Wrong thread I guess. The plans shown so far for convention center expansion show closing Lenoir Street between Dawson and McDowell and building convention center stuff in that space.
View the thread here.
My opinion, they are letting the convention center tail, wag the city dog. Building over Lenoir might be what’s best for the convention center, but if what’s best for the convention center, is not what’s best for the city as a whole, then f* the convention center. It’s basically repeating the same mistake they made in the 1970s when they plopped down the old convention center on top of Fayetteville Street. Dumb.
With Lenoir closed, and Hargett and Cabarrus both set to close at the railroad tracks, South Street will be the only continuous street across downtown south of Morgan.
It’s been the plan for quite sometime. Most of the downtown at-grade crossings will close at some point in the future. I think it’s part of the high-speed rail plan?
The Cabarrus closure, specifically, is in exchange for the West Street extension under the tracks. It’s a concession to the railroad.
Noticing some differences from the renderings. The top parapet wall isn’t made to look like another floor. Also, the white seems to continue around the building, instead of the black/grey shown. (I realize these are different vantage points than the picture above.)
Those are older. Agreed with Jake that the end result is a huge improvement, not just with the color, but in the massing – pulling in those balconies from the corner helped a ton; the elevation with the staggered windows looks like its own element popping out from the building now, which gives it more reason to be different from the other sides. I always found the different pattern of openings on that side to be the weirdest part of the design. They also just generally calmed the pattern down a lot from before, which it needed. I dare say this is a very elegant building, not at all what I expect from J Davis.
Yeah I had seen a lot of different renderings for this project, which is a bit unusual. I either missed or never internalized the one you just shared. But it definitely likes up with the finished product, and I completely agree about it looking better and more cohesive. Even if the parking deck looks even more parking deck-like. Thanks for sharing that btw.
I agree, the pattern makes the building look sleeker and less clunky than the other projects around this size. Hopefully the parking ends up looking as good as the renders.
This parking deck is not going up as fast as I had hoped.
A week later and still just partial foundations. I continue to hold out hope for my beautiful dream of prefab parking deck slabs just flying together…
I do like it, but you are not wrong. I like that we are getting something that is not blue glass. I also like the vertical thrust of the design. It definitely gives me CP&L/Central Plaza vibes, which went up in 1976, but then I’ve always liked that building too. In the end, I am just glad to escape the current design zeitgeist, which I am largely bored with.
