Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- December 8th

Parkway22

501 N. 22nd Street

Pictured: Something that will never happen.
                        This would have been a cool building to have around... instead we ended up with that shitty-ass Best Western. The worst part is, this proposal strung us all the fuck along until the last second before going kaput. It wasn't like other dead-ass proposals that just faded away... this thing seemed like it was ready to go.. then it wasn't.
                          Parkway22 started as a 2006 proposal for a tall-ass residential skyscraper called the Barnes Tower in anticipation of the new Barnes Foundation Museum that was going to be built nearby. NIMBYs from two neighborhood groups went fucking ballistic over the idea.

The Barnes Tower. Should have called it the John G. Johnson Tower.
                        Their main concern? Shadows!!! NOOOOO not the shadows!!! Son of beeeeeech!!! Anyway, the NIMBYs didn't move to a city to have tall buildings be built within site of their homes. They took the developer V & H Hotel Associates to task, even getting corrupt politician Vincent Fumo involved. When the NIMBY problems were all said and done, they lopped off over 100 feet from the tall tower, made it into two smaller buildings, and called it Parkway22. A sales office opened up in April 2007, and actual demolition of the shit-ass Best Western/Franklin Motor Inn began.
                        Folks couldn't believe their fucking eyes. Not only did an actual skyscraper plan get approved in a NIMBY stronghold, the plan was actually going to be built!! Then... the market tanked like a motherfucker. The sales office closed in May 2007 and the project was put on hold "until market conditions returned to normal." The developer popped back up 2 years later with a new plan that would start with the shorter building being built first... that idea didn't go much farther than the initial presentation.
                       Its almost unfair to say that this is a Dead-Ass Proposal because technically it could still potentially happen... the building is approved... but it probably never will happen. Fuck.

It's over, Johnny! It's OVER!!!!
Posted by GroJLart at 6:40 AM
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2 comments:

  1. GeorgeDecember 9, 2011 at 7:00 PM

    I used to live in Fumo's manse on Green Street before he bought it in 94 and converted it back into a single family house. That tower would have definitely effed up that dick's views of CC. I visited that sales center too when it was open. Big disappointment that this gem was never put up. These NIMBYs are a cancer on this city. /// You know, I could of sworn this was America. 10+ years to replace the WTC? It's all symptomatic of the decline of the US and the West in general.

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  2. Steve StofkaMay 30, 2014 at 6:54 PM

    The active plan for this parcel is a much squatter building (about the same height as the fugly Gotham-y building just across 22nd) with a big-ass Whole Foods at the bottom. It's supposed to break ground sometime this year.

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