Thursday, August 28, 2008

Urban News Vol. 29

A quick hit today from the D&C (I know, Tia sent it to me, I still am personally boycotting their online chapter of the Rochester hate club). Let's take it all the way back to February and Urban News Vol. 6 for a follow up on the rejected proposals for the development of 420 E. Main, gateway to the Grove Place neighborhood.

by Brian Sharp, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Article Key Points:
  • Second time this year development proposals have been accepted for the current parking lot at Main and Gibbs across from Eastman Theatre
  • The last attempt resulted in the selection committee rejecting all proposals
  • Newest round of proposals is in addition to a requested three-year option on the property by the University of Rochester
  • Committee is expected to reach a decision in 45 days

I'm going to include the D&C Descriptions of each proposal in tandem with its corresponding image (click to enlarge) before commenting.

Douglas Fisher, a lawyer in Rochester, has proposed turning the parking lot into a park, maintaining views of the area with a large and small band shell and a cafe. No cost estimate was available.

Victoria Park (Mark IV Enterprises/Barkstrom & LaCroix Architects) has proposed a four-story multi-use project, with first-floor retail, 69 luxury rental apartments 34 "for sale" condominiums, an interior courtyard. The cost would be $25 million.

Symphony Center (DeWolff Partnership Architects) would include an L-shaped 10- and 11-story brick and glass tower with first-floor retail space and 115 apartments offering a total of 320 beds. The housing would cater to University of Rochester faculty and offer students by-the-bed rentals. The tower will connect to a small conference center via a curved, glass gateway that has two levels of office space, a rooftop restaurant and opens to an interior courtyard. Single-family townhomes line Grove Street. The cost would be $63 million.

Ferrara Jerum International, along with pmb design + development and McCann Development propose a unique, two-part development, offering 42 for-sale, residential units — split between an 11-story tower and 10 duplex townhomes. There also would be office space and retail space filling a separate building billed as an arts and culture-focused/student activity center. The cost would be $35 million.

Christa Development/CJS Architects proposed an eight-story building fronting East Main Street with a mix of office and retail space, as well as housing. That building would step down to the north to townhouses along Grove Street and to loft apartments in three- to four-story buildings. The market rate/upscale housing would enclose a central park area. The cost of this project is not available.

Nothing personal to Douglas Fisher, and the park sounds pleasant, but I have to reject the park proposal out of hand and I'm not sure even he knows why he'd like to see a park there. There is plenty of parkspace downtown between Manhattan, Washington, and Franklin Squares, St. Joseph's, Genesee Crossroads Park (as poorly designed as it is), Aqueduct Park, Cornerstone Park, and the unnamed park along the Blue Cross Arena. What we need is dense development along Main Street period.

Victoria Park is generally attractive architecture, but may fall short on the density side of things for such and important development. The number of units seems low, ostensibly to make them 'luxury apartments.' I feel like downtown condo offerings in general, and especially Grove Place price out the non-bourgeois demographic and I'm not sure how much more demand there is for this unit type.

Symphony Center certainly seems scaled appropriately and includes a lot of the pre-requisites of good urban design such as first floor retail and office space. The rooftop restaurant seems particularly appealing as well for that area. More townhouses to promote competition in the area seem like the right thing for the Grove Street side. Marketing on a per-bed basis is certainly a revenue increasing ploy for the developer, but will attract the student-aged people necessary to provide street vibrancy at more times of day. This one, with some minor architectural tweaks, would get my vote.

Ferrara Jerum...hmm...well if you look at it this way...who am I kidding? Forget it. What inspired this monstrosity? Looks like an Albany follow-up to Nelson Rockefeller's middle finger. I honestly didn't think anyone has drawn up a building plan like this since 1983. "It is the special ignominious fate of Modernism to have chosen a name for itself so inanely inhospitable to the judgement of history." - James Howard Kunstler

The Christa Development once again is quite pleasing to the eye, but what they've done here is create another Sagamore. The Main Street frontage is probably the best of any of these, but again I question the high-end condo market segment when most Americans should be thinking about scaling back activity.

