Urban Resources Vol. 7

Inexcusably I have not posted once in August. Now that my introductory drawing classes are complete, I have several site plan massing/architectural rendering projects in mind that I hope to unveil over the coming weeks and months. In the meantime I've got three weeks worth of riffing ready to escape.

I have several things I want to cover in today's post, but decided to resurrect the series entitled urban resources since the lion's share of material will focus on the availability, efficiency, and individual cost-effectiveness of public facilities both recreational and instructional. Examples cited will largely be from Rochester, but there is likely to be a parallel in any mid-major to large metro area.

Other topics covered in a sort of free form will be national deleveraging of debt and its impact on the increment of urban redevelopment and the relationship between geography/terrain/climate and the sustainability of land development.

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Informal and certainly non-scientific observations seem to assert that the vast majority of U.S. Americans would rather wear a winter coat on a 90 degree day than step foot in a public swimming pool. I wasn't pre-programmed this way. While many of the families of my childhood friends had pools, and we made great use of them, there were times when we utilized the public option at Nay Aug Park.

Fast forward to this past Monday when the mercury hit 90 in town. After the Red Wings' shellacking at the hands of Syracuse, my wife and I took the #4 Genesee Street bus to Genesee Valley Park's Sports Complex. For just $2 (TWO DOLLARS!), citizens can swim for hours at varying levels of seriousness (lanes are blocked off and can be reserved for individual training). The sports complex itself does an excellent job of seasonal metamorphosis. I've actually been there many times before to utilize their ice skating rink, the cheapest indooor rink in the area for open skating. Immediately adjacent to the building and pool is a regulation size baseball field with lights for nighttime adult amateur games and beyond that the Genesee Waterways Center where one can rent a canoe or kayak to paddle on the Genesee or Erie Canal.

The complex gets excellent bus service as buses 4, 12, 8B, 18, 19, and 6 (in the evening) pass by along Elmwood Avenue. It is also located an easy bicycle ride away from residents of the South Side (19th Ward, South Wedge, Strong). My sincere hope is that institutions like this can weather economic woes during any restructuring period that American culture is likely to go through during an oil depletion phase. Their value will remain high and likely increase in a more community oriented society.

Some other City of Rochester funded or sponsored public resources:

• Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County (of course)
• Municipal Archives and Records Center (extensive photo collection)
• Public Market
• Recreation Centers

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The recent political destruction of the Renaissance Square project and the seemingly increasing difficulty regarding the expediency and execution of the Midtown Plaza demolition/redevelopment both point to a trend in urban development that sounds the final death knell for "Superblock" projects.

I cannot claim to have any kind of education in high finance, but I feel its patently clear that there has been enough of an attitude shift among the masses regarding savings that economic "recovery" to levels seen at the height of the easy credit era may never be on the table. The idea that the base consumer can spend enough to reinvigorate an economy largely based on wealth transfer instead of tangible production is not only unrealistic but undesirable if we are ever to shake our materialistic mindset.

How does the spectre of a deleveraging depression affect the built environment? It seriously limits financing available to speculative developers in turn driving down the scope of needless development. You'll remember I sang the praises of the new South Hickory project in Urban News Vol. 46. In addition to its architectural and programmatic quality sorely lacking in this nation for the last 50 years, the project is emblematic of the increments of financing and construction scale of a type of society regaining a sense of standards as well as restraint. This design respects traditional urban scale over grandiosity -- energy common sense over constant convenience.

I side with the predictions of those who posit that this is the manner in which urban infill will continue. A manner not dissimilar to the original traditional development of our urban cores and neighborhood commercial corridors. Midtown Plaza was a knee-jerk reaction to suburban encroachment on the retail share of traditional downtown shopping. It ultimately did little to serve the public realm. While the elements of Renaissance Square may have had individual virtue, the impetus behind their clustering was an outdated attitude about clearing away large swaths of 'blight.' And I think all of this is a good thing for the concept of urban 'vibrancy' that politicians bandy about. Take a look at the programming of Chase Tower (and bunker) downtown to see what the alternative gets you.

