Sketches of the gated community scheduled for the corner of 4th Avenue and Monroe St. in Germantown are now on-line for public consumption.In other Germantown real estate gab, I am told that a 5-story building is going up at the corner of Jefferson St. and 5th Avenue, which will obviously have great views of Downtown. The 2-story Summer Street Lofts at Madison St. and 5th Avenue currently enjoy that view. So, if you bought a Summer Street Loft for the view, soak it in while you can, because apparently it will be replaced by the view of a 5-story tower across the street.
In what sense is it gated? All the buildings seem to open to the street. Perhaps a parking lot is gated rather than the 'community'?
ReplyDeleteI dealt with this question previously. While 4th and Monroe is not narrowly a gated community, it can be called a gated community in the broadest sense. Even a gated parking lot cuts the community off from the street and creates an insular feeling that can sometimes lead to a false sense of security in the absence of streetside integration.
ReplyDeleteA five story building is a "tower"?
ReplyDeleteRelative to the other two-story Germantown structures over which it towers, a five-story building in that location could be considered a "tower." As far as I can tell, there is no unequivocal definition of tower (although there is one that calls a structure taller than its diameter a "tower," which would make some two-story bungalows "towers," but bear in mind I don't advocate calling bungalows "towers"), and I hardly pushed it in a hard way.
ReplyDeleteI just think you need to be more careful in your language (I love your site and love what you're doing in general, especially politically), but in an urban environ, with a project that is going to front at least partially on a major boulevard (Jefferson St) five stories is pretty much ideal, and not a "tower"(being only 3 or 2 stories taller than other projects in the area) People that bought into the area expecting unobstructed views of the skyline are just out of luck. Skyline views are a bonus, while they last, and shouldn't be considered guaranteed or a right in a dynamically changing urban environment.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you are either reading too much meaning into my post or you are foisting a stronger meaning of "tower" than I intended. I am not married to the use of "tower" in any other manner than the idea that it will tower over other buildings in G-town (simply an observation). I didn't only refer to it as a tower, so I believe I should be given the benefit of the doubt.
ReplyDelete(Besides, as far as I can see "tower" is a relative term, depending on context and perspective; there is no generally agreed upon baseline for calling a building a tower that I've found, other than it should be taller than its diameter. And the fact that you do not unequivocally define it yourself indicates that the word is perspectival).
I've never argued that anyone in an urban neighborhood is guaranteed a skyline view. I merely said that the Summer Street residents should enjoy the view while they can because they are evidently going to lose it. I didn't appeal to rights language by any means.
Cool, I'm not trying to be a pain, or win an argument, I just think you need to be careful with your words. I'm an UP an NC devotee, so when you throw designations around like 'tower' and 'gated community', I think you have to be more thorough and stringent with your meaning and usage. There might not be a consensus for the meaning of 'tower' but a five story building comes no where close to most people's definition of the word. 'Tower' connotes high-rise, and 5 stories is somewhere in the middle of the parameters for mid-rise.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I think it's pretty appropriate to call a 5-story building in Germantown a TOWER, since it will be more than twice the height of 99% of the neighborhood. I'm not saying it's a bad thing since Jefferson St will need to become a denser corridor in the future, but I think arguing about what to call a 5-story building in a sea of 1-2 story structures is misguided.
ReplyDelete