P&L District: 13th & Walnut Site Proposal

[Gladstoner]

I think a neon sax (or guitar) would be fine if there is plenty of other neon, marquees, etc. in the district.  If it looks like a 3-story guitar dropped on the plaza, it will be a little inappropriate.

Agreed. A huge neon sax or guitar by itself would say "Hey! I'm an attention whore!" But then again, that is the essence of HRC.

Personally, I think it's size should reflect the scale of the building it is on, though I can't put my finger on what measurements and ratios "feel" right. On the two-storey structure, it only needs to be large enough to be seen clearly from the street.

[Long]

I'd pay real money for a sidewalk (or temporary walkway) along the east edge of the block on Grand during construction.

[KCN]

Why are they digging so deep in this block?  Is there another parking garage planned?

[scooterj]

I think they're just working to get a good base for foundations.  The pit only appears to be about 8-10 feeet deep and they're going through a lot of effort to make it perfectly level... someething you don't do just before gouging it all out.

[KCN]

My "depth" perception is way off looking at that webcam, I was thinking it was a lot deeper than that.

This block should be going strong in a few months.

[Long]

Why are they digging so deep in this block?  Is there another parking garage planned?

Yeah, I believe they are now in the process of filling it in and leveling it out.  They probably dug it so deep just to get under all the existing foundations and basements, make sure they are all cleared out, and allow the ground to stabilize a little bit.

[trailerkid]

Another problem I have with this block is its insular nature. Nightlife is supposed to spill from venue to venue and into the street. I realize Cordish has this open pavillion in the middle so as to control the behaviors of visitors by making it a private space, but what could end up happening is that there is a very large private area crowded with bar patrons while 14th Street and other surrounding sidewalks have minimal foot traffic. To a degree, they solved for this problem by creating outdoor entrances to most of the venues, but I just don't want this block to turn into an insular bar mall.

[eliphar17]

Actually if you look closely at the overall plan, you'll see there's an "alley" running along and north of 14th Street through the district, from the President all the way to the arena. The idea is that who do go into the central area of the Live block can spill out to the surrounding blocks. Also, Cordish wants to close 14th Street on weekend evenings or something to encourage pedestrian activity. Don't worry about this one block sucking in all the people.

[Long]

[KCN]

Are we sure there's not an underground garage here?  Looks like an awfully deep hole

[trailerkid]

Yes...I believe an underground garage is going in here. That amendment was made after the site plan surfaced.

[Tosspot]

Funny how underground garages are suddenly feasible for P&L but deemed out of the realm of possibility for the majority of the other environs in the city. One can posit a few theories as to why, but I won't bore you with them.

[KCN]

This would explain why none of those buildings was kept and incorporated into the district on that block.  Not that they would have been salvaged anyway.

[scooterj]

Yeah, when I drove by that hole today, it's a LOT deeper than it looks from high above.  Easily 30 feet deep around the edges to 50 feet deep in the middle.

[eliphar17]

n today's Star, it talks about site plan changes, one of them puts a 1,000 space garage that was to be at the 12th and Main block into the ground of this block.

Old news... six months old, to be exact.

[KCN]

How embarrassing that I had not only read that when it was posted, but replied to it, and then 2 pages later I'm asking what the big hole is. 

[scooterj]

Current status of this block.  I'd expect to start seeing some prefab garage pieces showing up here within about a month.

[KCN]

Have they begun pouring the bottom of this garage?  It's hard to tell from that webcam but it looks like they have.  If so this becomes our 2nd block with actual structure going up

[KCN]

Hmm on second thought I might just be looking at a big puddle 

[scooterj]

Hmm on second thought I might just be looking at a big puddle 

I couldn't tell ya one way or another if you saw puddle or concrete.   The H&R Block Building got tall enough in the last couple of days to completely block my view of that pit.