Salt City Critique

Alley at 230 W Genesee St

2012-03-12T07:49:00.001-04:00

Back to the Onondaga Creekwalk: Part II

2012-03-11T20:59:00.016-04:00

So in continuing with my creekwalk discovery, I took some pictures along the section that I hadn't traversed yet; the portion between Franklin Square and Carousel Mall.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It's nice that this is actually here. As a Downtown resident, getting a bit of the urban / city feel mixed with water and nature is rare and a great combination that I really can't wait to take more advantage of come summertime.

Plenty of pictures after the jump...

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Well Designed Travel: The Sidewalks of Buenos Aires

2012-02-15T07:22:00.011-05:00

Though mostly a home design blog, Apartment Therapy has some excellent pictures of sidewalks around Buenos Aires. I'm especially partial to the example in the bottom row, second from the right; a perfect example of beauty, originality, and tranquility, all tied within a valued consciousness of the public realm.

Those are just a few ideas to get the brain thinking about what could be possible here. Sidewalks have plenty of potential to encourage and to portray a sense of real value and a sense of place. Not all of them have to be one dimensional, poorly maintained, or of such low quality.

Love Letter to Syracuse

2012-02-07T07:57:00.001-05:00

Love Letter to Syracuse from Maarten Jacobs on Vimeo.

Construction of Inns at Armory Square to start soon

2012-02-06T07:41:00.013-05:00

Developer Richard Sykes Jr plans to construct a 102-room Marriott Courtyard and a 78-room Marriott Residence Inn at the northwest corner of South Franklin and West Fayette Streets along the northern edge of Armory Square. The site is currently a surface parking lot.

Artist rendering. RHS Holdings.
The rendering looks OK. It's a bit "meh" for me and also a bit big (Armory Square tends to be mostly condensed 2 to 3 story buildings). But when you take into account the adjacent 6 and 7 story buildings located on this block, The Warehouse and Washington Station, and other similar sized ones in the "Power District", the Niagara Mowhawk Building and the Federal Building, it's going to visually blend them into and out of Armory Square fairly well. At least, way better than a surface parking lot.

And this is one big surface parking lot.

Funny how Washington Station, the building at the right, has all this unique siding and glass on its south facade. The part that will be most visual to the public now is that drab, gray wall that faces east. The new hotel will allow some window interaction from the private (inside) to the public (outside) and it's also scaled to the pedestrian fairly well; something that Washington Station clearly does poorly.

The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency has granted the project a 15-year full tax abatement. That applies to the actual hotel and not the parcel of land. 15 years is a bit extreme, especially considering that the city needs every bit of tax money that it can get right now, but juxtapose that with the fact that this corner of land (a surface parking lot mere steps away from the city's most pedestrian-friendly neighborhood) could easily sit empty for 15 years.

If all goes as planned, we'll see some much needed visual continuity of the surrounding blocks, a building welcoming you into the neighborhood rather than an empty lot, and something that piggybacks on the success of Armory Square.

And really, any day where Downtown has one less surface parking lot is a good day.

City plans to demolish Otisca Building

2012-02-03T07:36:00.015-05:00

Picture courtesy of the Onondaga Historical Society.
Well, I'm glad I took some pictures when I did. The city plans to demolish the former Ryan's Brewery, a 2 and 3-story brick structure at the northeast corner of Butternut and McBride Streets, sometime this month. The demolition is being paid for by Home Headquarters, a local non-profit agency.

Also mentioned in the article is that ownership of the property will then change hands to Housing Visions where 30 "affordable" apartment and store fronts will be constructed after the group applies for a state grant this spring.

I haven't seen any plans of the apartments yet, but I'll post them here when more information develops over the coming months. I'm vehemently opposed to demolishing historic buildings when nothing legitimate has been lined up to replace them. There's way to many examples just in Syracuse alone of empty promises turning into empty lots. Hopefully this is not one of them.