On the blog docket for the future is a recap of Rochester New Urbanism and Sustainable Development's tour of the Rochester Regional Community Design Center, an opinion piece on the Renaissance Square project (that I usually shy away from due to the overtly political nature of the fight surrounding the project), and recommendations for Main Street improvements east of the Genesee from the 2007 Charrette Report (very likely to include this site discussed today).

Sunday, August 24, 2008

2007 Downtown Charrette Report Vol. 8

With one more week left in my summer work schedule, the month of September promises to be more prolific from a frequency standpoint, though the schedule will be about as rigid as it was pre-July which is to say not at all. Today I'm going to continue with the Main Street focus area with points of emphasis limited to the west side of the river. My next post in this series will focus on the east side.

The first subject in need of remedy is the Western Gateway. The construction of 490 and the inner loop had the adverse effect of allowing only one westerly downtown entrance/exit point. As it is, Broad and Main are funneled into a confusing interchange dominated by pavement and traffic signage/signalage. The highway bridge itself, as in other parts of downtown, acts as a blockade to pedestrian traffic. The consensus long term solution of both the 2000 and 2007 charrettes, though inconceivably costly, is lowered the grade of I-490 to one which would flow under Main Street. In the short term, here is what we can hope to accomplish:

  • A reconstruction of the roadway system at this junction to increase green space between the roads (through a quality landscaping plan) and to narrow the lanes to the 10 foot center city Main Street lanes
  • Create sculpture structures at the gateway approach
  • Redesign the face and underside of the expressway bridge, integrating well-designed signage and lighting systems
  • Make pedestrian walkways direct and integral with the Susan B. Anthony neighborhood

The Cascade District (the northwest corner of downtown) has been characterized as a work in progress by the report, owing to its quality redevelopments that have already taken place. The potential in this district is still high due to the disturbing amount of land currently used for surface parking.

Recommendations many street grid restoration projects (see what an ungodly mess was made out of this area with highway construction) and new parking strategies, but the important theme to take out of this area is that the encouragement of dense, loft type, warehouse inspired, mixed-use/residential construction on existing surface lots is critical for this district. It is critical not only from a vitality standpoint, as that is implied in all new urban design, but also in order to remain true to the existing character of what's left of the district. Where this quadrant creeps toward center city at Main and Plymouth, a tall mixed-use office or residential building becomes more appropriate.

The Broad Street Canal District is an interesting mishmash of Rochester history without a unifying theme. To the north you have the remains of the Rochester subway tunnel buried under Broad Street. To the south there are remnants of the original campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology (much of which was bulldozed to make way for the interstate). This district is the focus of a completely different study already underway regarding reuse of the canal infrastructure (more on that at the end).


Having participated in the public workshop to canvass ideas for canal/subway reuse, I feel that the Charrette Report includes the most reasonable 'canal' implementation that I've come across. Canal proponents want fully functional canal running through downtown completely at the expense of Broad Street (and its bridge) for the benefit of pleasure boating, something I don't think is a regional, state, or national priority these days. The report would construct a 30 foot wide by 4 foot deep facsimile of the original Erie Canal within the West Broad Street corridor. It could serve as a skating rink in winter and a water feature in the summer, with fountains
at the western end. This retains the connectivity of Broad Street, has the potential to touch on historic aspects of canal-use downtown, and would serve as a focal point for further mixed-use development. Broad Street would be narrowed (it is already a low traffic carrier), but retained. This is important because its removal would leave Main Street as the only East-West option for traversing downtown.

The Main and Plymouth intersection is next. Once home to majestic hotels, the four quadrants of land at this intersection of two major city streets (linking Corn Hill and Frontier Field to the rest of downtown) are currently used as surface parking lots. The opportunity this affords is the chance to develop all four sites in concert to create a signature new architectural focal point and concentration of Class A office space.

