KCRag Forum

flyingember wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:43 am

Why did they build such a big garage, and place the tower on top of it, when the hotel's location is suburban and there is so much land around it?

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.5913144 ... a=!3m1!1e3

To match the ridiculously overbuilt interchange, duh.

Here is what Drury is building in downtown Nashville.

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/ ... -for-sobro





A 21-story buildng on about 25 percent of the city block.

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 12:35 pm

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:47 am Just say no. No reason to give a reason.

It's not that hard to come up with a reason, like it will destroy walkability in the government district.

The problem I see with the current plan is that there is no point negotiating when there is absolutely no chance coming to a valid solution that is good for DT. This company values uniformity. They’re not going to add anything that adds to the walkability. They aren’t going to use less space. They’re basically the guy in the subway taking two seats. They like suburban stucco exteriors that are already outdated. Don’t waste the city’s time! Come with a whole different plan or the blunt answer should be no.

Drury was stupid for using that rendering. As someone previously said, it looks like every other suburban Drury.
I don't mind the new parking garage and rehabbing the old garage for public use is good but it does create a dead zone.
Overall a really, really bad and cheap plan. They should have spent a dime and at least rendered a classical and/or art-deco design to fit the Govt District. Seeing the Drury clone rendering next to the Courthouse is gut wrenching.

That San Antonio Drury is the ugliest building in TX, and that's saying a lot.

Split up block, sell old BOE to someone that will renovate for affordable housing, put quality design on 13th street.. Done.

I don't care that the building matches the art deco government buildings, or not. J.E. Dunn's building doesn't, and shouldn't have to. The Charles Whittaker Federal Courthouse, and UMB's Tech Center, doesn't. Buildings from different eras have different designs and materials. Even in historic districts, you can use a different design to differentiate the new building from the old. There are exceptions to that rule of course. You don't plop a Home Depot SuperCenter on a lot next to 150-year-old Victorian buildings, and not get a lot of push-back.

But Dave is right, I care more about the street-level interaction, and activity. I don't want three sides of blank walls. I want restaurant and retail frontages, or at least windows to look in and see activity--whether it be barber shops or dry cleaners. If you are going to take the entire block for your project, you can put the parking garage underground or in the middle and build around it.

The other criticism I have is why hog the entire block for your hotel? And why do you need a driveway in front of your door? If you need a location for people to unload their cars, make a drop-off entrance in the garage behind the hotel.

I am worried that between Drury and Copaken, they will turn McGee, Oak and 13th Street into utility and access alleys and not active streets for pedestrians.

12th Street is an important corridor to connect future "East Village" projects. A shitty pedestrian experience along 12th (i.e., no retail frontage) will make the development of the east portion of the loop even more difficult, imho.

FangKC wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:30 pm You don't plop a Home Depot SuperCenter on a lot next to 150-year-old Victorian buildings, and not get a lot of push-back.

Well, maybe if you're midtown you do

alejandro46 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:39 am Looks like a 10-story project. If they smartened up the exterior a bit from this rendering (a little more modern and urban please) I don't hate it. Is the parking garage under the building or adjacent? Hard to tell. For that prime lot, a 2-story parking garage is on par with as bad as a 4 story hotel.

https://cityscenekc.com/drury-wants-to- ... ith-hotel/

That is hideous. Do they think downtown KCMO is I-70 and Little Blue Parkway? I hope you guys can organize a grassroots effort to stop this development or get them to drastically improve it. I mean, they are tearing down a sizable structure that can be re purposed and maintaining half the block as tiny parking structures. But worst of all, they are plopping a suburban clone design in the heart of downtown.

Downtown KC is not downtown OKC where this kind of trashy development is tolerated in the center of the city. I hope Drury walks away if they can't do better than this. They are shitting on KC with this proposal. They would never put that in downtown St Louis. If Drury wants to build that, then they should do it east of Oak on an empty lot or something or even on one of the parking lots east of the sprint center and without a tif.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:09 pm

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 12:35 pm

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:47 am Just say no. No reason to give a reason.

