Sorry guys but there just is not anything there. Those panels do not knock out and there is no retail space there. The residents have been looking at this for 10 years and we can’t find any retail space there. I wonder if it was promised but not delivered?
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Maybe this has been shared already, but I really liked this bloomberg article on these types of apartments. I can totally agree on the aesthetic part, but I think there is a scale of bad to not so bad. The Gramercy is easily the worst looking in my opinion. The thing I really like about them is that help lots of people live downtown. Great for businesses, nightlife and actually making a community downtown. I lived in the Devon (Technically not one of these because all concrete) for 2 years and it was great! Could not imagine moving too far away from downtown after that.
Here is the original article
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-13/why-america-s-new-apartment-buildings-all-look-the-same
And here is a follow up that I really like reading. The author thinks we should start calling them “stumpies”
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-21/america-s-rise-of-the-boxy-stumpy-apartment-buildings
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let me get my fiddle out and play " if I were a rich man", I would also like a high floor unit on north side. Does not seem there will be any higher building to block view on that side.
Can anyone find a worse looking newer apartment than the north side view of the Gramercy on Glenwood South?
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Just a guess… But my hunch is that they were counting on the adjacent properties being redeveloped and left a blank wall so no windows would get blocked by the future building.
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Part of that has to do with the wall being right on the property line. You get a lot of blank walls in those situations.
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That’s exactly the case. The lot next door will end up being developed and that wall be covered. There was a similar situation to a lesser degree at 510 Glenwood before 500 Glenwood was built. However, in that case, there were corner balconies and some semblance of a finished end.
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I agree that they bring people downtown, and the best examples of these types of developments are the ones that have ground floor retail/services/restaurants.
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2 years ago… I forgot how crazy this was. That poor Quorum Center
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I am 100% sure those holes were put there in case Harrington St could one day support retail (approximately how the quote went at the time). I am not suggesting it looks anything like retail space now. Just flat floor was left in the parking deck that could be utilized as such later on, with the facade built to accommodate it as well. Still looking for a link I posted in another forum…
Here “retail space” is clearly mentioned. I’m telling you it’s those knock outs.
Also from @orulz himself in the Urban planet forum
"Another interesting tidbit you may or may not know about the Quorum Center.
The first and second floors of the parking deck along Harrington Street will be built with “knock-out” floors - as in, they are not load bearing or structurally critical. The reason? when the Government Center TTA station is built (or when critical mass is reached through some other means) the floors can be removed to allow for construction of street-level retail along Harrington.
I wish they would build it for retail from the get-go, but at least they’re leaving the option open" - September 2005. I still can’t find the source article but that should be enough from back when we are all excited about it being built to begin with.
Also if anyone is curious, the original Quorum website is still up with floor plans
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I literally watched the city council meeting where Quorum Center was approved live on RTN on cable and the developer mentioned that.
Another similar spot is the parking deck at Cabarrus and Wilmington, just south of Red Hat (the office building not the amphitheater of course)
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Oh right. Charlie Goodnights almost moved in there. The hotel at Wilmington/Lenoir might make those spaces more attractive for using finally.
Interesting note from another website: “The Metropolitan 8/unknown 62 residential condos. Stalled for many years, but officially canceled in 2008. The Florian Companies”
I guess it really is the Phoenix.
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I remember that project. It was supposed to go down near The Fairweather project. Frankly, it may have been the exact site. They had a sales office in that little Victorian house at 516 W. Peace St.
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The Metropolitan condos would have been built where the substation is located.
Well, I was close! 
That was going to go where the substation on S Harrington now sits.
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Yep, yep, yep!!! I remember that render, and I might even have the printed material for it stashed away somewhere in my files.
I remember seeing plans for some units that were two floors, and that only had bathrooms on the upper floor. I thought that was a mistake.
Thanks for finding this and sharing it!!!
We’re hoping to get the CO May 30 and people can start moving in after that. 2 condos move in per day.
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