Saks buildng on the Plaza

[dangerboy]

What an ass-ugly example of 1970s crap. It needs to be covered up with a facade that fits in with the rest of the Plaza better. The new Saks parking garage looks much better than their department store.

[KCPowercat]

what I really don't like is the complete lack of any street level interaction on the west side.

[chrizow]

i am surprised the building was even allowed to look like that. yeah, Saks is a great tenant to score, but why should they be able to put a big stupid cube in the middle of such an architecturally distinct area?

in fact, most of the Saks i've seen around the country built in the last 50 years look like crap. they are either red brick cubes or white cubes. awful. i can see that at a shopping mall (e.g. Plaza Frontenac in stl), but not on the plaza. if it werent for the chi-chi merchandise in there, the store would be no better than a freakin' Staples.

[dangerboy]

i am surprised the building was even allowed to look like that. yeah, Saks is a great tenant to score, but why should they be able to put a big stupid cube in the middle of such an architecturally distinct area?

Maybe because Saks owns its own lot and building, instead of leasing from Highwoods? The city sure wouldn't have cared about aesthetics back in the day when this was built. It's really starting to stick compared to the new stuff like Seville Square and Valencia Place that managed to be contempory AND blend in with the faux Spanish theme.

[trailerkid]

Hall's isn't that much better.

[Midtownkid]

Well, now both buildings for Saks and Halls are renovated.

But both retailers are gone...

[horizons82]

^Did that really necessitate bumping this thread from 14 years ago?

[Midtownkid]

Why not? I came across that and thought it was funny