02/21/08

English (US)   The Downtown Keystone Project  -  Categories: Development  -  Douglas @ 11:54:56 pm

An artist's view of the 5th Street Crossing project that will be built across from the Granville Arts Center, facing south on Fifth St toward the square. View the Slide Presentation linked below for a 360° view.
Fifth Street Crossing

 
My passion for District 1 should be obvious from the posts made regularly to this blog but my passion for Downtown Garland is also great and has been for years.
 
In 2004, Plan Commissioner Stan Luckie and I flew to Houston to talk to Peter Brown, a well-renowned architect and urban designer (and, now, a Houston city council member). The synopsis of our meeting was that we left with a quote of how much it would cost to help Garland develop a new, workable vision and plan for Downtown.
 
We presented our information to Mayor Bob Day and the staff. I think it was the first time many felt we could afford to hire the expertise we had lacked. The staff sent a Request for Proposals to many design teams and we received numerous excellent replies.
 
Five teams were chosen to be interviewed. The interviews were by Deputy City Manager Martin Glenn, Sr Managing Director Neil Montgomery, Assistant Director Anita Russellman, and Sr Planner Karen Wunsch. And Stan and I were asked to participate. Over two days, we saw some incredible presentations. It was exciting to consider the possibilities.
 
Neil Montgomery emphasized that we had shelves of plans, that we needed more than that, we needed a workable strategy. Martin Glenn, whose background is also planning, emphasized we needed a partner that would be able to bring developers to the table, that we wanted sticks and bricks. It was emphasized that we wanted a catalyst project. 5th Street Crossing is that project, sitting on the keystone parcel of Downtown. It is the bridge from the DART station to the Downtown square.
 
After lengthy discussions, we agreed that Garland should hire Paris Rutherford and the group assembled by RTKL. I usually expect a lot and this time was no exception. Only this time my expectations were well surpassed.
 
You can read other posts on this blog about the steps from that point to where are now, but the plans for Downtown and for the 5th Street Crossing project with Trammell Crow grew from those interviews. The great news is that we are seeing the New Downtown under construction. Clearing and demolition will soon give way to sticks and bricks.
 
To see what the future will look like in a few months, view the slide presentation below. For a detailed explanation, watch the video of the presentation given to Council a couple weeks ago.
 

CGTV

 

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3 comments

Comments:

Comment from: Deborah Morris [Visitor]
Mr. Athas,

I thought that the concept for the new downtown was supposed to be maintaining the "Historical Downtown" look--vintage style storefronts and architecture. The slides look like modern (square/boring/generic) buildings are planned instead. What happened??

I'm also a big supporter of revitalizing our downtown, but these slides left me depressed. :(
Permalink 02/22/08 @ 09:43
Comment from: Deborah Morris [Visitor]
P.S. to previous comment:

I didn't mean to sound so negative. Our downtown badly needs to be updated, infilled and put to work, and even boring/generic buildings are better than allowing the current buildings to decay and downtown to remain nearly vacant and dead. Still, I wish we could've managed something that would convey a visual sense of Garland's long and interesting history. What will the new downtown look like in, say, 50 years? Will it have gained an interesting patina, or will it look like rows of decaying apartment buildings?
Permalink 02/22/08 @ 13:47
Comment from: Douglas [Member] · http://www.douglasathas.net
I first saw the design a couple months ago and posted an earlier rendering as my first post of 2008. My initial reaction was the same as yours and part of that was because the earliest conceptual drawings were much more classical and I wasn't prepared for the dramatic change.

Then I realized that a classical look would be out of place. This new building will be across from the Granville Arts Center, which is modern, across from the downtown library, which will be remodeled to be even more modern than it already is, across from the community college, which is modern, and across from the DART station, which is also modern. As can be seen in another post, the remodeled Police & Courts Bldg will be modern.

Classical would have been a sore thumb.

I think we must, however, preserve the Downtown square with its classical/vintage look. (And that has already started, which Robert Smith and I plan to document on this site.)

I also realize that classical is safe. There is risk that a modern look will look dated. The best protection from becoming dated is to use unique styling, not copy something that is popping up everywhere. Already someone can travel across the country and see a style that is so 50's or 70's or 90's because it was used over and over. Some Frank Lloyd Wright styles were copied so much that they all look dated now. Others are as fresh as the day they were built. For whatever reason, the Sears Craftsman style seems to defy age.

I like the nostalgia of classical but it too would be boring if not for modern styling keeping it interesting.
Permalink 02/22/08 @ 22:32

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