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The last thematic thing I plan on rambling on about is the concept of the speculative city and more specifically the desert city. With no geographic significance, unforgiving climate creating a reliance on imported goods, and requiring huge energy inputs and engineering feats to deliver something as simple as drinking water, cities such as Las Vegas or Phoenix are quite possibly a tragic misallocation of resources destined for ultimate failure.

My interest in saying something on the subject was piqued by an article sent to me by a friend that told the tale of California City, California (very original). The jist of the piece, which I won't link to since it was on a motoring forum and had somewhat of a slant, is well summarized in this paragraph from Wikipedia:

California City had its origins in 1958 when real estate developer and sociology professor Nat Mendelsohn purchased 80,000 acres (320 km2) of Mojave Desert land with the aim of master-planning California's next great city. He designed his model city, which he hoped would one day rival Los Angeles in size, around a Central Park with a 26 acre artificial lake. Growth did not happen anywhere close to what he expected. To this day a vast grid of crumbling paved roads, scarring vast stretches of the Mojave desert, intended to lay out residential blocks, extends well beyond the developed area of the city. A single look at satellite photos shows the extent of the scarred desert and how it stakes its claim to being California's 3rd largest geographic city, 34th largest in the US. California City was incorporated in 1965.

Seriously? I think the lessons here are self-evident. But what of California City's more established brethren? Phoenix and Las Vegas are considered major cities, but their lack of sustainable arrangements is rather alarming. Lake Mead, the very thing that allows there to be a Las Vegas is down to 43% of its capacity, threatening to render the raw water intake system inoperable as quickly as 2010. Compounding this major issue is the mechanism by which goverment in Clark County, Nevada has been able to escape reality for the last 40 years, taking other people's money, is in irrepairable decline. July marked the 13th straight month that the number of visitors declined. The fallout from this includes a de facto moratorium on obscene casino/resort construction decimating the true fundamentals of a leisure economy, that is building more leisure destinations.

Phoenix, billed as the new low-tax retirement haven of choice for the last 25 years or so also has an issue with construction. A poster child for drive until you qualify, Phoenix is our national monument to an economy of new home building, one seemingly with no limits, but now revealed to be heavily vulnerable to oil shocks and the home devaluing seen in exurbs across the land. Two convergent events have conspired to turn the Phoenix Metro into L.A. East: Diminished retirement accounts and loss of equity has created job seekers out of those thought to be in early retirement at the same time as boundless growth is catching up with municipalities in terms of the services provided and maintenance performed (not something done heretofore in such a relatively new place) versus tax dollars collected.

The near-term future of these places has long-term implications on the direction of national policy with regards to resource squandering. While state governments have almost no choice but to mount a campaign to sustain the unsustainable, it remains to be seen if national officials will allow places with no future in a non-growth economy to dematerialize as they seemed hell-bent on doing to city centers across the heartland in a more 'prosperous' time.

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There are two things I'd like to address/correct with less formality.

First, the main entrance of the Canandaigua National Bank branch opening on Alexander Street on the grounds of the old Genesee Hospital IS going to face Alexander Street. I saw the partially completed building as well as a publicity rendering on August 1st.

And because I won't participate in the hate-fest that is the D&C commenting section I have to come to the defense of RGRTA. I really never want to make anything personal on this blog, but this needs to be said.

Andrew Stainton, quite possibly the staunchest private citizen critic of the entire Renaissance Square effort continues to spew needless and uneducated hate toward our current transportation system and its administration.

In an article regarding Mayor Duffy shutting out public stakeholders from a meeting with the private development sector intended to spur a different type of Main/Clinton development, Stainton chimed in with, "Hopefully no one turned away had to endure a painfully slow rts busride in the heat." This on the heels of endless criticism of 'thousands of buses per day driving in circles,' which is simply not backed up by the facts leads me to this:

Andrew, I admire your opposition to Renaissance Square on the grounds of preservationism and limited/embodied energy. I am an enormous proponent of regional rail transportation and battled futilely for it at the Broad Street Aqueduct public sessions. I am also a monthly RTS pass holder who rides over 50 buses per month on average. You are way off-base. The buses are not slow, and they are certainly not hot. They are probably the only justifiable use of vehicular air conditioning from an energy conservation standpoint. The current downtown deployment system makes infinitely more sense than moving the main junction to Central Avenue. The station as proposed would have improve conditions for the riders and made the service more attractive, it would not have added one bus to Main Street traffic. It doesn't sound like you make use of the transportation system we have, but you are quick to bash it. This is counterproductive. It is incumbent on the citizenry to increase ridership to levels that provide incentive for alternatives. The transit authority is certainly stubborn, but we as Americans have largely rejected transit out of hand in favor of personal entitlement.

