars don't leave their spots during the day to engage in the city like office workers, residents, or students do.
And, while this garage will be one of the least offensive given its design, location and potential inclusion of ground level uses, a master-planned development in an urban center should never PLAN for above-ground parking taking up an entire block. Planning gives you the advantage of taking time to make the right choices; how many more buildings are planned for this campus? Why the heck couldn't this parking be absorbed through underground parking beneath those? At least TGEN is to its south and additional structures will be built and cover it on the east side.
Arizona Center Garbage
The location of this garage and the potential for retail on the ground level makes the design of the Arizona Center more frustrating than ever. As much as I'd want the theater torn down and rebuilt, and some of the stores turned inside out to front 3rd St, if that horrible massive garage was just built underground for a future 3rd tower (hotel or residential?), and the east side designed to be inviting, this wouldn't even be a discussion. But, instead of being 1 piece in the connection between all those entities (Apartment Residents, ASU campus, Medical Campus, Holiday Inn, Cancer Center, Evans Churchill...), it's a huge barrier that makes surrounding developments completely cut-off.
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) over the past several years.
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