One very interesting recommendation is that buildings at each corner should be 'notched' to allow for an outdoor plaza that would contain a large sculpture and outdoor gathering space, one that I'm guessing could be closed to traffic for large events like Buffalo's Thursdays in the Square. To me this corner is the proverbial keystone in any meaningful reintegration of the previously discussed Cascade District to the city center.

Finally, I'll conclude today with the Four Corners Basin, already home to some of our best architecture in the Wilder, Times Square (complete with 'Wings of Progress'), and Powers Buildings (Do yourself a favor. If you find yourself downtown on a workday for whatever reason, go into the Powers Building, smile as you pass the guard, and just look up.).

The recommendation largely revolve around the two major eyesores you no doubt see when attending Amerks games, the Central Trust Building (think 1960's bank on steroids, perpetually For Lease), and the surface parking lot between the Four Corners and Times Square buildings (that reveal unwindowed portions of the Times Square building previously adjoined to another structure). It would appear that a lot of thought went into the detailed site plan for the Central Trust Building as a partial demolition, complete gut, and five story addition would provide 56 (?)apartments around a courtyard and 72 below grade parking spaces for residents. A six story liner building would conceal a 290 space parking garage in the gap across the street.

That's it for today. I would like to post some upcoming events that may of interest to area urbanists. If you are interested in attending any of these, you are free to just show up, but I'd appreciate it if you check out Rochester New Urbanism and Sustainable Development, sign up and RSVP.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Urban News Vol. 28

As promised I am going to deliver some downtown Syracuse development news. Thanks to Joe Lorenz for the links that he included in his ramblings on August 8th. I'm also going to tap his August 13th entry for the first of two bonus stories today. I like to include Syracuse news due to similarities (whether most Rochesterians want to admit it) in many ways to Rochester's struggles to redensify. I think at least one of these stories bears strong resemblance to something talked about in previous installments of Urban News and shows that a fundamental attitude shift isn't happening in a bubble.

by Meghan Rubado, Syracuse Post-Standard

Article Key Points:
  • Proposed Marriott to be the third major downtown development on western edge of downtown
  • Facility would house two hotels, a Courtyard for business travelers, and a Residence Inn for families staying multiple nights
  • 15,000 square feet of first floor retail space are included in the plans
  • Developer and architect previously renovated a former shoe factory in Armory Square
  • Hotels will create 100 full and part-time positions

Of course I believe this is a positive development. Of the three developments cited (the others to be talked about in the next article), all will be infilling the surface parking lots that absolutely dominate the landscape there (regardless of what the clowns in the comments on that story would have you believe). Another key point is that the developers of this well as Jefferson-Clinton Commons get the picture when it comes to integration of living space (permanent and temporary) and retail.

O'Brien & Gere to Relocate 300 Employees to Downtown Syracuse
New York State Gubernatorial Press Release

Key Points:

  • Gov. Patterson personally made the announcement that O'Brien and Gere will relocate its corporate headquartes from DeWitt to downtown
  • 300 employees in addition to the Pioneer Real Estate companies will inhabit the U.S Green Building Council rated and certified structure
  • Building will be directly adjacent to the Marriott site and will occupy yet another "undeveloped parcel."

This story has many parallels to the move of Eastman Savings and Loan's headquarters from suburban Rochester to Chestnut Street. Both are infilling otherwise tragically underutilized urban space with energy efficient buildings. Sadly neither is giving details (that I know of, feel free to tell me I'm wrong) about the way these properties promote street-level activity (and reduced car dependence) through the provision of functional retail or service space beyond a bank branch that promises to be open about 6 hours a day.

I feel that in a way, the votes of confidence that these corporate leaders are giving to the city resonate beyond the proponents/naysayers. These men didn't get where they were by behaving reactively. It is their job to anticipate future business conditions and act accordingly.

