Maybe we'll get a do-over someday and get this right next time. One can only hope.
March 19, 2013
What might have been...
Excuse the quality of these images, but these are pictures of a design concept of a Downtown baseball stadium; conceived just before the construction of P&C Stadium Alliance Bank Stadium NBT Bank Stadium. The framed pictures are hanging up at Mully's in Armory Square if you care to take a gander for yourself.
It's hard not to like this concept and even harder to try to understand why some of the higher-ups at the time would not be all about this. What I like most about this design is how it moves some of the psychological borders of Downtown's space southward and westward. It would have been such a great thing for the city because it could have added some continuity to the surrounding streets, tied Armory Square in with the Near Westside a bit, and gotten some actual use of the West Street artery.
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Wow.
ReplyDeleteYou're right - that would have exponentially increased the value of real estate along West Street.
The surface parking would make it more difficult to seamlessly transition from downtown into the West Side, but it'd be much better than what we've got now.
Lost opportunity.
From what I understand, it was a political thing. Whoever it was at the time, they wanted to get the stadium in their district. And they did, to the utter delight of just about no one.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved this rendering.