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I've certainly blown a lot of smoke today. Here's to some new and interesting urban development news in whatever increment of finance. Otherwise, I'll be working on a Humboldt/Winton site massing plan.

2007 Downtown Charrette Report Vol. 11

Back with more River South Focus Area review. Today I'm going to look at the Court/Exchange Street area. The following paragraph was written prior to my decision to break this area up into two posts. It would have been integrated into the challenges section of the previous post.

And then there's the issue of our "Civic Center." I'm willing to bet that when the architectural drawings were floated to the powers that be of a new courthouse complex, there were little people drawn in on the platform. This was wishful thinking. Not that there is any reason to leisure away time on a summer heat island or winter wind plain, today we have a chain link fence restricting access from the street. Civic Center Plaza is a complete functional and aesthetic failure. A public square (the county seat at that!) the size of the arena elevated above the sight line of common pedestrians and difficult to access with the added bonus of being completely barren. FAIL.

With respect to the Civic Center Plaza, a paved surface (covering parking of course) surrounded by building of or relating to the criminal justice system, the first place to start to entice more meaningful use of the space is to make it inviting from street level. A ramp or more suitable staircase without visual obstructions or complications would be a step in the right direction. The erection of permanent or semi-permanent tenting for programmed activities would be the next step in order to divide the plaza itself into more humanly scaled spaces. The addition of some kind of landscaping, anything at all really, is pretty well understood even without mention.

Across Exchange on the bank of the river a surface parking lot marks the spot of the former home of the Erie Railroad Station and northern terminus of its Rochester spur (a possible side debate, was Corn Hill Landing ultimately built too close to the river, precluding any reactivating of this line?). A parcel that could sustain 6-7 individual high quality buildings wraps around a lone survivor, the Court-Exchange Building. The recommendation for this site is similar to that of the Midtown Block, reintroducing small pedestrian scaled streets between proposed mid-rise mixed-use buildings. The district would assume the character of the tight blocks north of the arena but with a functional residential component to sustain non-large scale employment opportunities.

Finally, one of the major missions of the Charrette Report and the architects behind the Design Center is to fully integrate a river walkway through the city and especially downtown. Buildings such as the Rundel Library and Thomson-Reuters buildings would need to have bridges or cantilevered walkways constructed adjacent to them to provide a continuous path. The raised characteristics of the Broad Street Bridge, a former aqueduct would require additional connections barring major physical changes to the structure as a result of the bourgeois 'canal' project.

My next post, hopefully out sometime this week, will recap the Transit Oriented Development lecture given by Jackie Grimshaw last Wednesday.

2007 Downtown Charette Report Vol. 10

I never did finish my deeper look at the excellent comprehensive document accompanying the 2007 effort to involve the citizenry in a reshaping of our city. I left off last September on East Main Street east of the river. As the muffled sounds of Lilac Festival live music remind me how much I love my neighborhood, I will pick back up with the River South focus area bounded by the new Troup-Howell Bridge (I-490), Clinton Avenue, Exchange Street, and Broad Street.

Observations made by the report cite the hinderance of surface parking lots insofar as wasting the potential of downtown land coupled with the notable character boost provided by the last vestiges of an industrious past that managed to somehow escape the talons of mid-20th century Urban Renewal (what a tremendously stupid term).

Nevertheless, the overarching recommendations call for an overall increase in the number of parking spaces in the district through the implementation of building wrapped multi-level motor storage facilities. On the positive, development density would be quite significant, creating commercial space for expanded neighborhood services.

An area already replete with destinations, the River South focus area currently contains an Olmstead Park (Washington Square), a professional sporting venue (Blue Cross Arena), the architecturally significant central library, one of the top restaurants in town (Dinosaur BBQ) in a converted freight station, and a well known theatre company (Geva) residing in a retrofitted naval armory.