Car-sharing Club Plans to Launch Service in Syracuse
by Tim Knauss, Syracuse Post-Standard

Article Key Points:

  • CuseCar was formed to give people the convenience of using a vehicle occasionally without the cost of ownership
  • Similar car-sharing operations have popped up in at least 20 American cities
  • The overall effect is to reduce dependence on automobiles, thus lowering air emissions, fuel consumption, urban sprawl and wear and tear on roads
  • Members pay an annual fee and reserve cars online or by phone, then use an identification card for access

Regardless of my general intolerance for non-commercial/emergency oil-burning personal transportation, this is a step in the right direction because it shows people are beginning to use their imagination to any degree to reduce the sheer number of vehicles on the road. Bear in mind that the production of an automobile uses some finite amount of oil for materials, the electricity to power automated machinery, and apparently vast amounts of water in both the steel and plastics production processes.

I'll end this marathon session with some truly encouraging news from the New York Times no less on the re-emergence of streetcars as downtown revitalizers. The focus is on Cincinnati, hence the rare post tag.

Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future
by Bob Driehaus, New York Times

Article Key Points:

  • Cincinnati officials assembling financing for a $132 million system
  • Six to eight mile loop would connect the city’s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and uptown neighborhoods
  • At least 40 other cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development and ease traffic congestion
  • Modern streetcars cost about $3 million each and carry up to 130 passengers per car
  • Since Portland plans for their system in 2001, more than 10,000 residential units have been built and $3.5 billion has been invested in property within two blocks of the line
  • Cincinnati City Manager Milton Donohey: "Cincinnati has to compete with other cities for investment. We have to compete for talent and for place of national prominence.”
  • Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman: "We have to plan for the future. I believe in 10 years, we would ask, ‘Why didn’t we do this?’ It will be 10 times more expensive, and the cost of gas will be unaffordable."

I've still got a decent amount on my plate to catch up on blog-wise now that I am pretty firmly entrenched in the city. Next up are west side of the river Main Street recommendations from the charette report and an official blog response to this Rochester Turning question.

I'd just like to reiterate that our tour of the Rochester Regional Community Design Center is only a week away. If you are interested in attending with us, please visit Rochester New Urbanism and Sustainable Development for more information.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

2007 Downtown Charrette Report Vol. 7

The Main Street right of way is billed as the common public realm space that ties all of center city together. It is hard to argue with this assessment. This focus area which overlaps many others uniquely folds in the Cascade District in the northwest corner of downtown as well as the West Broad Street corridor formed by the original Erie Canal path. Also addressed is the stretch of North Chestnut street that was ostensibly created "to create a more regular street grid" (read: move more cars). This stretch actually undermined the old grid and it may come as no surprise, but there has been no new construction along North Chestnut since the extension.

Main Street was once the bustling major avenue of commerce in Rochester in the heyday of all comparably sized traditional cities. For a long period of time, it spanned the entire downtown with so much building frontage that its vibrancy precluded a gap for the Genesee River. The lazy desire for surface parking near everything has robbed each end of Main Street within the loop of such architectural and functional gems as the Hotel Rochester. The overwhelming presence of pedestrian traffic today is owed to Main Street's primary function, a mile long open-air bus transfer "terminal."

Explicit challenges identified by the various panels include:
  • Making Main Street a vibrant 24/7 regional destination;
  • Correcting architectural and urban design flaws that detract from the face of Main Street;
  • Involving Monroe County as an active partner in the planning process for downtown;
  • Build up each end of Main Street with dense new development so as to extend the powerful public realm character of the corridor to each gateway;
  • Engage the river corridor in a stronger manner;
  • Implement a parking strategy that includes on-street parking on Main Street and strategically locates structured parking designed to generate pedestrian traffic on Main Street;
  • Enhance the Main Street corridor to make it more attractive for pedestrians;
  • Develop dense mixed-use/residential neighborhoods connected to the Main Street corridor;
  • Design and implement new transit systems on Main Street and adjacent streets to address the energy and lifestyle challenges ahead;
  • Recognize that Main Street and Center City are transitioning from one era to another and
    our planning and revitalization efforts need to reflect this fact.

