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Speaking of downtown streetscaping, the recent discussion
about Washington Street is just the first phase of a project to
redesign the streetscape around the block that City Hall occu
pies. The project's scope was focused on that block and didn't
include the southern half of Washington Street as part of its
study. This is an interesting approach to streetscaping, looking
at only one side of the street.
The ultimate decision was to eliminate parking on the
northern side of Washington, creating a wide "plaza," which
might be used for gatherings. Unfortunately, that side of the
street gets little traffic, with only the police substation and
Board of Elections offices fronting it. The southern side has
sidewalk cafes and is shadier, which makes it much more likely
to actually be used by people. If any sidewalk ought to be
widened, that one is a much better candidate. Widening would
give enough space for outdoor cafes resembling those on
College Avenue between Broad and Clayton.
Kevan Williams
Contact Kevan Williams at athensrising@flagpole.com.
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NEWS & FEATURES I CALENDAR I MOVIES I A&E I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
JULY 9.2008 • FLAGPOLE.COM 9
WHAT'S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Downtown on the former College Avenue School site, Hotel
Indigo, the next new highrise, is underway, with the permit
to construct the foundation applied for. The building will be
five stories, with 100 guest rooms, as well as a bar/lounge.
Additionally, there will be one retail space facing College
Avenue. If you're not a fan of the brick and tan, this particu
lar building should make for a welcome change. Originally, a
development was proposed to cover the whole block, but now
the project has been reduced quite a bit, most likely due to the
housing slump. The site plan now calls for a building covering
roughly a quarter of the lot, with parking in a one-story deck
and a surface parking lot for the remainder.
An artist’s rendering of the planned Hotel Indigo of Athens.
The building sits along Strong Street, with a pair of peaked
roofs running parallel. The building's front door is at College
and Strong, with a large staircase running up.* There's a signifi
cant elevation change, which gives the building an imposing
wall along Strong Street. The rendering shows a wall much
taller than a person, with windows above that. The fortress-like
wall makes for an uninviting streetscape on Strong Street, and
it doesn't get much better on the other sides. The storefront
along College Avenue is the only place that is actually at the
pedestrian scale. The parking structure presents another tall
wall along Jackson, and the surface parking is fenced off. The
fence is 4 feet high, and sits on top of a three-foot-high wall.
The project will be marketed as something a bit more luxuri
ous than the usual hotel accommodations. It also will be tar
geted toward the music scene in some way, with haiku slogans
like "Indigo Athens/ Where hip accommodations/ meet art and
music." How exactly this hotel is contributing to that concept
will be interesting to see. Could that blank parking lot instead
provide a home to musicians' studios, or an expanded Nuci's
Space? Unfortunately, it seems that we'll be stuck with more
parking for the time being.
Several trees along College Avenue will be lost due to con
struction, but the entire block will be streetscaped and will
have new trees before the project is over. There's an interest
ing story to the trees that are coming down, though; they are
backup "baby trees." Several years ago, there was a way to
buy a tree and dedicate it to your child. They planted several
backups, just in case. So much for contingency planning.
R
IE-ELECT
CLARKE COUNTY CORONER
Experience, Professionalism & Competence
To Serve The Athens-Clarke County Community
• 400+ Hours Of Forensfc/Death Investigation Training
• BS and JD Degrees
• 3300+ Hours Of Law Enforcement Training
• 31 Years Of Law Enforcement Experience
• Excellent Working Relationship With Area Law Enforcement
Agencies and Officers
• Wrote the “Death Investigation” course of instruction used in
Georgia’s police academies
• Served on the Athens-Clarke County Child Fatality
Review Board
• Coordinated a cleanup of the Clarke County Pauper’s Cemetary
• Developed a website to access information concerning deaths in
Clarke County