Hamilton Square: A heartbreaking site plan...

Up near Gonzaga, a big flat-bed trailer is advertising the future (and slightly off-kilter) Hamilton Square development.  However on the website, we're seeing a completely different rendering than the flatbed variety on Hamilton St.  Seen above is the comparison of the two renderings sporting a two-story and three-story building.

What's more important though is the site plan of Ham Square which is pure suburban office park in an urban center.  The site plan really fails on two of the three rules of good urban design:  1) Build to the curb and 2) Place the parking in back.  It doesn't matter that the facade is permeable because the pedestrians so lovingly drawn are so far from the building that they won't be able to see the building has windows let alone any activity inside.

We believe it was Remi and Stephan Stefan who most recently pondered why the Hamilton Corridor is so incredibly weak.  It could be that the increasing suburban character/design of the corridor is the culprit.  Hamilton is  basically a place nobody really wants to be.

• Office/Retail project to rise near GU  [Journal of Business]
• Ham Square Office/Retail Building-pdf [Byrd Real Estate Group]

Comments

[Remi]

(Stefan.) ;-*

[Chaz]

The Hamilton Corridor has a lot of interesting places that sit along the sidewalk; unfortunately, that sidewalk is only about three feet wide. It’s hard to get the neighborhood to walk along Hamilton when you feel like the cars are going to mow you down.
Does anyone know if the City is actually using its Centers and Corridor Design Standards?

[Joy Jones]

I agree, the U-District has great potential to be a thriving place. In order to realize this potential good urban design is essential. As well as talking about good design we really need to figure out a way to focus new development in the centers and corridors, rather than the existing pattern of developing cheap ag land away from the centers and corridors. Mayor Verner is holding a roundtable on this subject. We need people concerned about urban development to attend that roundtable and ask these questions. The Centers and Corridors roundtable will be held May 21st from 10:30am-12:00pm in the City Council Chambers.

[David Blaine]

What isn't in the U-District? How can the Hamilton corridor be in the same district as Sprague and Sherman? Is there a map?

[Jim]

Thank you for your information Joy. You are absolutely correct. Developers have had their way in basically building and designing on the cheap, and we need to defend ourselves from new urban blight. If we don't demand pedestrian friendly design, areas like the UD will never happen in reality, only as a concept. I don't feel safe walking along Hamilton which has become the default North-South Freeway. I have stated it before on posts, but people around here seem to accept it. The air quality has ruined the Logan District, not to mention the traffic noise. Wider sidewalks with streetscaping - trees and plantings are a must, and much needed along Hamilton, Trent and Sprague. See you on the 21st!
By the way, the news about the Iron Bridge is great, we need to all help get that bridge painted and opened for more pedestrian access to an emerging area.