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Monogram’s Developer Not Closing 17th Street Afterall

July 23, 2018 Featured, Planning & Design No Comments

A little over two years ago neighbors and myself were opposed to the proposed closure of a short section of 17th Street. The developer of the old CPI HQ, now called Monogram, wanted the city to give them 17th Street between Washington Ave & St. Charles St so they could connect two city blocks into a super-block.

Here are my posts from that time & issue:

We lost, the legislation passed so as work on converting the former office building into apartments we’ve been expecting St. Charles & 16th treets to get widened so they could become two-way — a requirement of closing 17th Street. In the last two years, however, something changed the developer’s mind about closing 17th Street.

The view from a neighbors balcony at 4:30pm in November 2009 — when CPI was still open and the lot was employee-only parking
2012 Entire block of surface parking east of CPI’s building shown in the background

For a few years after CPI closed anyone could park on the lot, but for a short time it became a pay lot. Once construction was set to begin a temporary chain link fence with locking gates was installed.

By May of 2017 lthe parking lot was filled nearly every day with construction workers’ vehicles.
In May of this year they trenched wiring to four new concrete bases for lights. It was at that point I didn’t think they’d widen 16th/St Charles to close 17th.
Then at the end of the last month the new fence posts going in confirmed the street changes would not happen.
By early this month a very attractive new fence was installed.
For years the lot have 4 drives — two on 16th, two on 17th. They fenced off two, leaving one per street. The remaining two got wide sliding gates.
A pedestrian gate is on Washington at 17th. Monogram residents who park here will walk across 17th — like we suggested in 2016.
On July 16th they began resurfacing the lot.
By closing half the in/out drives and not closing 17th/widening 16th/St Charles they get more total spaces than before.

I just wish the months-long battle over closing of 17th could’ve been avoided.

Thankfully the lighting is LEDs that face directory down, not out toward surrounding buildings. More outside lighting should be directed only where needed.

— Steve Patterson

 

 

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