Brush Park Development

[CR75]

We’re getting there quickly though, especially Brush Park.

For sure, I was talking about "20+ years from now" in my original comment.

Also I want to emphasize that my comment was in no way disparaging towards City Modern. I just wanted to point out that durability is usually not a concern for contemporary architecture.

[casscorridor]

Depends on what materials were used, and the design... One Detroit Center/Ally Building used quality materials and has a nice Gothic top that has aged well. Even the infill in the East Ferry Historic District has held up nicely.

If you look at England's Prince of Wales sponsored "historic" town of Poundbury, all the new buildings have retained their charm and elegance. Pastische? Of course... but it looks warm and inviting...
https://www.google.com/search?q=Poun...h=674&dpr=1.25

If you use cheap materials and design... you end up with it looking cheap. That goes for modern as well as old architectural styles. But it doesn't have to be... if well thought out...

Ally Center is postmodern architecture with a gothic reference, not at all the same as "trying" to look old, it's distinctly postmodern.

Poundbury is a glorified movie set, made to look authentically old but built with modern technologies. It's a symbol of landed aristocracy and monarchial rule. Prince Charles, its creator, makes clear his hatred of modernism and obsession with the past, which makes his new town all the more unsettlingly authoritarian.

[p69rrh51]

^^ The directors and many members of Preservation Wayne/Preservation Detroit have been calling it the Hecker-Smiley House even after Charfoos and Christiansen took it over. I'm surprised that as a member, that you have not heard them refer to it as that?

Gistok, Preservation Detroit is a joke! I refuse to be a member. They are to clueless to realize its not correct.

[Danny]

I'm happy for the development in Brush Park. However, there are some design choices I am not pleased with. First, that beige brick on the majority of the City Modern condos is a poor color, especially when you see them built next to the historic houses. You can see in one of the Freep pictures how poor they look compared to the historic house. Even though the condo is not finished, when it is finished there'll be very little improvement. City Modern should have at least used brick on those condos on Alfred Street to match the historic houses on that block.

The second complaint I have is with the frontage of those beige condos. It would have been better to give everyone a huge concrete porch [[essentially a front deck/patio) that extended to the sidewalk instead of putting planters and grass in. I love grass but for a house not a condo. The grass and plants just gives the developer an excuse to charge you higher HOA fees. Also, do you see children's play equipment on the front lawns of most homes in Metro Detroit? I know the owner's don't have a backyard, but like parents in New York City, you take the kid's to a nearby park.

A third complaint I have deals with the proximity of the condos to the historic homes, especially the Ransom Gillis House. The condos are so close that there is literally no side yard or backyard or any room for entertaining. Given the Ransom Gillis home's stature, it should have been given some kind of yard that could display an historic fountain or garden or room for tourists to mingle when leaving the house after a tour. The two buildings next to it [[one in back and one to the east in the front) are huge and encroach on one's ability to enjoy the beauty of the home. Why go through all the trouble of renovating the Ransom Gillis House and then smother it with two nondescript buildings? Bad decision.

The fourth complaint I have deals with the buildings using up so much of the previous backyards. City Modern is trying to fit too many structures on the land. If the condos in the back weren't as big as the ones in the front, then maybe you could widen the alleys and make them narrow one-way streets with parking. I would not want to live in those "alley" condos because when I look out my front window I see an alley. If the alleys had room for parking and a sidewalk on one side, that would make it feel like a real street when I look out my front window.

My fifth and final complaint deals with the metal on some of the buildings facades. A building for commercial use can have metal for siding, not a residential development, especially in an historic neighborhood. The materials should be brick or wood. Man, to see what these metal/corrugated metal building are going to look like in twenty years, I don't want to know.

Well, that's it. Fire away.

That's the way those developers want for City Modern. It George Jetson-esque condos and apts. lined up in the row with Bedrock security to keep the riff raffs out. Create a safe secure open sub-division instead of a pre-fabricated block club needed area, you will create a rule ordered coded neighborhood of ticky tacky little boxes and salary based hard working people. This is the hood of the future and real estate developers will make millions plus commissions from association fees. This is the way to keep neighborhoods from become instant ghetto hoods. Modern ex-urban neighborhoods are doing it today.

[JTburner]

I'm not sure if this was already posted but it looks like the city planning commission approved the rezoning request for the carriage house redevelopment at 2827 John R and 79/105 Alfred.

Report from the Sept 28 planning commission meeting: https://detroitmi.gov/es/media/41366

More pix of the redevelopment: https://www.oombra.com/#/carriagehouseadaptivereuse/

[EGrant]

I feel like this design will be either loved or hated, but I really like how they incorporated the old structure with the super modern new portion.

[Gistok]

I really like the open look of the Carriage House project [[as compared to much of the other neighboring new construction). But for the life of me, I cannot picture people having their home life on public display like that... especially at night.

This is not the Farnsworth House set in the middle of a forested rural area...

[bust]

Once people move in they will almost always cover the windows like they do at these glass condos by Richard Meier...

[Satiricalivory]

That top floor with the fireplace is dream home material.

[MSUguy]

One bigger changes that came to Brush Park this summer that I'm surprised that didn't get much attention was the introduction Detroit's first form based zoning code. Previously much of BP was zoned planned development. As a custom designation it meant any new construction is treated as a zoning change. Which means whether you're building a townhouse or apartment building it has to go before the Planning Commission and City Council. The new code basically says you can build midrise buildings on "A" streets like John R but not "C" streets like Edmund. City Modern was basically built to these standards.

The hearing on this starts around 34:00 min.

http://video.detroitmi.gov/Cablecast...8631?channel=1

[JTburner]

Looks like Oombra Architects updated the renderings for the Brush Park Carriage House project:

https://www.oombra.com/oombra-archit...adaptivereuse/

[Satiricalivory]

It looks like this will be heavy/mass timber construction. Completion 2021? Seems very aggressive since this hasn't started yet.

[EGrant]

Ah, the ever so rare winter rendering! Most architecture firms pretend the seasons don't exist.