What exactly is supposed to be done with it then? I don't see how the presence of art galleries, restaurants, etc. has turned it into a theme park. The buildings are simply being put to use.
Point being it is no longer a distillery. It's a collection of commercial enterprises that are trading on the nostalgic Victorian Industrial setting, while having nothing to do with anything Victorian or historical themselves. And that's fine, I like it too.
I think there's more to it's historical significance than the purpose the buildings were originally used for. What about the architecture, the integrity of the complex? Creative re-use is one thing, dropping huge condos and tearing down parts of it is something else entirely.
Huge condos may go up right across Mill Street on land Cityscape does not own, and will go up across Cherry Street as well. The district will be reintegrated into normal everyday city blocks as the years go by. I don't see these buildings as being terribly different from that. I don't see any of that as a problem.
I have a hard time seeing this as a valiant developer going the distance to try and save the district. Instead what I see is a developer with a very well thought out plan to establish a desirable new district with the pretense of preservation, then drop as many housing units as possible, however possible to make as much money as possible. How does this make them any different from any other developer?
I can't fault a developer for trying to build whatever they are allowed. If they are building too much, it's the City's or the OMB's fault. From my point of view though, if they were only allowed to build half of this density, and two 20-something floor towers resulted, I don't think there wouldn't be any significant difference at ground level to the district. 20 or 40 stories overhead are going to feel pretty similar. Clean lines and a glass facade will reduce the impact substantially.
As I said before, I'm glad they helped restore the district. But any credit they've earned is gone with these projects, that include tearing down one of the buildings. How long before some more of them are removed for residential?
I think that's it - they'll be built out at the end of the Clear Spirit phases.
Personally, I really don't care they'll be re-using the bricks. That would be a nice touch if they were, say, using them for a Distillery project from a building that collapsed on it's own. In this case they're tearing buildings down and then trying to convince everyone it's not really going anywhere because they'll be re-using the bricks.
As far as I'm concerned, that just isn't good enough.
All the walkways through the district use reused bricks, and they look great...
...and we still don't know how they are planning on reassembling them this time.
A good job so far...but that doesn't mean any plans they submit should be acceptable. I don't see how these condos are going to maximize interest either. Who's going to visit because of them? More people will live there, which should naturally generate interest from the new residential population, but then they don't have to tear down buildings and construct mammoth 40+ storey towers in the middle of the district to do that.
They have gone through all the appropriate channels to get this project approved, and the locals living on the north side of Mill did not object to the size of the towers.
In terms of maximizing interest, I'm not saying that the condos specifically are going to bring a flood of people to the district (other than new residents), but that these new buildings do have to be sensitively inserted into the historic fabric so as to enhance the public's appreciation for and use of the space, all in the name of further profit for Cityscape.
As Cityscape has done a good job up to this point, and because I have a fondness for aA architecture, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
Finally, as I have stated in the Renaissance ROM thread, I like the meeting of the old and the new in that complex: I think the one aspect compliments the other, and I appreciate the old more now that when it was all old. I am expecting a similar effect here.
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