CENTREPOINTE'S PLACE IN DOWNTOWN LEXINGTON
Sizing up the project
Concerns swirl over plans for skyscraper
By Beverly Fortune
BFORTUNE@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Mark Cornelison | Staff
The Lexington skyline would be dramatically changed by the proposed CentrePointe project. Many worry about its height, while others question elements of the design, and concern over the need for more hotel rooms downtown has been voiced. Photo Illustration by Mark Cornelison & Chris Ware | Staff
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Comments A rendering of a 40-story skyscraper proposed for downtown Lexington has stirred debate beyond whether to preserve a dozen historic buildings on the block and the entertainment businesses they house.
A day after the project was officially announced, some architects and others raised this question: How big is too big?
The $250 million CentrePointe project -- with a 273-room hotel, 77 condominiums and 26,000 square feet of retail space -- would take the entire block bounded by Main, Upper and Vine streets and North Limestone.
"It's very troubling because of its size," said Graham Pohl, a Lexington architect who frequently writes about architecture.
Vice Mayor Jim Gray, who expressed concern about the scale of the buildings at the Urban County Council's Tuesday work session, said the Downtown Master Plan that cost $400,000 and involved input from hundreds of citizens called for a maximum building height of 15 stories in the downtown core.
"You can't ask people for their input, get community consensus and then ignore it," he said.
That recommendation in the downtown plan was taken out when the plan went before the Planning Commission for approval. The commission said it needed more study, said Harold Tate, president of the Downtown Development Authority.
Charlie Barnhart, one of the architects for the project, described the skyscraper, with a stair-step look at several different heights, as "very responsive to the scale of buildings in downtown Lexington." The base of the building is "intentionally limited to four stories in direct response to the Courthouse Area guidelines," he said.
Much of the block is in the Courthouse Design Review Area, and subject to design guidelines. One guideline said that new construction should appear similar in mass and scale to nearby buildings.
The 406-foot tower, Barnhart said, will not be seen by pedestrians on the street. "To see the tower, you have to get on the edge of the street and look straight up," he said.
To some early critics of the proposed development, drawings of the building released Tuesday appear to show other problems: stretches of concrete wall along the sidewalk, shops that can be entered only from an interior mall, skywalks and a pedestrian-unfriendly feeling.
However, Barnhart said those impressions are wrong. He said the drawing is meant to show only the building's mass, not design details such as columns and storefronts. "That's the risk of showing a design that is not finished," he said. "The design is still evolving."
On North Limestone and Upper, the CentrePointe building would have retail shops accessible from the sidewalk with large windows and awnings, Barnhart said. All retail space could be entered from the outside.
Many cities are pulling down skywalks built in the 1980s as a way to get people walking on sidewalks. The CentrePointe development shows two skyways -- one connecting the hotel to a proposed garage on part of Phoenix Park on North Limestone, another connecting to the Financial Center garage on Upper Street.
Barnhart said he did not know whether the skywalks "will ultimately survive" or be eliminated.
Others who saw the plan also questioned why it appears to be oriented toward Vine Street instead of Main Street. But developer Dudley Webb said the main entrance to the hotel will be on Main Street with a circular drive, a covered entrance, brass revolving doors and a doorman. There will also be an entrance to the hotel off Vine Street with some parking for guests.
David Mohney, former dean of the University of Kentucky College of Design, raised concerns about the heft of the project, saying it appears too large for a downtown that "is small in size and small in scale." He said he thought there was "a whole range of little tweaks" that would improve its design.
He also said it is time Lexington had a professional peer review process established for new downtown buildings where other architects offer "tweaks that can tighten up the design."
The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation issued a statement Wednesday saying it is disappointed that plans for the mixed-use project show that historic buildings on the site will be razed. The city's oldest preservation group said it backed redevelopment of the block, but wants it done in a way that blends the new with the historic.
While some other mixed-use projects downtown have struggled to fill their retail space, Webb expressed confidence in filling his space because of the 77 condominiums and guests coming to the hotel. "We have critical mass that can support retail," he said.
Webb said he already has commitments for 10,000 square feet of the retail space. Part of that will be for a wine, cheese and fruit store that Webb said will be locally owned.
Next week, a meeting of the CentrePointe architects, engineers and city representatives will be held to do further planning on the project.
Webb said interested groups or citizens can ask questions or express concerns to the project's architects and engineers by calling his office at (859) 253-0000.