Also, I'm generally not a fan of affordable housing because it tends to centralize way too many people of the same demographic into one tiny area. Although, the two non-profit agencies tied to this have done some nice work in the city as of late. And the phrase "store fronts" in the article is also encouraging. If it indeed is mixed-use, it could be a step in the right direction; as long as it's not overly suburbanized (i.e. set too far away from the street, automobile-focused, etc...).

We'll have to wait and see. It would've been nice to see the old brewery re-used in some capacity. If only a small section of it. But, I guess there is no chance of that now.

Take your pictures soon, because one of the last remaining breweries won't be around too much longer.

317-319 S Salina St

2012-01-16T10:46:00.022-05:00

Yup. $3.2 million renovation for a buildling on Salina Street. Mark my words: this is a sign of things to come. Peter Elitzer, owner of this former Label Shopper Building that was built in 1915, plans to have the project finished by the end of March. It's expected to house a new retail tenant (Philadelphia-based Villa athletic footwear and clothing) and 12 rental apartments. More pics here.

This is very encouraging. Yes, an athletic shoe store is what it is, but if you look at the big picture of what's really going on here, this is one of the first large chains to commit to Salina Street since it started hitting its decline in the 1960's and 1970's. It's a positive sign for the street, which is suddenly at the cusp of turning its fate around with the recent redevelopment planned at the corner of Fayette St, the new Centro bus hub on the south end, the Landmark Theatre expansion, and the recently completed Deys building that contains offices, apartments, and a fantastic coffee shop. They're all slow steps, but each one seems to signal something positive and generates more life for the once struggling street that has become a huge eyesore in the perception of Downtown Syracuse over the last 40 years.

Just for the record, I hate when people talk about the good ol' days of Salina Street and how it will never live up to how it used to be. It's alluded to in just about every news article about Salina Street (either in the article or in the comments) and I really can't stand it. It literally means nothing to me. That perception has little to no effect of how Salina Street is functioning right now. All it does is cloud someone's impression of how successful it can be. You know what? Most city cores were thriving during the the 1940's. It's just how it was. People were more centered, lived closer to where they worked, used mass transit more (somewhat), and weren't spread out as much. It wasn't just Syracuse or Salina Street. It was hard for just about any American city not to be successful during the early to mid-1900's.

My impression of S Salina Street since I was a kid? Shoddy, run-down buildings.

Any development that's cohesive, doesn't require any demolition, saves the street's architectural facades and landscape, and benefits the city and its residents in the long-run is a good thing for the street, in my opinion. Salina is the major artery of the city, represents the consciousness of Downtown, and it needs all the help it can get.

My ONLY issue with this is the rental rates. The developers claim it will be between $1,200 and $1,700 a month plus utilities. I don't doubt that they can fill these space given how high demand has been for housing over the last several years, but I wonder how long it will be before the high rent spaces in Downtown stop filling up and demand starts dwindling. At some point, you're going to need affordable apartments for young, single renters (which, for lack of a better definition, is the demographic that tends to be more social, go out more, and spend a decent amount of their income on restaurants, bars, and retail). If you want these people to spend their money at Downtown businesses, they're going to need to be able to afford it by not devoting so much of what they earn towards their living spaces each month.

I'll dive more into Downtown housing at some point in the future. I've been a resident for a few years now and have about a billion thoughts on what the city does well and what it could do better. For now, the new building rehab should be great and hopefully it's a positive sign of things to come.

Inner Harbor Proposals

2012-01-10T18:12:00.012-05:00

I went to the Inner Harbor public hearing last night to see the potential plans for the area from three local developers. You can read more details about it here. Essentially, one of the three will soon get the go-ahead by the mayor to redevelop the harbor and mostly brownfield surroundings into something new.

First up was Hart-Lyman's plan which was, for lack of a better definition, based on landing a Bass Pro Shop, the second (albeit small) by J&A was redevelopment of a current building into rental apartments, and the third was COR's plan of redeveloping the entire area into a mixed-use community.

