FangKC wrote:I only proposed Paseo West because it's mostly industrial now. Many of the lots have few, or no buildings, on them. Some of the parcels that do have buildings really aren't worth saving anyway. This neighborhood would be a way to add towers to downtown office space and be able to hide parking underground and in interiors of blocks, or put garages up against the freeway where most office buildings and residential don't want to be anyway.
It's close enough to the Loop to add a streetcar line easily. The number of employees there would justify it. The neighborhood also has great freeway access to both I-70 and I-35, and artery streets like Paseo going south, and Independence Avenue going east.
One of my reasons for this idea is that it would add employees and Class A office space downtown on parcels that would not require demolishing more significant historic buildings. There are some old buildings I would save. New buildings could have whole blocks to work with.
The other goal would be to jump-start new residential building in this area as well, and the return to small-time retail, restaurants, and bars to the neighborhood. That many highly-paid employees working there would draw in developers like crazy.
Hopefully, it would also help home sales, and new infill construction, in neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, Union Hill, Hyde Park, Old Northeast, Columbus Park, etc. A spill-over effect might be that many older houses would also get renovated in the area, and sold to younger workers who want to live in the City.
We could really build up downtown population significantly if new housing was built in this neighborhood. There would also be room for larger retail stores like an Urban Target, since they could build a store from scratch.
But I doubt Neal Patterson thinks about things like that.
Oh yea man I totally get all that. It is a fine idea, and many great things could happen in that situation. I just personally like the idea of building only one or two buildings for the headquarter. Something that is tall and makes a statement. Now with as much square footage they are talking about, one building would be a bit too tall I think. I mean, it's not like we couldn't do it and it would certainly make a statement lol. But I wouldn't really want a building that's three times as tall as all the rest. Would look weird for sure.
Having it sprawl amongst several buildings would be too much of a campus concept for me, which I'm not a big fan of. It would be great to kick start the revitalization of the Paseo West neighborhood, but I wouldn't want it to be a Cerner ghetto, even with the apartments you are talking about adding. There would have to be LOTS to avoid the office park feel, not to mention other offices for other businesses.
That being said, that's only my opinion on the matter. If a majority of people were down with having a large company create a campus in the Paseo West neighborhood (or East Village for that matter), then I would be cool with it. I would just prefer a slower, more organic and diverse growth for those two neighborhoods.
Btw, is Paseo West the historic name for that neighborhood? I would be curious to know what that area has been called through the years.