Comments on: The Death and Life of Great American City Blocks http://hugeasscity.com/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/ > so much wonderful packaged in such a mess Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:27:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Oops | hugeasscity http://hugeasscity.com/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Oops | hugeasscity Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:22:43 +0000 http://noisetank.com/hugeasscity/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/#comment-42 [...] Apparently we better get used to this view of Press Condos across the fresh new gravel lot on the 500 Block of East Pine.  But hey, nothing lost, nothing gained:  the Press site was once a surface parking lot. [...] [...] Apparently we better get used to this view of Press Condos across the fresh new gravel lot on the 500 Block of East Pine.  But hey, nothing lost, nothing gained:  the Press site was once a surface parking lot. [...]

]]> By: josh http://hugeasscity.com/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/comment-page-1/#comment-41 josh Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:22:11 +0000 http://noisetank.com/hugeasscity/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/#comment-41 <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/joshc/3129145/" rel="nofollow">by the way, the photo is mine.</a> by the way, the photo is mine.

]]> By: kkurmudgeon http://hugeasscity.com/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/comment-page-1/#comment-40 kkurmudgeon Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:07:37 +0000 http://noisetank.com/hugeasscity/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/#comment-40 Great picture and thanks for posting on this. And for the great Jane quote. Great picture and thanks for posting on this. And for the great Jane quote.

]]> By: michael http://hugeasscity.com/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/comment-page-1/#comment-39 michael Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:51:06 +0000 http://noisetank.com/hugeasscity/2007/12/02/the-death-and-life-of-the-500-block-of-east-pine-street/#comment-39 First, what a perfect quote from Ms. Jacobs. Nice job digging that up. Indeed, what to do about the inevitable trifecta of nail/hair salon-teriyaki-dry cleaner, the few businesses that apparently can afford a retail space greater than 1,000sf, which is all that is offered in current "mixed-use" development (actually the spaces are much larger than this)? Not to mention the complete lack of soul in any new retail space? Mandating micro-retail is one strategy being used at the Dearborn redevelopment project. Not sure what sizes they are talking about though. Seattle planners have to be convinced that smaller retail is viable as do developers - At a recent design review meeting I saw compelling evidence presented by B9 Architects that most older retail spaces along Broadway and Columbia City (they actually measured these spaces and took an average) were around 700sf. The DRB was convinced and approved retail space sizes being proposed. The City should require that retail spaces being destroyed should be replaced by at least some comparably sized retail spaces. 500 Pine is a perfect example of where the City and the developer went wrong - 8 or so businesses are being replaced by 3 or 4 storefronts. This really hurts the vitality of the area. A smart developer will provide a variety of retail spaces automatically- can't think of any examples in newer developments though. Another issue may be building codes. One example is restuarant exhaust systems - the city's code is currently restrictive in terms of where exhaust ducts can be placed within a building, which severely limits configurations of restuarants. Don't know for sure, but it probably also deters developers from accomodating such uses in new buildings. Lastly, how about honoring the time-tested conclusions of Ms. Jacobs and actually preserving these old buildings. Oh my! Is that actually possible in this market of "well-intentioned" developers?? First, what a perfect quote from Ms. Jacobs. Nice job digging that up.

Indeed, what to do about the inevitable trifecta of nail/hair salon-teriyaki-dry cleaner, the few businesses that apparently can afford a retail space greater than 1,000sf, which is all that is offered in current “mixed-use” development (actually the spaces are much larger than this)? Not to mention the complete lack of soul in any new retail space?

Mandating micro-retail is one strategy being used at the Dearborn redevelopment project. Not sure what sizes they are talking about though.

Seattle planners have to be convinced that smaller retail is viable as do developers – At a recent design review meeting I saw compelling evidence presented by B9 Architects that most older retail spaces along Broadway and Columbia City (they actually measured these spaces and took an average) were around 700sf. The DRB was convinced and approved retail space sizes being proposed.

The City should require that retail spaces being destroyed should be replaced by at least some comparably sized retail spaces. 500 Pine is a perfect example of where the City and the developer went wrong – 8 or so businesses are being replaced by 3 or 4 storefronts. This really hurts the vitality of the area. A smart developer will provide a variety of retail spaces automatically- can’t think of any examples in newer developments though.

Another issue may be building codes. One example is restuarant exhaust systems – the city’s code is currently restrictive in terms of where exhaust ducts can be placed within a building, which severely limits configurations of restuarants. Don’t know for sure, but it probably also deters developers from accomodating such uses in new buildings.

Lastly, how about honoring the time-tested conclusions of Ms. Jacobs and actually preserving these old buildings. Oh my! Is that actually possible in this market of “well-intentioned” developers??

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