To fill in the blanks does not come without challenges. Elevated and sunken expressway ramps hinder any east bank development or logical southern expansion to say nothing of a connection with the increasingly vibrant South Wedge neighborhood. Any attempt to create a contiguous riverwalk is thwarted by some buildings that directly abut the river while the exact condition of all of these sites from an environmental issue standpoint is at best a mystery.

What can be done about this street grid gobbling mess? One opportunity is the restoration of two way traffic on district streets as well as adding on street parking to contribute to more navigable streets as well as reduce the 'car-mover' factor on South and Clinton Avenues. Surface parking lots can be populated with the types of proposals I am about to expound on in order to create additional street life outside of core business hours. Renovation of heritage warehouse buildings will also add to the residential component of the area.

The first site screaming out for a better arrangement is the land vacated when the circular off-ramp of the South Avenue Parking Garage was demolished due to structural collapse. To the surprise of many, the footprint revealed was significant enough for a mid to high-rise mixed use building on the spot. The high-rise proposal presented in the Charette Report has a couple of flaws that I'd like to open debate on.

The first is its hideousness. Whichever architect worked with this focus group apparently tried to push the post-modern agenda. The good news is I doubt any building on this site will be executed in this manner. The second flaw is that Cornerstone Park would be swallowed up by such a design. A private industry co-operative park founded by the forefather to Frontier, Rochester Telephone, Cornerstone park suffers schematically from the typical 70's/80's effort to turn park activity inward as well as features that require excessive maintenance such as water walls. A simple renovation could rehabilitate Cornerstone Park into a decent lunch spot/commons area for this new development.

The next recommendation set is far more ambitious, but is one I like a lot in principle whether or not it occurs as cohesively as described. The Washington Square Village would be a dense, mixed-use urban neighborhood. The design of proposed infill would complement the architectural styling of existing warehouse structures. Additional details would include a landscaped median for Woodbury Boulevard as well as connecting Woodbury to the west side of the river via a pedestrian bridge.

The major individual additive components of a Washington Square Village would include a new sixteen story tower tentatively dubbed "Theatre Lofts" to complete the sqaure of building enclosing Washington Square Park to the northeast. The tower would rise above a more appropriately proportioned and materialized base.

Another major component would be to convert the large surface lot south of Geva and Capron Street with a set of three to four story liner buildings that front a multi level parking structure. While I'm never in favor of expressly building for parking, its likely that Geva is not interested in losing their main parking lot at this point in history (though the Washington Square garage is just across Clinton Avenue...).

As long as the parking decks are built level, the building would have more potential for future reuse, saving materials and energy (outer decks become rooms while interior ramps could become an atrium). The ramp serving South Clinton Avenue from the inner loop would need to be removed to accomodate much of this structure. Even in our motoring society, I'm not sure anyone would notice.

Interstingly, one of the recommendations has already occured. 250 South Avenue, once a storage facility for the city's original natatorium, has been redeveloped as commercial space on the bottom two floors, two loft apartments on the third, and a two bedroom penthouse apartment on the 4th. The redevelopment looks like a carbon copy of that which was diagrammed in the charette report (to the right, on the right). On the theme of renovation in this district, the Capron Street Lofts have begun interior construction. The units vary widely in shape and size and are of the for-sale condo variety.

So this has gotten a lot longer than first anticipated in terms of both length and days to compile. I'm going to break off here and come back soon with the West Bank as well as riverwalk ideas and River South focus area conclusions. I also have notes taken at Jackie Grimshaw's Wednesday lecture on Transit Oriented Development that will form the base of another upcoming post.

2007 Downtown Charrette Report Vol. 9

Let's not waste any time getting back to basics. On the east side of the river, at Main and St. Paul, the lengthy parking structure for the Clarion Riverside Hotel deadens an entire block of St. Paul and creates a more untenable bus wait than at other downtown shelter. The limited retail component on the corner is unsuccessful due to its separation from Main by a wall and and a level change. Sadly, this scene is across the street from our convention center and its hotel base. Visitors' opinions of our city are largely formed by the urbanism, or lack thereof, at Main and St. Paul.

