Quote:
Originally Posted by downtownhsvguy
After watching the videos, I am thinking they are going to make this pretty cookie cutter. I don't see anything that is going to set it apart from bridge street other than the housing component.. Something with this kind of scope should be thinking about any part of this development that doesn't have a large format retail building should have housing on top of the retail (ie nail salons, restaurants).. with that being said, I am kinda disappointed with the massing of the development..
|
Actually, there will be housing on top of the retail. If you read the first article which came out on May 17th, it specifically states in the article in the third paragraph: "The first phase of construction includes 280 units to be located in a four-story facility with elevators and high-end amenities within the mixed-use retail portion of Town Madison. Breland expects more apartments will follow on other sites within the property" Here is a link to the whole article:
http://www.alabamaoasis.com/luxury-a...dison-project/
In general, I think it is unrealistic to believe that all of the videos on the Town Madison website will be the final product. For example, they show what looks like the distinctive sign for a Best Buy, however, I'm not sure that BB will want to pay the higher rent to be in a new development like TM when they are in an older building, now.
Also, there have been complaints about all of the surface parking lots. Keep in mind that while everyone would prefer a garage like Bridge Street and Parkway Place, they are expensive to build and are built out of necessity due to a scarcity of land. In fact, the garage at Bridge Street has a higher tax value than the Belk Department Store it services. Parkway Place is land locked and they had to build the garage to accommodate the small area of land they occupy.
By contrast, TM has over 500 acres of land in a suburban setting and is located about 3 miles from the end of the developed area (County Line Road). So, with plenty of land, there isn't the necessity of building expensive garages. However, overall, it will be of a much higher density than any of the adjacent developments like Mountain Brook and Edgewater. If you look at the video for The Commons, it will probably be the largest high density development in the HSV metro area. The Heights will most likely be able to make a similar claim.
Finally, because Breland's name is associated with it, I think a lot of posters here expect that the housing will look like a Breland Homes (now D.R. Horton Homes) subdivision. That is not likely, as he has said that the homes will look like that found at Westhaven, a high end development on the west side of Franklin, TN. Andres Duany is designing the overall development with Steve Mouxon being the architect - I could never see them signing their names to a mediocre run of the mill, Breland Homes development.