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Personally, I think the charm of downtown Greenville is the lack of very tall buildings. Let's turn it into every city you ever saw. I really hate it.
I understand your point and, certainly, Greenville has done a fantastic job of creating a street level city with a wonderful energy and feel. As for this particular building concept, I would say there is little risk of turning Greenville "into every city you ever saw".
Quite frankly, Greenville has a better street experience than many cities with huge skylines. As such, Greenville exemplifies the idea that you don't need tall buildings to have a great city, and its also a testament that Greenville has been built with a strong foundation. Put another way, simply building a bunch of tall buildings doesn't equal a successful city, but providing people with a fun, safe, clean, inviting, and entertaining city center at the street level with patient development does. I think once that is in place, tall buildings can be a compliment to such a city; not a detriment.
I suppose you could argue a slippery slope; if they build one they could build many and then the charm is gone; but I highly doubt that would happen, at least any time soon. For one thing, powers that be, have been very hesitant with high rises. The street level has been the focus for nearly 50 years (very successfully) and I don't see current leaders abandoning that philosophy. Additionally, we're not talking about a thousand foot office building here, this concept is a midrise housing and retail building. I truly think a little variety in height and architecture would be a welcome addition at this point. We don't need a hundred 8 story brick boxes to maintain charm; in fact, that might deduct from it. I would love to see this, but unfortunately it's only conceptual at this point. Good to see our developers thinking along these lines nonetheless!
Taller buildings wouldn't ruin downtown. It's about how active the streetscape is. Nashville is getting new skyscrapers left and right, but the charm of the core is still hot. Midtown Atlanta is also booming with new towers and they're loving the new density because it's making midtown more active. The Windstream building is 300 feet but it's pretty easy to ignore.
Taller buildings wouldn't ruin downtown. It's about how active the streetscape is. Nashville is getting new skyscrapers left and right, but the charm of the core is still hot. Midtown Atlanta is also booming with new towers and they're loving the new density because it's making midtown more active. The Windstream building is 300 feet but it's pretty easy to ignore.
That building is also outdated in the way it looks. Would be nice to see the exterior renovated.
No one goes anywhere specifically for the size of their buildings unless there's a specific architectural reason to do so. No need to be afraid of tall buildings.
No one goes anywhere specifically for the size of their buildings unless there's a specific architectural reason to do so. No need to be afraid of tall buildings.
Of course not, but it's no coincidence that the most vibrant, pedestrian-friendly places tend to be more human-scaled. I'm not against highrises going up in downtown Greenville at all, but concerns about an erosion of downtown's charm over time aren't exactly unfounded. Right now, there's not really any demand for a lot of highrises downtown but hey, things could change.
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