It's not that hard to come up with a reason, like it will destroy walkability in the government district.

The problem I see with the current plan is that there is no point negotiating when there is absolutely no chance coming to a valid solution that is good for DT. This company values uniformity. They’re not going to add anything that adds to the walkability. They aren’t going to use less space. They’re basically the guy in the subway taking two seats. They like suburban stucco exteriors that are already outdated. Don’t waste the city’s time! Come with a whole different plan or the blunt answer should be no.

75% of the design problems could be solved by moving the drop-off lane to the back of the building, bringing the front up flush with the sidewalk, and putting the hotel's own restaurant & bar at a corner of the building with plenty of windows and a door for public access. Most of the rest would be resolved by just removing the southern garage from the project altogether. They don't need that much parking, and I imagine it's more valuable as a development site than as a two-story garage. That would get the project up to the modest standards of other recent and current hotel developments downtown. If they still need incentives after selling off that parcel, then the city can negotiate additional improvements, such as having them put all their parking underground, since they don't need a lot anyway and the site has a natural slope. Then they could sell off even more of the land, offsetting even more of the project costs. No reason to walk away from a project with reasonable density just because the initial proposal has mediocre urban form.

^ So, basically not make it a Drury Inn? I’m sure theyll love that suggestion. &

^^its what we should have told Jimmy Johns. If your not going to build something urban,risky, or both then get out.

GRID wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:41 pm

alejandro46 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:39 am Looks like a 10-story project. If they smartened up the exterior a bit from this rendering (a little more modern and urban please) I don't hate it. Is the parking garage under the building or adjacent? Hard to tell. For that prime lot, a 2-story parking garage is on par with as bad as a 4 story hotel.

https://cityscenekc.com/drury-wants-to- ... ith-hotel/

That is hideous. Do they think downtown KCMO is I-70 and Little Blue Parkway? I hope you guys can organize a grassroots effort to stop this development or get them to drastically improve it. I mean, they are tearing down a sizable structure that can be re purposed and maintaining half the block as tiny parking structures. But worst of all, they are plopping a suburban clone design in the heart of downtown.

Downtown KC is not downtown OKC where this kind of trashy development is tolerated in the center of the city. I hope Drury walks away if they can't do better than this. They are shitting on KC with this proposal. They would never put that in downtown St Louis. If Drury wants to build that, then they should do it east of Oak on an empty lot or something or even on one of the parking lots east of the sprint center and without a tif.

Well at least it would look better than the Board of Education building... at least that's a positive.

UrbanKC wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:16 pm Well at least it would look better than the Board of Education building... at least that's a positive.

I’d take the BOE building. Simplistic mid century modern building that could easily be updated. It’s an underappreciated style that will continue to gain fans in the next several years. Has already been very popular for residential housing for a long time. That Drury is dreary.

There's nothing good about this development. It's just reused highway offramp repurposed as downtown development to try to grab cheap public money. Next to the Sprint center.

No thanks, go away

I'm not a fan of the BOE building, but I think it would be far more valuable to redevelop it than demolish it. They could even market it as being an example of "historic mid century modernism" or something. I also think part of the reason the building doesn't look great is that it's really dirty and has abysmal landscaping. Clean it up and arrange some trees and it could be okay. Better than the drury rendering.

I bet you could get a majority here for taking it down with any resemblance of a thought out project. As it is, why even bother?

As a St. Louisan who stays at Drury hotels whenever I travel (if they are available) this proposal bugs me. I've seen what they want to do on Laclede's Landing in St. Louis and this project in KC is depressing. Drury can do better. The City better pressure them into something better.

The entire project needs to be rethought. Sorry Drury.

You could easily do mixed use, affordable housing, and hotel here, right? If we're talking incentives?

The school district is the entity that appears to have control and power over the future use of this site.