by GERALD NEILY
Oh no! Didn’t anyone tell Rick Walker never to do what Gerry Neily says? When the Brew published my “Five fixes to make the Lowe’s redevelopment work for Remington“ several months ago, the developer must have paid attention, because the newly-revised plan incorporates almost all of the five fixes.
Coincidence? Perhaps, but when the city government finds out, he’s doomed!
The addition of a Wal-Mart may be controversial, but the new design, in my opinion, is now less so. Here’s how I score it on those five fixes:
1 – Make the site entrance at the west end of 25th Street look and feel like an extension of 25th Street.
Done.
This is nicely shown in the architect’s rendering above. All that’s still needed is a center median on the Huntingdon leg of the intersection to reinforce the left turn into the site, ease pedestrian crossings and set off Remington as its own distinctive neighborhood.
2 – Extend the buildings in the Lowe’s development all the way to the sidewalk edges at this 25th Street site entrance.
Only half-done.
The building on the highly visible Huntingdon/25th Street corner (right side of the rendering) is situated nicely to create an inviting transition between the new development and the Remington community.
But the building on the other side, between the entrance and Howard Street (left side of the rendering), still has big problems. The small driveway onto 25th Street (wedged between Howard and the main site entrance) won’t work properly because it’s too close to the other intersections. The grade change going up to Wal-Mart will isolate this parcel from the rest of the site. And the setback from the Howard/25th intersection will perpetuate the existing hostile pedestrian environment.
Moreover, this building will be oriented only to its own tiny parking lot, rather than to the vast parking structure they plan above the Lowe’s and below the Wal-Mart. A drive-through bank shown on the drawing will further isolate it.
If the developer believes that this design is the only way to make retail work on this parcel, then an office building here may be the best solution. Office uses have more flexibility than retail and could simultaneously be oriented to the Howard/25th St. intersection and the middle level of the parking deck. With offices here, cars would make use of that otherwise dead parking area during weekday business hours and spaces would be freed up for heavy weekend and evening retail demand. End result: more density without adding to peak-hour parking and traffic.
3 – Reduce the retail intensity on the east side of Howard Street.
Mostly done.
They got rid of the ghastly exposed truck dock along 24th Street. They moved the parking deck to the top of the building at the south end of the site and gave it a nicely sculptural floating ramp, which shields the surface parking from Howard Street. So they were able to increase the density slightly, without overwhelming the site. Nice job.
4 – Provide all development on 25th Street and Maryland Avenue with entrances directly from the street sidewalks.
Mostly done.
They appear to have opened up the 25th Street frontage to the sidewalk, a change which was vitally needed to link the development to the existing retail district. But there are still some dead spots on Maryland Avenue. (The two openings in the building from Maryland Avenue, one for pedestrians only, should compensate for this.)
5 – Save the stone church building at 24th and Sisson Streets.
Done.
Since I’m a planner and not an architect, I’m happy with the retention of the church as a building mass, landmark and activity center. Whether folks are happy with the post-modern roofless deconstructionist architecture is another matter. (It’s not the kind of “mass” that churches are used to.)
Functionally, this layout should hide the truck docks, create needed activity, and draw traffic to Sisson Street and away from the denser Howard/Huntingdon/25th corridor.
Final grade
So overall, I give the plan four stars out of five. The biggest remaining problem is the building on the southwest corner of Howard and 25th, which functions as a narrow fulcrum between the parcels east and west of Howard.
This parcel is too important to retain the existing building, which only gets in the way of good traffic access to the parking deck and Howard Street and prevents a good pedestrian environment.