Acknowledging the current requirement for hotel-site parking, it is proposed to selectively demolish the corner retail parcel, replacing it with a new multi-story building featuring more successfully integrated retail in style that would complement the excellent Granite Building across St. Paul.

Main Street Bridge recommendations focus not so much on the bridge itself, but on the possibility of riverside pedestrian routes eminating from each corner. It appears that elevated or cantilevered walkways lining all sides with the exception of the northwest walkway along the First Federal Building and Crossroads Park.

Chase Tower Plaza is an interesting subject for redesign. What could function as a public plaza doesn't due to fencing, grade separations and and underground set of concourse shops which have largely gone the way of Midtown (and may repeat the process with former Midtown tenants). Reconfiguration would be extremely costly, but could be accomplished by removing the concourse level space, retaining the trees and green space at the corner, and a small addition to the Alliance Building to add a retail component to an enormous blank wall with a rooftop restaurant that utilizes the Alliance Building's large second floor former banking hall space.

The northeast quadrant between Main and University is touched on as a street grid restoration project as well as a potential area for additional quality housing. Chestnut Street is described as an urban fabric that encourages automobile traffic to simply pass through. Remedying this would act as a catalyst for new mixed-use structures by invigorating the remaining significant archtecture no longer facing city streets. Scio Street housing would include townhouses and apartment buildings, closing in the awkward backside of the Grove Place neighborhood currently visible, but originally designed as a functional alley.

An eastern gateway, complete with complementary triangular parks is largely contingent on removal of the southeast portion of the Inner Loop. The entrance to the rest of the Inner Loop would become much less dominant and the gateway would serve other adjacent neighborhoods such as Marketview Heights and the Neighborhood of the Arts.

Finally, a streetcar network is an essential piece in the discussion of a comprehensive plan for Main Street. I couldn't agree more with the content of page 110 in the Charrette Report and attempts to condense it would not touch on all important points. Here is that excerpt:

"Places like Portland, Tampa, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Little Rock, and Memphis are enjoying the economic development benefits of their trolley systems—even the small city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, operates a trolley line, clearly suggesting that one in Rochester is within the realm of feasibility.

If Rochester intends to become a competitive 21st century city, it will need to seriously consider light rail transit in its revitalization efforts with a streetcar system as just one of the components. Planning for the future should also include light rail vehicles running on their own dedicated rights of way to areas such as Charlotte, RIT, and the outlying suburbs. Another transit mode, commuter rail, using heavier railroad-grade cars might also be considered.

For the immediate future, though, the simple beginning of a streetcar layout on Main Street could be a huge catalytic benefit for sustainable economic development in the downtown. At the east and west end loops (Southeast Loop and Cascade District) the proposed trolley would attract more interest for dense residential development along with new parking structures. At the nodes along the trolley route there would be increased commercial incentives and activity. A trolley system will make downtown Rochester more pedestrian friendly and will greatly increase connectivity between venues, offices, downtown residences, and retail across the entire width of Center City. The lines could be extended in the future to High Falls, East End, Bulls Head (via the Susan B. Anthony area), Public Market, Amtrak Station, Corn Hill, University of Rochester, etc.

The addition of a trolley system would begin a new era for Rochester. The system itself would initially be a tourist and regional attraction helping to increase downtown vitality. As ridership increased due to rising gas prices and accelerated downtown residential development, the system would help replace automobile usage. The clean, green character of the system would help improve air quality. Eventually, as the system grew to outlying destinations, all of the benefits stated above would dramatically increase the economic fortunes of downtown as well as of the city and region.

According to the Reconnecting America publication Street Smart there are over 300 cities across
the globe that have working light rail transit service. There are over 80 cities in the US alone
that are either operating, planning for, or exploring the possibility of a trolley or LRT system. Again, for Rochester to be a first class, world class city, it needs to begin exploring a system for itself."

Rochester Regional Community Design Center (RRCDC)

Let's see if I can make some sense out of some scribbled notes and write a coherent recap of Rochester New Urbanism and Sustainable Development's tour of the RRCDC facility on East Main Street.

