I walk by the Lot 8 housing construction each day and I have to say, I think they made it way too big. It's going to stick out like a sore thumb considering the area it's in and virtually eliminates sunlight on half of Union street. I think I counted 13 stories on one side of it.
I haven't seen plans for the parking deck but I'm willing to bet that it will look better than any of the 'saltine boxes' recently built on union st.It doesn't look so bad on the live construction camera.
Wait until the large parking deck is built next to the Delta Phi / Squamish house (or whatever that house is now).
Duh.I walk by the Lot 8 housing construction each day and I have to say, I think they made it way too big. It's going to stick out like a sore thumb considering the area it's in and virtually eliminates sunlight on half of Union street. I think I counted 13 stories on one side of it.
By definition as cities grow buildings of this size will be placed next to older, smaller ones. Just the way it is.
NB is gorgeous compared to what it used to be. Keep it going!Yes, but that doesn't answer the central question: to what extent do we want New Brunswick to look like and be a big town? That is, how much do we want it to grow, or to look like it's growing?
By definition as cities grow buildings of this size will be placed next to older, smaller ones. Just the way it is.
What's a big town? Hoboken is like 50,000 people. Or are we talking building size? NB already has a lot of towers.
NB should be a college town, a big business town, and the hub for the northern part of Central NJ. It needs to be tall, big, and commanding.
I look at Harvard Yard as the model for Vorhees Mall, and directly adjacent to Harvard Yard is Harvard Square. That neighborhood in Cambridge is chokablock with tall buildings of this size. I see this neighborhood, and really the area from the Gateway building to this building becoming a Rutgers version of Harvard Square.
What Rutgers needs is to rid the neighborhood (specifically all of College Ave.) of the old houses being used as offices, counseling centers, etc.
Madison, WI?I wonder whether *any* town can be all three. For one thing, a college town needs to be reasonably inexpensive, and that's not going to be true of the other kinds of towns you mention. And the fact that NB has a lot of towers could just as easily be evidence that it should stop building towers as that it should keep on building them.
I'm not crazy about the architecture of the Lot 8 building but if it were 6-8 stories tall rather than 13, I might have a different opinion on the entire project.
That's interesting. I can't think of any comparable buildings within similar distances to Harvard yard. The Holyoke Center is probably ten stories and that is a perfect example of what not to do. Those are lessons learned and I would bet Harvard wishes they had done things differently.
The majority of that area is actually reasonable. Yes it's dense and urban but it works. I think something similar might be the right model for Voorhees/Old Queens. Harvard Yard is much larger than Voorhees Mall but some similarities exist. You can fill in with 6 story buildings rather than put up 13 story towers. You can make the area more dense without towers.
I'm not crazy about the architecture of the Lot 8 building but if it were 6-8 stories tall rather than 13, I might have a different opinion on the entire project.
Yes - the thing is - thats not going to happen here, unless Rutgers itself builds them, which you can almost count on them not. And usually there isnt much choice. If a developer wants to build, there isnt much you can do. But Rutgers can build whatever it wants. Choosing to build a mid-rise in that area, where it will tower above everything else was bad enough. But at the end of the day, it doesnt even look like it will be an interesting building.By definition as cities grow buildings of this size will be placed next to older, smaller ones. Just the way it is.
Yes, Austin and Madison are good examples of places that are college towns and state capitols. But are they truly major towns in terms of the amount of business there?
When the building where the bookstore was being built, there were a lot of complaints about the height. People were concerned that the tall building across the street from Queens Campus would ruin the campus. Now that the building is complete, it pretty much has no impact on Queens Campus.
I expect the concerns about the height of this building will be similarly unfounded.
The lot 8 building is 600 ft from the Gateway building. That is less than the distance from the north concourse to the south concourse at Rutgers Stadium.
It is a bit abdurd to claim the Gateway building is not out of place because it is near other tall buildings but that the Lot 8 building is out of place because it is not near tall buildings.
I said at the time that Gateway was too large and out of character and that it would open the door to more high rises. Still feel the same way. While the bookstore us nice the entire project scale is too much and Lot 8 is another mistake. The argument that gateway has no impact is wrong. It had opened the door to surrounding Old Queens with high rises.
The lot 8 building is 600 ft from the Gateway building. That is less than the distance from the north concourse to the south concourse at Rutgers Stadium.
It is a bit abdurd to claim the Gateway building is not out of place because it is near other tall buildings but that the Lot 8 building is out of place because it is not near tall buildings.
Bottom line, they needed the square feet of residential and retail space in the lot 8 building to make the Seminary Hill project viable. These projects are all tied together as a mixed-use development which qualified for some economic development grant funding near transit centers.
There is no evidence of that being true. The next big project - the Dining Hall Quad wont be high rises. RU hasnt announced any plans to do any other buildings in that area, and I doubt they will. If they had those plans (i.e. tear down the house offices and build a new building), they should have incorporated that into the plans for a lower rise broader based structure. If the PROJECT needed the residences/retail, then this would have been a better solution. Like I said - something like the Livingston Apartments.I think the project to build the high rises near the train station is a great idea. NB needs an influx of taxpaying businesses to further gentrify the area. Downtown NB could be a jewel if there was just more white collar businesses in the area.
As far as the lot 8 building, its going to look out of place for a few years but I think the trend is that college ave is heading to a more "downtown" feel with downtown NB expanding towards college ave and that isn't going to be a bad thing per say. What exactly is wrong with high rises near Old Queens and how is it not better than old run down houses and urban blight?