KCRag Forum

beautyfromashes wrote:What's the 'soccer field' on the NE corner?

it's another building and their parking lot. Owned by VFW.

New renderings of the MGE Building.
http://baarchitecture.com/projects/midtown-plaza/15BRO

Better. Glad to see the "garagescape" removed from Pennsylvannia but the phase III apartment building is floating in a sea of parking lots. The phase three building need to be rotated to face 34th Terr to build a nice street edge. To fill the gap on 34th Street, slide a townhouse building there.
My edit:


Even better....leave Washington in place. Superblocks are bad.

One benefit to the current design is there's a block worth of frontage on 34th that could be built on in the future and keep the rear parking intact.

To flip the red building 90 degrees along 34th you end up with a very large interior lot, harder space to redevelop than something street facing.

I'm not hung up on keeping Washington since it's a dead end on both sides. A superblock here isn't a bad tradeoff.

flyingember wrote:One benefit to the current design is there's a block worth of frontage on 34th that could be built on in the future and keep the rear parking intact.

To flip the red building 90 degrees along 34th you end up with a very large interior lot, harder space to redevelop than something street facing.

We shouldn't be talking about redeveloping something that hasn't even been built yet. Whatever they build now (even parking) won't be touched for another 20, 30, 40 years. Get all the street (public realm) experiences right now rather than do it half right now and hope for the rest to get fixed 40 years from now.

Regarding Washington....think of it as the first leg of getting the neighboring superblocks trimmed down as they redevelop. Superblocks go against a good urban fabric. Every one we add, degrades the urban experience.

Not redeveloping, infill development. Plan the site to maximize the number of buildings that can get put in. A lot can be taken out next year, a building not for decades.

The 300 and 400 block of Wyandotte is a good example. it's going slowly but two infill houses were built on that block

flyingember wrote:One benefit to the current design is there's a block worth of frontage on 34th that could be built on in the future and keep the rear parking intact.

To flip the red building 90 degrees along 34th you end up with a very large interior lot, harder space to redevelop than something street facing.

I'm not hung up on keeping Washington since it's a dead end on both sides. A superblock here isn't a bad tradeoff.

But, if Washington Street is kept, the red building is fronting a road and the interior lots are kept a lot smaller. Considering a superblock essentially creates deadspace, why would we limit the initial impact of the development by putting the red apartment through the middle with the hope that eventually development would be created along 34th?

Why is a superblock always bad?

How else do you create a pedestrian only street?

A one block dead end street is the perfect place to get one.

Just consider the parking lot with access to 34th and 34th terrace to be Washington with traffic calming.

flyingember wrote:Why is a superblock always bad?

How else do you create a pedestrian only street?

HaHa!!!! ...a pedestrian-only street. Stop with the jokes. Show me your favorite pedestrian street in KC (that is successful and not subsidized).
This ain't no college town or a huge transit town with a strong pedestrian base.

AlbertHammond wrote:

flyingember wrote:Why is a superblock always bad?

How else do you create a pedestrian only street?

HaHa!!!! ...a pedestrian-only street. Stop with the jokes. Show me your favorite pedestrian street in KC (that is successful and not subsidized).
This ain't no college town or a huge transit town with a strong pedestrian base.

Main St, 3rd to 5th

flyingember wrote:

AlbertHammond wrote:

flyingember wrote:Why is a superblock always bad?

How else do you create a pedestrian only street?

HaHa!!!! ...a pedestrian-only street. Stop with the jokes. Show me your favorite pedestrian street in KC (that is successful and not subsidized).
This ain't no college town or a huge transit town with a strong pedestrian base.

Main St, 3rd to 5th

Really? Thanks for proving my point.

How about 4th St then, which intercepts it?

Main is used by cars only for deliveries to the businesses along it and they have to jump the curb from the parking lot to get there.

I don't trust renderings that have include "bycicle" stores.

That is the whitest Midtown Plaza I have ever seen.

A Trader Joes would be sweet in that spot.

taxi wrote:That is the whitest Midtown Plaza I have ever seen.

earthling wrote:A Trader Joes would be sweet in that spot.

Did anyone notice that the rendering looks like late spring/early summer with folks dressed up in shorts/light shirts than BAM, a woman and her child are in winter wear?

geeman68 wrote:Did anyone notice that the rendering looks like late spring/early summer with folks dressed up in shorts/light shirts than BAM, a woman and her child are in winter wear?

Cut and pastey.

geeman68 wrote:Did anyone notice that the rendering looks like late spring/early summer with folks dressed up in shorts/light shirts than BAM, a woman and her child are in winter wear?

Also, the guy holding two toddlers is walking into the middle of traffic.