The first set of recommendations don't focus on a particular area of Main Street, but rather are overarching considerations to promote unity of design along its entire length. One very interesting suggestion would return on-street parking to the boulevard by eliminating all turning lanes and allowing only four travel lanes. A periodic planting strip to create a sidewalk canopy, regulated sidewalk widths, curb extensions (bump-outs), and paved pedestrian crosswalks all add to the pedestrian experience.

The saplings of a more attractive transit system for Rochester are planted in this section as the recommendation is made to allow for the main line of a streetcar system to share the outermost travel lanes with regular traffic, utilizing certain extended curbs at intersections as boarding areas. Other upgrades would refurbish existing shelters with electronic scheduling systems.

There are many, many more recommendations that I won't have time to cover here, but some that earn serious merit in my book are the following.

"Build out Main Street in its entirety from end to end with dense construction that creates a continuous, almost canyon-like, unusually powerful outdoor room; Re-evaluate current downtown design guidelines. Move toward a form-based code with “Design Standards” and a more powerful Project Review Committee to encourage architectural excellence in street frontages of new and remodeled buildings. Review and revise the current sign regulations to improve building signage; Create effective incentives to encourage first floor retail zones and second floor commercial zones along the entire length (or at designated areas) of the corridor. Provide incentives for current buildings to enhance their first floor transparencies (as well as second floor if appropriate)"

I shouldn't even have to expound on how absurd zoning is in a downtown district, but it leads directly to the alternative, that of form-based codes (SmartCode is possibly the best example of this). For roughly 50 years, the built environment was a complete afterthought to inhuman functionalism and auto convenience factors. It is high time, as long as there is energy left to build with, that we get serious about 'building to last' and ditching the baffling architecture of modernism. The best streets in the world are long and continually retail fronted (see Yonge Street, Toronto). Designated forced 'destinations' often come off as gimmicks, whereas a Main Street lined with both necessity and entertainment becomes a de facto daily subconscious destination.

Main Street is so complex and contains so many micro and macro projects that I will split this focus area up further than the previously reviewed. This will also help me time-wise as I am only about 1/3 moved into the new place. I will still adhere to my regular summer schedule, so on Friday expect a comparison of new urban development news out of Syracuse, our close eastern neighbor, and the Western New York paralells previously discussed on the blog. On Monday I will continue the Main Street examination with the west side sites for intervention.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Urban News Vol. 27

Hello all. Apologies for no preview post on Wednesday. Have spent all my free time the last two days dry-locking our front facing basement wall. Today's piece could be national, but this particular instance centers around Washington D.C.'s suburban conundrum. On a personal note, on the 4th day we were at our new place, we received a slip of paper advertising an ice cream social hosted by the neighborhood association just around the corner at our firehouse. Suffice it to say that in 5 years in Brighton and 3 years in Webster that this happened exactly zero times.

by Eric M. Weiss, Washington Post

Article Key Points:
  • Land-use experts beginning to ask whether $4 per gallon is a psychological tipping point
  • "There is a whole confluence of government policies -- tax, spending, regulatory and administrative -- that have subsidized sprawl" - Bruce Katz
  • A gallon of gasoline costs more than $8 in Britain, Germany, France and Belgium according to U.S. Dept. of Energy
  • Today, more than 99 percent of the trips taken by U.S. residents are still in cars or some other non-transit vehicle
  • The policies have had a direct bearing on how and where people live and work
  • Americans drove 9.6 billion fewer highway miles in May than a year earlier
  • Last year, transit trips nationwide topped 10.3 billion, a 50-year high
  • Home prices in the far suburbs have collapsed
  • Transportation costs are now second only to housing as a percentage of the household budget
  • Fairfax County has adopted a policy of transit-oriented development, demanding four Metro stops in a proposed rail extension
  • "What were pluses of that lifestyle are now liabilities: a big SUV, a big home to heat, the energy needed to mow the lawn" -Tom Darden, Raleigh based developer
  • Mayor Randy Pye of Centennial, Colorado, an supporter of the Denver Area LRT system, has been called a socialist by fellow Republicans for his pro-density and pro-transit views