COR's plan brought a tear to my eye (not literally, but it should've). It was very detailed and exactly what I was hoping to find in one of the proposals. It's also eerily similar to the plan Andres Duany had in mind for the area roughly 10 years ago. Anyway, here's three slides from COR's presentation...

The overall masterplan...

Parcels B & C looking southwest...

Looking northwest from Kirkpatrick and Solar Streets...

I don't know how else to word it, but Syracuse needs to do this. The design is good on so many levels. It takes into account New Urbanism techniques, it brings OCC near Downtown, it utilizes the harbor for the community instead of relying on one business, it creates a pedestrian-friendly environment, it cohesively expands and enhances Franklin Square (something that already works), it promotes local boating, crew, and education, it looks both historic and new (which is the angle most developers should be playing in Syracuse), it brings in some retail, restaurant, and commercial aesthetics from places like Faneuil Hall in Boston, it creates affordable housing for both young adults and seniors, it feeds off the 99% occupancy rate in Downtown housing, and it capitalizes on some the energy recently created from the Creekwalk. I literally have no faults with their entire plan.

If people want Syracuse to behave like a real city, they need something like this that not only looks good, but enriches the community. This is something that could become truly unique not just to people outside the community but inside of it as well - something that a mega mall could never do. And really, how many other Upstate New York areas have the opportunity to do something like this and use it to their advantage? None?

If this ends up getting redeveloped as a Bass Pro Shop, I'm just going to pack-up and leave Syracuse.

OK, not really, but I'll pretend to.

The mayor intends to vote on one of the three redevelopment plans within the next month.

Warren Street (Part I)

2011-12-21T07:27:00.017-05:00

If I could have one goal for this blog, it would be to reshape perception about Warren Street. In my opinion, it's Downtown's most neglected and overlooked street and what I believe to be the next domino that needs to fall in regards to restoring Downtown's vibrancy: Armory Square got redeveloped, now it's Salina Street's turn, and hopefully the positive effects will trickle out into Warren Street. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts about the street and I'm sure I'll dive into them on this blog in due time. It's one of my favorite streets in Downtown and one that I feel has the most potential for rebirth.

I randomly found this newspaper clipping as I was clearing out papers in hopes of getting my tax stuff ready for 2012. It's a few paragraphs about M Lemp Park, an open lot that sits at the corner of S Warren Street and E Fayette St, that I submitted as a letter to the Editor in the Sunday, January 16, 2011 edition of the Post-Standard.

Just for a quick history recap of M Lemp Park: a couple of buildings were demolished around the 321 S Warren St area in early 2009. Soon after, a "pocket park" was created by former mayor, Matt Driscoll, and designed to be temporary until a developer could be found to redevelop the site. In the Post-Standard article, "A new place to 'park it' on Warren Street", the previous mayor was quoted in regards to the new open space: "...Warren Street is a cold, dark, narrow, concrete canyon and I think that's one of the problems with it. As we talk to the state and developers about coming up with a plan to spruce up the infrastructure of Warren Street, I think it is important to think about opening it up a bit, letting more light in, creating some green spaces like the one we'll be building.". About a year later, Dick Case took suggestions on not only dedicating a plaque to local volunteers, but also naming the area M Lemp Park as a kind of homage to M Lemp Jewelers that sits directly across the street. The name was soon adopted by the owners, the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, and now even appears on official Downtown Syracuse brochures.

Here were my thoughts from earlier this year...

* * *

City’s M. Lemp Park not planned for permanence
To The Editor: 
In response to Dick Case’s Jan. 13 column, “Under the snow, Syracuse’s downtown shows some signs of life”:

While the idea of using a park as a place to honor volunteers is a good one, the southeast corner of Warren and Fayette streets is the wrong location to do so.

The original design concept for M. Lemp Park was that it serve as a temporary park and lead to construction of a new building in its place, thereby restoring continuity of the streetscape, solidifying the corner and making Warren Street look like it no longer has a blatant missing tooth. Naming a park and building a memorial garden is a great idea, but to do it for an area that only functions for workers during lunch breaks is extremely shortsighted and only assures that the park is going to be around longer than it should be.

