Sunday, January 30, 2011

2nd St. Ln.

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert asked me to study the potential of alley development in one of the city's downtown blocks. A newspaper account of the initial meeting with property owners and agencies is here.
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I had carried out a similar study for an adjacent block several years earlier for
Newtown Macon, a downtown revitalization group. That study is described here. Other priorities intervened, and that study was not developed. The block suggested by Mayor Reichert, however, immediately showed promise as having even more interesting and varied spatial character than that of the original block.

















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Alley entrance, 2nd St. Ln., at Cherry St. This alley is only 8 feet in width.
A small second-floor room attached to one of the buildings framing the alley
entrance is suggested as a gateway.
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Patina has its charm. On a limited scale, Macon has a tradition of placing storefronts and restaurant entrances in alleys.
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The advantages to doing so have increased since the migration of big-box retail stores to suburban malls. That is, with something like 200 feet from streetfront to alley, the depth of downtown buildings is much greater than is needed for specialty retail, restaurants and small establishments such as hair salons.
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If one of the old buildings is subdivided into two ground-floor businesses, one fronting on the street and the other on the alley, the retail space can be halved for each business. In the case of a building with its long side as well as its back fronting on alleys, much greater flexibility is possible, with small shops of twenty-foot width or even less all along the long side of the building.
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Alleys have unique aesthetic advantages. They are narrower than downtown streets. This evokes traits of European cities' narrow medieval streets, where perceptions are heightened by proximity to surfaces, storefronts and other people. Sights, sounds, smells of coffee and food preparation all build an experience that is likely to be superior to the routine pull-up-to-the-curb suburban shopping stop, and offer much greater social contact as well.
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Plan view. Brick paving, trees and shrubs indicated delineate the public amenities at the block's center.
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Since the establishment of suburban retail malls, tenants of downtown spaces are usually what can be called destination retail, places whose products are unique enough to cause a special trip to buy the things they have to offer. This is particularly true of an alley development, where a walk of a block or more may be necessary from a parking garage or street parking space. (Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter stories requires special knowledge to even gain admittance.)
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Bakeries, restaurants and pubs, art galleries, and wine shops are among the stores likely to find a good fit in an alley development. An urban bed and breakfast or small hotel can find a ready market amid the street life and bustle of the alley side of a downtown block.
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Above, viewed from higher level
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Below, eye level.
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Below, Cherry St. Ln. alley entrance at 2nd St.,
with suggested wrought-iron signage.
This alley, perpendicular to 2nd St. Ln., is 16 feet in width.
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Below, part of the existing block.



related links:

Old Pasadena

Michael Scott

New Urban Network

Note: All drawings and photos in this post are copyrighted and may not be reproduced or used without my written permission.

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting. Like the drawings/renderings alot.

    Mickey Jr.
    www.Mickeyashmore.com

    ReplyDelete