Roger Brown, an architect, and president of the Board of Directors for the center was nice enough to open it up after hours and describe its mission, past works, and every piece of its physical state to us free of charge. He noted that his is not a paid position and that only three such positions exist. The Director, Joni Monroe, a professional planner, and an administrative assistant are the only ones making a living off of their revenue earned by performing work in various municipalities as well as state grants and other endowments. They supplement the workforce through interns (largely from the U of R, sometimes as far away as Northeastern) and volunteers.

The Design Center is open to the public from 8:30 to 5:30. While not mandated by their recipt of public funds, it is their policy to not only have an open door, but also a reference library of their past works, other design works, urban planning literature, transit operating plans, and large binders of form based design codes.

The center and affiliated groups are currently providing advisory input to two very large potential projects profiled previously on this blog, the Broad Street Corridor Master Plan, and the Paetec World Headquarters. In the past they have facilitated 24 design charrettes and are planning one for the Bulls Head westside neighborhood in the spring.

Their Reshaping Rochester lecture series will return in October and will have an additional installment thanks to the support of the National Endowment for the Arts. The overarching theme for this year's series is the hot button topic of Sustainability in Design. Their design gallery continues to house the large rendering of many of the Downtown Charrette topics discussed here over the past two months.

At the tour I decided on the spot to volunteer behind the scenes for Roger and the center as I am unlikely to be able to frequent the facility during its normal hours due to job obligations. The first thing they have me doing is gathering information on the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan whose mayor is part of this upcoming year's lecture program. I have prepared a presentation that I will likely turn into a future case study post for the blog. I also managed to acquire that city's streetcar feasibility study, a very interesting read.

In closing, I want to reiterate that the center is at 1115 East Main Street and will welcome anyone interested to their facility during normal business hours. Also noteworthy is that Tia was inspired by an off-hand comment during the tour to the extent that she wrote a letter to the editor regarding construction of a new gas station at a potential city gateway that was published in today's D&C. Still to come is a Ren Square opinion piece, East Main Street charrette recommendations, and now a Grand Rapids case study more true to the term.

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.

• August 25 - Tour and Q&A @ Rochester Regional Community Design Center - 7PM - 1115 East Main Street
• August 29 - Critical Mass Bicycle Ride - 6PM - Liberty Pole
• September 8 - Broad Street Corridor Public Informational Meeting - 7PM - 115 South Avenue

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.

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

2007 Downtown Charrette Report Vol. 5

The River North is a focus area created by combining High Falls with the Governmental and Business quadrant north of the Four Corners. The primary public realm improvement opportunities include City Hall and an adjacent surface parking lot, a vacant RG&E site on the river north of Andrews, Genesee Crossroads Plaza, the former IBM building at State and Andrews, and the entire High Falls area.

One of the main themes of this development area is the need to integrate and capitalize on the riverfront as a natural resource. Previously (and Rochester is far from alone in this activity), the river has been met with the backs of buildings or brownfields. The reality is that the river and the accompanying 96 foot waterfall (in the middle of downtown!) is an attraction in and of itself when it comes to urban living.

The challenges in this double district are myriad as the sites south of the inner loop could have qualified as its own area compared to the High Falls area which has already had a redevelopment pass (albeit an unbalanced one). It seems to me that there is a common thread in each of the bulleted challenges on page 64, the challenge of connectivity. Connecting downtown to High Falls (dealing with a double set of elevated bridges), connecting City Hall to the rest of downtown, connecting the streets and neighborhoods to the river.

Rochester's City Hall was previously a federal building while the original City Hall backed up to the canal and was fronted by the original courthouse square which has since been filled in with additions to the county building. Its location on Church Street does not make it visible to the surrounding area and a surface parking lot at Church and State compounds the lack of suitable civic space to highlight such and important building.

The aforementioned RG&E site at the old Front Street and Andrews is classified as a brownfield and will require an environmental cleanup. As far as Crossroads Plaza is concerned, I've sniped at it previously ass ill-conceived and poorly executed without much elaboration. It would appear the participants and writers of this report couldn't agree more. The following paragraph encapsulates a lot of my feeling about this "park" which ruthlessly displaced an entire city street in the name of "urban renewal" (the entire park is just a facade for convenient parking).