First off, a lot of credit is due to Mr. Weiss for ensuring this story made it to a national newspaper. One of the consistent gripes of the pro-urban crowd (or any marginalized viewpoint for that matter) is the lack of attention paid to it by the mainstream media. Mr. Weiss takes it one step further by utilizing the vernacular of the peak-oil aware by characterizing the suburban boom as the era of cheap oil (how many people do you remember asking for money for gas or complaining about it in the late 90's? It's actually laughable now).

I am extremely pleased that Bruce Katz was included as a credible expert witness as it were. A carefully measured speaker not usually given to hyperbole, Katz and the Brookings Institution put a subconscious certified expert stamp on these proceedings.

It would appear that we still have a LONG way to go in terms of breaking people of the pre-programming regarding the virtue of personal transportation, but increased transit ridership is a start. I would caution against taking numbers like these totally at face value though. 50 years ago, the United States had roughly 175 million residents. To say we are matching ridership from that period is only an improvement over the greed ridden interim.

I will attempt not to go on a diatribe against Mr. Pisarski expect to say that his desperate "only answer" is heinously inefficient. I will lend him a modicum of credence on the telecommuting argument, but to say the bulk of workplaces will pack up shop and move from centralized locations to amorphous regions is wishful thinking. Let's take an example from Rochester. The Paetec Headquarters move is case in point. Their headquarters is currently in Perinton, significantly to the southeast of Rochester. Right now workers from Greece, Gates, Chili, and Irondequoit face a commute of upwards of 25 miles. Webster, Penfield, Brighton, and the City slightly less. A move downtown will certainly be at the expense of those who commute from various locales in Perinton, but to assume that the bulk of the workforce hails from there is likely erroneous (from what I understand much of the younger telecom workforce makes the Park Avenue neighborhood of the city home). Centralizing opens up opportunities for utilization of our limited bus system from all points with single seat commutes preferred by the less intrepid (or obsessive, hehe).

A couple little stream of consciousness notes...I can't decide whether these allegations of socialism against those who aren't always thinking of themselves are amusing, pathetic, or both...the map graphic is interesting in this case because we are talking about D.C. Anne Arundel County, Maryland could be considered an inner ring suburb area of Baltimore, at the very least in the North end...

Finally, I'd like to tack on something that was just brought to my attention this morning. Author James Howard Kunstler was on the CBS Evening News last night to provide input on a national piece entitled, 'The Decline Of Suburbia?'

Monday I will continue my look at the Downtown Charrette Report with the dynamic Main Street Focus Area which overlaps with many of the others previously profiled, yet is its own distinct object of focus due to its traditional place as the major 'outdoor room' of Downtown Rochester.

Monday, August 4, 2008

2007 Downtown Charrette Report Vol. 6

The Southeast Loop is a fairly sizable focus area that includes two parks (Manhattan and Wadsworth Squares), a museum (Strong National Museum of Play), a movie theater (The Little), and numerous restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. As a focus area, these lands are sharply divided by the worst facets of 1960's urban renewal, a limited access expressway which deleted streets from the grid and surface parking lots where viable buildings once stood.


Due to a wholesale clearance of the southeast quadrant of downtown and a rebuilding strategy that was abandoned with the death of a state agency in the mid 1970's, this area was large-scale parceled and sold to developers who failed to engage the street with stand alone modernist structures and their prerequisite parking. Neighborhoods outside of the inner loop were compartmentalized and forgotten about, their traditional public squares paved over. Even vibrant areas were made to sacrifice connectivity for an underutilized expressway. Charlotte and Richmond Streets became Downtown and East End anomalies.

