Riverside Park Development Proposed For Brooklyn

[duvaldude08]

Im actually okay with the design. It needs to tweeked a little, but thats it. It just needs to be intergrated in its surrounds better. This is actually, IMO, the most important residential project downtown has seen. Its not big expensive high rise condos, but afforable rental units make this very attractive. People Ive talked to have said they would to stay downtown, but everything is to expensive unless you have two incomes , (couple or room mate). And going rental is smart. Being that the housing market melted down, the rental market is booming and probably will be for a very long time. Personally, had I not just bought a home, I would consider staying there.

[Seraphs]

The design is not the best possible design for an urban area.  But, I agree with many others we need the warm bodies downtown.

[ben says]

Can't we get them to look a little more like....

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=georgetown+row+houses&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=qxdQT9XrPObi0QH-w6C8DQ&biw=1280&bih=621&sei=rRdQT569Mor10gGmj-m-DQ

[copperfiend]

Why not like this

http://savegriffintown.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/fq_prphoto_01.jpg

[goldy21]

Lots of good infill concepts in Denver right now:

http://denverinfill.com/blog/category/downtown-districts/uptown

[Kaiser Soze]

Why not like this

http://savegriffintown.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/fq_prphoto_01.jpg

Because that costs a heckuva lot more to build than the current design.

[thelakelander]

^Which is why the simple solution is to move the buildings to the perimeter street edges and surface parking to the center of the development.  While development costs remain the same and building footprints won't change (I wouldn't doubt they are using plans from another project they've developed), the development would fit seamlessly with the urban area surrounding it.  Instead of self centering it on Stonewall, the action would be on Park, Jackson, and Magnolia.

[fsujax]

From today's Daily Record

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/downtowntoday.php?dt_date=2012-03-02

[thelakelander]

220 Riverside is pretty much in the same area.  Why does one site need "security" and to be "self enclosed" but the other doesn't?  Also, why are people so afraid of Brooklyn?  There's literally nothing left.  It's a moonscape at best.

An Atlanta-based developer proposing to build a 297-unit rental community along Park Street in Brooklyn was literally sent back to the drawing board Thursday by the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s Downtown Development Review Board.

Questioned by board members about the placement of parking around the perimeter of the development and asked why the design didn’t include multilevel parking more consistent with urban design standards, Shallat said that too was an economically based decision.

He said surface parking would cost $900 per parking space compared to $11,000 per parking space for a garage. Building a garage would add about $5 million to the investment for the project and likely would prevent the project from being financed, he said.

The fenced perimeter and security gates also were questioned about their consistency with accepted urban design. Shallat again cited financial consideration and said that the gates might be removed later.

“One day, we don’t want the gates. We have to provide them to get financing. People have to want to live there,” he said.

The board questioned the design in terms of parking lots surrounding the project and asked if more parking could be designed for the center of the property.

Shallat said that would give the exterior a look “similar to a Walmart” and that the site plan intended the central area to resemble “an internal community along the lines of what you see in Riverside and Avondale.”

full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/downtowntoday.php?dt_date=2012-03-02

[Tacachale]

It sounds like the JEDC review board raised all the right concerns. Hopefully they can hammer this out and get it built in the appropriate urban format.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Also, why are people so afraid of Brooklyn?  There's literally nothing left.  It's a moonscape at best.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

It sounds like the JEDC review board raised all the right concerns. Hopefully they can hammer this out and get it built in the appropriate urban format.

From what I'm seeing, it appears you don't even have to change the footprints of the building plans, just relocate and rotate, and you can accomplish most of what's being proposed. 

It worries me that their design is already compared to "looking like a Walmart".   I don't care how much parking is put between the road and the building, a walmart is still a walmart. 

[vicupstate]

Why is it that 220 Riverside can get financing and be un-gated, but Riverside Park cannot on both counts?  Maybe 220 Riverside should give R.P. their finance guy's number.   

[Kaiser Soze]

I love Walmart.

[thelakelander]

The Walmart quote came from Riverside Park's representative in response to placing parking in the middle of the site:

The board questioned the design in terms of parking lots surrounding the project and asked if more parking could be designed for the center of the property.

Shallat said that would give the exterior a look “similar to a Walmart” and that the site plan intended the central area to resemble “an internal community along the lines of what you see in Riverside and Avondale.”

It's pretty clear, he's viewing this development as an isolated, self centered project instead of one actually being within a real urban area.