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WHAT’S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Folks sure are fired up about the new downtown park
ing deck all of a sudden. I'd like to go ahead and defend it,
though, while everyone else is grandstanding about austerity,
fiscal responsibility and the deck's inevitable ability to destroy
everything in downtown Athens.
What We Have: What we have in Athens is a pattern of sat
isfactory buildings which get the job done, but don't have a
lot of flash or creativity to them. This proposed mixed-use-
parking-deck-building is not that bad. It won't be the biggest
or ugliest building downtown; those honors still belong to
909 Broad. There are aesthetic issues with the proposed deck,
but it will be palatable. Ultimately, it can be expected just to
blend into a homogenous background filled with other, similar
brick-and-tan buildings.
injected into downtown could be enough to sustain its growth
until the economy picks back up.
Downtown's Future: The big question is what happens next
for downtown, and what the next round of SPLOST might do
for our central business district. The number of county-owned
decks will rise to four after this new one (with the College
Avenue, courthouse and Classic Center decks). These are spaced
fairly evenly across downtown, and should cover our needs
pretty well for a while.
Id the meantime, the city should sell off its other surface
lots along Dougherty Street on the north side of downtown
and let them turn over for redevelopment; there are acres of
city-owned land just sitting there, and the spaces those lots
provide can be absorbed by the decks. The requirements for
A new downtown parking deck fagade more like this one in Santa Monica, CA would be cool, right?*Just replace brick with more interesting materials
It won't be the tallest building, either; it's about the same
size as most new construction in town. To put this in perspec
tive, in the Midtown and Buckhead districts of Atlanta, there
are 30-story buildings backed up to single-family neighbor
hoods. The deck-to-be and the restored Georgia Theatre, as
proposed, are two mid-sized buildings which don't have too
much conflict in terms of scale. The view from the Theatre's
proposed rooftop garden may be a little limited by the building
wrapping around it, but it will be an urban space, and it will
still work just fine:
Athens is quickly taking on a Parisian feel, with buildings
limited to six to nine stories in height. That is larger than
the smaller warehouses and storefronts of Athens' youth, but
appropriate for a small city that's developing and growing into
something more mature. It would be nice to see something
bold, perhaps on the scale of Savannah's Ellis Square rede
velopment, which buries a parking deck under two blocks,
re-creating an historic square with new mixed-use buildings
adjacent. There's also a pedestrian mall that thrives and
bustles nearby (but don't tell anyone around here). It's prob
ably too late for something like Ellis Square here, but a facade
that's more like the LEED deck built in Santa Monica, CA could
be cool, and still doable at this stage in the game. Just replace
brick with more interesting materials.
What's important to remember is that regardless of the
angle of the drawings posted on Clayton and Lumpkin streets,
we see the city from about five feet up, and our eyes will be
on what's happening primarily on the first floor. We ought to
build the deck because it will do a lot to bridge the two ends
of downtown by filling in a big hole in the street-level retail.
That improved vitality and walking climate will add a lot to the
vitality of Athens. One of the reasons for downtown's parking
issues is the perceived distance from parking to retail destina
tions. Downtown is surrounded by fields of parking, and that's
what makes the walk feel so oppressive. Filling in the majority
of this block will remedy some of that. This little bit of energy
residential parking downtown also need to go away. Anyone
who needs a parking space for their apartment downtown
can rent it in a deck. That might encourage more walkable
urban residential development downtown. True urban parks
and plazas might be a good use for that space as well, and an
opportunity for something bold. Regardless of commissioners'
desire to create a great legacy for downtown, we may only get
something satisfactory this time around. Maybe the next round
of SPLOST is the place for something more.
Meanwhile: Don't forget the addition to the Classic Center
that's being proposed for the next round of SPLOST. If it's
picked as a project, it would be the biggest expense on the list
after the jail. It would also likely bring with it a new privately
developed hotel that's waiting in the wings. When that new
SPLOST list is created, the criteria which have defined the deck
should define these new exhibition halls for the Classic Center
as well as any other public projects downtown. Street-level
retail is a must, if we want to keep Foundry Street from becom
ing a dead zone which acts only as a service drive for the
Classic Center. The current pieces of the Classic Center aren't
that bad, but they certainly don't do much in terms of their
built form to enliven downtown, regardless of the patrons they
bring in.
Athens needs to keep moving forward, and the short
term view that folks are taking on this deck—and the tennis
center—may unduly color the discussion over potential new
SPLOST projects for downtown. Also worth remembering is
that this deck is the manifestation of a countywide planning
process which calls for a dense core surrounded by rural land.
Building up is part of the deal. Let's keep evaluating what
we're doing downtown, because we're asking all the right ques
tions, but let's also recognize when the answer doesn't warrant
such a huge fuss.
Kevan Williams athensrising@flagpole.com
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • NOVEMBER 4, 2009
MRY ARCHITECTS (JAMES MARY O’CONNOR. PRINCIPAL-IN-CHARGE)/ PHOTO: JOHN LINDEN