The challenges faced by those who would initiate meaningful action are indimiating in this focus area. Overcoming the Inner Loop as a barrier to neighborhood connectivity has really only one very expensive option. Narrowing streets conceived as downtown thoroughfares would require the herculean effort of convincing traffic engineers that "less is more." Breaking up superblocks requires seizing land from somebody unlikely to be amused by the prospect. Maximizing development potential of underutilized and vacant land is a tough sell to today's demanding 'shovel ready' development crowd. But think of the possibilities realized by addressing these challenges head on:
  • A major gateway at the east end of the Main Street corridor coupled with historic park restoration
  • A center for the East End providing new civic space and possibly a complement marketplace to the wildly popular public market
  • South Union street functioning as a real street instead of an on/off ramp with infill opportunities that would complement the historic housing stock on the east side
  • Monroe Avenue reconnected to downtown through continuous street frontage
  • Restoration of Wadsworth Square to a position of prominence and a reintegration of that neighborhood with downtown
  • A narrowed Chestnut Street enabling expansion of Manhattan Square Park and enabling Strong Museum to engage the public realm
  • Extensive new infill development creating a built-in population base for Manhattan Square Park and other destinations

The first site for intervention is the Inner Loop itself. Recommendations include removing the section from East Main Street to I-490, replacing it with a two-way city street. Recognizing the importance of the northern stretch of the inner loop as a major capacity carrier, its eventual conversion to an urban boulevard should be the goal.

The existing and previously existing streets and alleways deserve a lot of attention if efforts carried out in the name of urbanism are to be taken seriously. Dropping suburban superblocks into the urban grid has been proven time and time again to be destructive rather than catalytic. Reconfigurations recommended by the charrette team would narrow Chestnut Street to the width of Monroe Avenue, create new frontages via a diagonal street from Chestnut to Howell, extend Woodbury Boulevard to South Union to break up the largest superblock, narrow Broad Street east of Broadway to facilitate liner building construction in front of the Corporate Place parking garage, extend and create new service alleys to provide rear access to properties for trash removal etc.

Manhattan Square Park is a very curious space. Elements of Olmsted Parks were mimicked in its limited rolling hills, something that works better on hundred acre sites compared to urban squares. Incredible amounts of concrete create a pit that was home to many concerts in the 1970's and 80's (remnants of a restaurant entombed in the concrete still remain on Chestnut Street). Above this pit is something called a spacewalk that was originally meant to be an observation deck and flagpole bearing vista. As long as I've been in Rochester, it has been closed to the public, no doubt a liability insurance issue.

The park is currently undergoing a major reconstruction that has greatly improved the ice skating rink on the east side of the park (which doubles as multiple fountains in the summer). The playground at the southern edge of the park integrates well into the Strong Museum sphere of influence.

A narrowing of Chestnut discussed earlier and a removal of the 'pork chop' intersection would buy back additional land to construct an ABOVE GRADE restaurant building connected to the catacombs, improving its chances of success. A grand staircase would be an upgrade to the park as far as improving access to its concourse from the bordering major streets. An ancillary improvement that would accentuate the park's place in the southeast cityscape involves the creation of a Grand Promenade which would change the frontage of Strong Museum from a suburban lawn to a premier civic space.

Wadsworth Square, another of Rochester's Olmsted Squares, once framed the neighborhood school. Now its main contribution to the city is that half of it is a parking lot with a pedestrian ramp to downtown. Removal of the inner loop would allow Wadsworth Square to regain its importance. The square should be redesigned as a formal urban square complete with square defining buildings. A central lawn should be preserved surrounded formally by grape arbors or a similar structure to provide a sense of enclosure.

The area immediately surrounding North Union Street stands to benefit as much as the others discussed despite the presence of the already successful East End district on either side of the expressway. A large scale civic space to function as the central square of the East End could transform this current section of Inner Loop into an exciting festival site. An arcaded market building, such as those seen in multiple section of Baltimore, would anchor the new and improved district.