The idea of bringing more greenery downtown is good, but it should not be done at the expense of sacrificing character or restricting any potential for real development. As one of our most unique streets, Warren Street’s charm is that it’s laid out to feel condensed, narrow and enclosed (similar to New York City’s Prince Street). These aspects are dissolved when you hastily construct a large, flat green lot and plop it on the corner of a very dense urban street.

If M. Lemp Park really is a park, it looks very much out of place, is too large to be reserved for something that acts more like an open-air cafeteria, and doesn’t offer anything of real value to downtown residents.

If the city wants to add a true downtown park, it should figure out locations that function correctly, can be used by all demographics and construct them with proper design aspects. Until then, it should not be figuring out how to add remembrances of volunteers, but focusing on constructing a new building in its place, thereby giving Warren Street back its real potential.

Josef Lorenz
Syracuse

* * *

I still feel very strongly about this subject and the negative impacts of what it can do to such a condensed urban area. I'm pleased I was able to word my thoughts the way I did (it's tricky to get your thoughts across in as few words as possible sometimes), but am not pleased with the way that this corner's fate has unfolded. The series of events that took place since the buildings were demolished are kind of absurd. The park's naming, design, and energy seem to be entirely spearheaded by the Post-Standard and most specifically by Dick Case, who has written (at least from what I was able to find) four different articles about the area within a year's time: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, and Example 4. And more effort has clearly been done to add benches, signs, flowers, names, and remembrances, when the real goal should be to re-establish the continuity of the streetscape.

It would be one thing if the park was designed correctly, not located on a corner lot, not located in an area that's supposed to feel enclosed, and felt like a valuable place to be, but as it stands today, it doesn't do any of those. And, as I've mentioned several times on this blog already, why is this even needed when Clinton Square is 2 blocks away?

This is a prime example of suburbanizing Downtown. If history is any indication, my fear is that it sits here for decades because of an empty promise and because a few people wanted to dedicate an empty lot to somebody else just to feel good about themselves. Though, it is nice to know that there are fresh faces in our local government since 2009. I truly hope that this area gets redeveloped correctly and we don't get stuck with an open lot with grass on it because a few people liked the idea of "light" and "open space".

I'll leave this post at that for now and I'll dive into thoughts on the park and about Warrren Street again soon. Hence, Part I.

The Post Standard Building & The Public Realm

2011-11-27T23:11:00.023-05:00

"The public realm in America has two roles: it is the dwelling place of our civilization and our civic life and it is the physical manifestation of the the common good. And when you degrade the public realm, you will automatically degrade the quality of your civic life and character of all the enactments of your public life and communal life that take place there."

"The public realm comes mostly in the form of the street in America because we don't have the thousand year-old cathedral plazas and market squares of older cultures. And your ability to define space and create spaces that are worth caring about all comes from a body of culture that we call the culture of civic design. This is body of knowledge, method, skill, and principle that we threw in the garbage after World War II and decided "We don't need that anymore. We're not gonna use it.". And consequently, we can see the result all around us.

"The public realm has to inform us not only where we are geographically, but it has to inform us where we are in our culture: where we've come from, what kind of people we are, and by doing that it needs to afford us a glimpse to where we're going in order to allow us to dwell in a hopeful present. And if there is one great catastrophe about the places that we've built, the human environments that we've made for ourselves in the last 50 years, is that it's deprived us of the ability of live in a hopeful present."

- James Howard Kunstler
From the TED: Ideas Worth Spreading conference in 2004 in Monterey, CA

Loosely paraphrased, what this means is each place should have a proper function, design, and conscience in order to fully engage the public space and the people who interact with it.

I feel like Syracuse's Clinton Square works fairly well in defining public space - despite it having been remodeled a number of times throughout history. It's organized, it defines the area very well, and easily says what it is: a central public gathering place that emphasizes the city's culture and history while showcasing a taste of its beautiful architecture.

