urbanMSP

It was called Parc Centrale. Not everyone was opposed to it- The Woman's Club across the street was supportive of the project.

Were they really? Because they hated this version I thought? I didn't remember that

@john:

The angled bumpouts in design development/early renders were designed to be "consistent" in the angle meaning that the squared off lower stone *was* in the same plane as the angle so that the whole piece angled. It made sense with the overall plan and the large, corner element which is also at an angle to the two main facades. I agree with you seeing it like this; I think the "square" stone bumpouts with the angles on top is a worse design.

This was probably a financial decision to "square off" the foundation wall to hold all of this up. If so, it is a pretty weak argument because there are STILL three walls to build for the bumpout, one of them would be angled. As an architect, I don't see the added cost but who knows...

My $.02.

There is nobody living in this building just yet - I can see this building and walk by it every day - no one is able to move in yet.

I will say tonight when I walked by - some of the upper floors have lights on - cabinets have been installed and they look really, really nice from the street - the floor to ceiling windows allow you to see in the upper units.

Some of the larger units on the back side are two level and have very nice staircases going to the loft level - with all the large windows in this building these units will be very, very nice!!

I really like the slightly changing angles of the building as it moves down the hill to Oak Grove. This wasn't apparent in the renderings. A nice detail that works well with the site. I'm looking forward to those rust bands cascading down the side by the corner. Will give it a lot of pizzaz!

Can you tell these were taken on different days?

Walking by the building the other night they have installed some lighting - both in front of the building alone Oak Grove Street - as well on the back side of the building where they built some kind of little sitting area for the residents - looks really nice and will add some security to the area with better lighting for sure.

an image from this evening -

^^^ I like the placement of the balconies on top of the rowhouses on the lower level along Oak Grove. Interesting detail of the building.

So are they going to reopen the sidewalks soon?

I think the sidewalk going up the hill is open - but the sidewalk in along Oak Grove is not open yet.

This looks better than the rendering and I always thought the rendering looked good.

The other day on my way to work, I think I was behind a truck that had the rust colored accent pieces that are in the rendering, but haven't shown up on the building...I hope so! Unlike a lot of folks, I don't love this one compared to the renderings...Something just seems clashy about it to me. Those accent pieces were one of the more intersting parts of the design, to me.

The accents are coming- if you look closely in the most recent pictures, you can see small hook-like protrusions form the building in the area where they will be going.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Good!

The other day on my way to work, I think I was behind a truck that had the rust colored accent pieces that are in the rendering, but haven't shown up on the building...I hope so! Unlike a lot of folks, I don't love this one compared to the renderings...Something just seems clashy about it to me. Those accent pieces were one of the more intersting parts of the design, to me.

I like the rust panels too. They kind of tie and frame the whole building together and give it some unique character.

They were installing a VUE sign today. When I first walked by, they were working on the 'E', but then later it was gone, so they must have had to take it down for some reason:

Loring Vue Apartments by MSPdude, on Flickr

Here is a closer shot of the signage - I really like the external lighting on this building - will look amazing this summer at night!

this is a very urbane building. a definite design winner from all the recent multi-housing developments.

I love this building. Very sharp and clean. In person it looks even better--has a very high end feel to it (which, of course, it should). I know it's always hard to predict, but I think it will age very well.