Mercy site continued: The Edge
As with Marva Ellard and Chuck Wiggin, this third proposal is submitted by folks with extensive experience with Urban Renewal. Mike Henderson and Gary Brooks developed Legacy at Arts Quarter, and it appears as if Henderson might have gotten a bit bored during his “retirement.”
NOTE: When I did my original reporting Wednesday, I had some massive binders to go through for each proposal. There was no one page that had all the standard needed information for my story, so each binder took about 30 to 45 minutes to sort through.
That said, one important correction: The Edge, which is proposed by Brooks and Henderson, will not include any mix of retail as featured by the Ellard and Wiggin.
Now, without any further delay, The Edge:
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Two thoughts: If I am reading this plan correctly, two sides of the block appear residential and two sides are parking, etc. So, what at the first rendering looked like LEVEL, with a four sided design really is not. While the residential floors look OK (as drawn), show us pictures of what the other sides would look like. I assume it’s 12th St. that gets the back side.
Also, as has been noted before, how can anyone have any sense of certainty that Henderson would build this as drawn, since he didn’t before? I see absolutely nothing at Legacy that makes me think he has any aesthetic or urban sense. He has the ghastly white “palm” texturing on upper floors at Legacy, as well as the extremely unappealing awnings on the ground floor with the names of the retail spaces emblazoned on them. It might be fine if you are a Michigan State or Celtics fan, but I don’t know who else would find that green and white appealing.
For what he did at Legacy, Mr. Henderson should be out of the running for the Mercy site, IMO.