I'll close today with the recommendations for new construction in the area:

  • Low rise resedential along South Union south of Broad
  • 10-15 story triangular building at Chestnut and the proposed diagonal to terminate the Monroe Avenue vista
  • Requirements for the ESL Building and Parking garage that enhance the pedestrian experience
  • Expansion of existing buildings within the study area to improve sidewalk frontages

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Urban News Vol. 26

I am blogging for the first time from my new townhouse on Mt. Hope Avenue. Seven months of time have passed since this journey started and now I am for the first time since the summer of 2000, a city resident (though you could argue that my neighborhood in Scranton was a suburb anyway due to zoning restrictions and lack of walkability). Now to sell that other place...

Apologies for the delay to those of you expecting a prompt friday entry. Been doing a lot of painting, packing, and measuring since I got out of work yesterday. One of my neighbors is being unknowingly kind enough to allow me to get this out now while my wife paints upstairs, otherwise I'd be writing it into notepad for broadcast later tonight. I'd include a picture of the new place with this except that the batteries in my camera are dead.

Our new place has a walk score of 68, noting that Alice's Market (a corner store, family owned and operated), Pelligrino's (a deli), The Distillery (a bar/restaurant), Highland Park, Empire Comics, and the Elmwood Inn (another bar/restaurant) are all within a quarter mile. Work is less than half the previous distance for biking and for bus season my wife and I can take a single bus (the 19 University) to work rather than transferring. We are near 3 other North-South bus lines, the #5 to downtown continuing the length of St. Paul to Lake Ontario (Summerville) with such attractions en route as Boulder Coffee and the Seneca Park Zoo. The #24 would take us either downtown or to Henrietta and RIT and the #50 travels through our neighborhood on jaunts between downtown and MCC.

All right, its time to stop the self-aggrandizing. This blog isn't supposed to be about me, its about Urban News. I'm simply too excited to not extol the virtues of my own personal city living arrangement in hopes it plants a few seeds.

I've added a third story to the agenda today compared to my preview post. I feel its also pertinent and its a topic I've broached before in an Urban News installment.

by Amy Young, RNews

Article Key Points:
  • Despite New York State's economic picture, Midtown Rising Project is moving forward
  • Former Governor Spitzer originally pledged $50 million for the demolition
  • Midtown closed its doors last Friday

My view on the whole Midtown project has matured to a certain degree. Its problems and public realm implications were legion. The reason I use this story to revisit the topic is that there was a scoping session held on Tuesday the 29th where more of the big picture was revealed. Apparently, there was some impassioned discourse regarding what I assume is a selective demolition plan, saving the tower at the very least. Public realm proposals have mixed merit according to my source, this with regard to breaking up the superblock and the configuration of green/civic space. As it stands now, the RRCDC will be consulted on design matters which is a good thing.

ESL Breaks Ground on New HQ
by Jim Aroune

Article Key Points:

  • Ground has been broken on the bank's new six story downtown headquarters
  • ESL originally had 30 sites to choose from
  • Duffy administration credited with proving downtown is open for business
  • Grand opening in 18 months

Developers Tour Armory for Sale
by Christina Dominguez, RNews

Article Key Points:

  • The Culver Road Armory is slated for sale at auction on October 1
  • The City of Rochester would like to preempt the auction by purchasing it from the state at appraised value
  • City was offered property for $1 with significant development restrictions
  • City wants to ensure the highest and best use for the site
  • Site includes 71,000 square foot main building, land, and storage facilities

I'm going to forego further comment on this as my position is the same as it was in Urban News Vol. 21 and my wife wants to get going back to Webster for dinner and more packing. I'll end with the announcement that the Rochester New Urbanism and Sustainable Development Group is going to be touring the Rochester Regional Community Design Center on Monday night, August 25th at 7PM. Everyone is welcome to join us. I'd appreciate it if you RSVP'd by joining the group via multiply and posting your RSVP in the notes section.