There is, however, one building in this civic arena that stands out and fails to encompass the public realm very little, in some cases poorly, and that's the Post Standard building; a low-standing, massive, and concrete structure just directly north of the city's epicentre. The building's designations (both the building itself and its private parking lot) are between north of Genesee St, east of Clinton St, south of Herald Pl, and west of N Salina St.

Two downtown city blocks are designated to this one commercial business and its private parking lot (two distinctions that make it a bit more obtrusive and maybe even a bit more arrogant than the Atrium, a hotel and office convention center built in 1972, that stands at the opposite side of the square). It would be one thing if the Post Standard building took up this amount of space and played into the public realm correctly, but it fails to do so in many regards.

First, here's some bits of history...

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Syracuse breweries

2011-11-11T16:09:00.010-05:00

Between 1860 and 1930, Syracuse was the brewing capital of upstate New York. It's breweries could be found in the center of the city along the Erie Canal, near railroads, and on the city's Northside. Below are two current brewery locations as they exist today (November 2011). You can be certain that both of these buildings will not be around too much longer.

Onondaga Brewery / Ryan's Consumer's Brewery Co: 501-511 Butternut St
Established in 1865.
Brewery operations shut down in 1920 due to Prohibition, resumed later in 1933.
Renamed Haberle Congress Brewing Co in 1933, closed in 1962.
At one time the brewery employed 70 men and 30 horses.
Beer included: Haberle Ale, Black River Ale, Steinbrau Beer, National Ale, and Derby Porter, among others.
Jan Primus Gambrinus, a mythical Flemish king, was an 11-foot tall cast zinc sculpture fixated at the brewery's 4th story.
Gambrinus can now be found at the Onondaga Historical Museum on Montgomery St.

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Gritty Syracuse

2011-10-26T00:02:00.011-04:00

I love Gritty Syracuse. This is an alley off of N Clinton St near the corner of W Genesee St. Some see blight, I see character.

It's too bad alleys have gotten such a bad rap on TV and in movies. Putting waste, recycling, and service vehicles here helps the public side of the street function easier. Though, the picture above is probably a bad example of that.

Below is Robert R. Haggart Memorial Park at the corner of Genesee and Clinton Streets.

So glad the city finally put this thing up to block it. After a sinkhole was discovered, it was roped off and barricaded. Soon after, people ignored the signage, garbage was tossed all over the place, the tape was ripped down, and the barricades were all scattered about. This gray wall quickly deterred it all.

I'm curious to see what kind of park improvements the city makes with this. I live nearby and haven't heard any construction equipment going on so I'm assuming this will stay boarded up until Spring '12.

Let the record show that I generally despise the term and entire idea of a "pocket park". I'd much rather see a thin, 2 or 3 story building constructed here over a tiny corner park that merely heightens the idiocy of putting two "green" areas kiddy-corner to one another. I'll dive more into this area at another time.

To be continued...

Opening Day: Onondaga Creekwalk

2011-10-25T22:44:00.022-04:00

The Onondaga Creekwalk official opened today, so I took it thought I'd walk a small portion of it to see how it looked.

I've been waiting for the Downtown portion of the creekwalk to be completed since I moved into the neighborhood in the Spring of '07. I managed to snap a few pictures of the Franklin Square creekwalk in October of that same year. That section was fairly short, but it was an enjoyable walk none the less. And looking towards the 690 overpasses, it was a path just begging to be lead south into Downtown.

Starting today, the new sections have been unveiled and the creekwalk now runs from Walton St, up through the city streets on the west side of Downtown, then underneath several 690 overpasses, on into Franklin Square, up through the Inner Harbor, and heads toward Carousel Mall.

I began the walk near the steel serpent section off of Walton Street (FYI the serpent has his own Twitter now). I didn't get a picture, but I should have. That sculpture is so awesome.

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Mission Statement

2011-10-25T21:08:00.002-04:00

Just a personal blog to showcase the ups and downs of Syracuse as it progresses and regresses over time.