Fraga Tower Begins The Process

my personal feeling is better up than out.

my question is do we really need more hotels and expensive apartment complexes when the national economy is tanking and the price of gasoline ever rising?

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I’m not as conflicted – I believe adding 20+ story towers to our cityscape is inappropriate given the size of our downtown.

I remember reading about Fraga and how this is his “legacy” project, and had a chuckle realizing he wants to be remembered by a huge concrete and glass phallus rising up from uptown Asheville.

Aesthetics aside, there are many issues in my mind that need to be considered regarding this project:

1) Proximity to Pritchard Park. Before the economy drove my business home, I had a wonderful office atop the Flatiron Building, overlooking Pritchard Park. Whenever there was an event in the park, I could not avoid listening to it. The sound was amazing loud, even from 8 floors above. Nearby condo owners discovered the same thing, and complained about the noise, especially emanating from the drum circle. Those these buildings are a few blocks from the park, owners of south-facing units above 8-9 stories will be able to hear the merriment emanating from the park at a level much louder than they expect. This could lead to a growing lobby of “anti-noisers” that could eventually succeed in shutting down the more lively events in the uptown area. On a positive note, at least this one isn’t near City-County Plaza.

2) Parking. The area around Grove Arcade/Haywood/Battery Park/Wall Street is already a notoriously challenging place to park a vehicle. I’m not sure whether Fraga’s plans include the addition of enough parking spaces to accommodate the additional surge in traffic the buildings will cause. The development will impact street traffic, to be sure, but the last thing needed in that area are more vehicles searching for street parking. Though condo owners will assuredly have private parking spaces, what about their guests? People patronizing additional retail associated with the project? I’m not convinced that Fraga has addressed all these issues.

3) Shade issues. These buildings will cast shadows extending for blocks, especially in the winter, as will the Ellington. Icy roads will remain icy for longer periods, and nearby streets won’t enjoy as much sunshine. Should downtown become more densely populated with buildings of this height, it will become a dark place, and we’ll just have to imagine the nearby mountains we can’t see.

4) Appropriate scale. I’m all for increased downtown density, too. But I don’t see why we can’t limit development to a reasonable vertical scale. These 20+ story skyscrapers are way out of scale even compared to our most iconic eyesore, the BB&T building. Why can’t we infill the area with buildings under 10 stories tall? That would still allow for a dramatic increase in density without blotting out the sky.

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Up, not out.

There should be a few restrictions to prevent another monstrosity like the BB&T building – but otherwise I support tall buildings in downtown.

I’m not too worried about gentrification. Their are many creative solutions to that problem, provided voters and elected officials have the courage to implement them.

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Not in Asheville to date.

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