"Crossroads Plaza is currently an underdeveloped space that fails to capitalize on its location along the riverfront. The design of the park is outdated with poor lighting, seating areas that create security issues, hardscape features that have little meaning to the overall space and overgrown, poorly maintained plantings. There is a lack of pedestrian connection to the river north of the Andrews Street Bridge. Moreover, the pedestrian connection from the park to Main Street is weak."

Still on the topic of challenges, the former IBM building is constructed in modernist fashion so much so that a "parking moat" precludes appropriate pedestrian connection to both State and Andrews, a poor corner anchor. Despite the addition of lighting and gateway features to the double underpass (highway and rail), the pedestrian experience of walking to High Falls from the rest of downtown is tolerable at best.

High Falls presents a hearty list of concern areas largely oriented around its industrial past. The Beebe Station environmental cleanup is number one on this list as a completion date is far from being understood. Steep terrain, river connections to the south, concerns of overdevelopment of the lower gorge, impeded falls views from certain plazas, lack of identity/signage, and a lack of sustainability services also factor into the ensuing design.

*Already, High Falls is seeing a sort of reinvention period. Residential developments are beginning to augment the shift toward commercial office utilization, making the area not an entertainment center as was originally envisioned, but a more balanced urban neighborhood. In addition, radio stations have been migrating toward that area. There is an opportunity here to create a more lively environment by "opening up" the studio to the street with soundproof glass as seen in other cities.

Back to the programmed material, with regard to City Hall, the solutions are simple, yet effective. The recommendation is to turn the surface lot at State and Church into a pocket park. This accomplishes many things including a stronger pedestrian connection, a maximized view of City Hall from State Street, and the creation of an outdoor gathering space for civic events. Design elements would include an outdoor stage for mayoral addresses, a mural on the commercial building to the north to soften the blank facade, and a renovation of the corner eatery to blend in with and serve the park.

A mixed use structure is recommended for the RG&E site off of Andrews Street consisting of street level retail, 2nd floor office space, and loft housing that architecturally complements the re-use on the Water Street side. An emphasis is placed on sustainable site design, energy efficiency, reduced water usage, and a green roof.

In order to lower the grade of Crossroads plaza to make it actually engage the river, an ambitious proposal to add another level of parking below ground while removing the two uppermost layers is proposed. 60% of the precious parking would be retained and access from State Street would become virtually level as opposed to the complicated network of concrete stairs and ramps that cling to the Crowne Plaza and make the pedestrian feel as though he or she is trespassing, not enjoying the public realm.

The proposed IBM solution is as simple and effective as the City Hall solution, though it acknowledges that you can't turn pure garbage into an architectural marvel. Creating an at-grade street level plaza would at least cover the parking area which could continue accomodating happy motoring (though to the best of my knowledge, the building has limited tenants).

The High Falls solution is split into a short and long range plan. It would seem one of the focus groups was a bit overzealous and overstepped the focus area. Their ideas were certainly good and addressed Kodak's asphalt wasteland in order to integrate the ballpark into the greater High Falls area. One of their proposals, the Genesee Brewery Beer Garden/Tasting Tour has become a reality this summer. I won't go into greater detail here, but they are located on pages 74-78.

The short range plan focuses on circulation, building re-use, streetscapes, signage, and sustainability. A small tram would connect attractions on both sides of the river with parking facilities. The road texture and streetscape of Brown's Race would be replicated on other streets in the area to create a recognizable and well-defined High Falls Village.

The Center at High Falls would install an elevator for lower gorge access for different falls viewing options. The upstairs gallery could house an energy history museum. A study would be undertaken to see whether an obstructing concrete wall can be lowered to improve the view of the fallscrest from an adjacent platform. Infill would take on the same architectural characteristics of the mill buildings. Signage along Lake Avenue would guide visitors to High Falls while historic signage would highlight landmarks throughout the district.

A nature preserve has been proposed for the lower plateau. This seemingly conflicts with desires to promote access. A careful balance would have to be determined to create the desired level of human interaction. Additional signage could highlight wildlife indigenous to the gorge.

To finish up, the River North focus area has tremendous potential to add a desired natural element to downtown while simultaneously respecting history and adding vibrancy.