A nice theater would do very well, sucks we are probably going to get stuck with another effin Hy-Vee
Its a damn grocery store.
Its a damn grocery store.
Big plans unveiled for Court Avenue District - theater, urban HyVee, etc.
- Thread starter capitalcityguy
- Start date
People living downtown want a grocery store and everybody that doesn't wants entertainment.
If you want population to live downtown you build a grocery store.
If you want population to live downtown you build a grocery store.
Well.:sad:
Who supports the downtown more? :spinny:The 2k live in :swoon
eople or the 30 k visitors?Except it's not just 2k. Population downtown is expected to be 10-15k in the next few years. For those of us that live downtown a grocery store within walking distance is a must. The parking ramp across the street from the proposed site is set to be the next development space on court. They can build a movie theater there.
Well.:sad:
Who supports the downtown more? :spinny:The 2k live in :swoon
I'd be willing to bet a good amount that the actual 8,000 residents of downtown Des Moines support downtown much, much more than the visitors who stop in for a drink every now and then.
Exactly, downtown is a neighborhood just like beaverdale and windsor heights ect. People that come there on saturday for the farmers market tend to forget that.
There are valid arguments on both sides in terms of use, but when it comes down to it...the Mandelbaum Properties proposal (movie theater) was a disaster. It wasn't even out of the pre-design and programming phase, while the other entries were already giving us a view of what the structure and space would generally look like. Their reference images were dated and of poor quality construction, and if you look at some of the proposed tenant spaces, it seems like they would be very difficult to fill with that specific use (unless they had tenants lined up...which I doubt). Jazz club?! Come on.
It's a good sign if Hy-Vee invests in your neighborhood, kind of like if Warren Buffet invests in your company. Growth of this kind is always a good thing and will only lead to other improvements happening down the road.
Well.:sad:
Who supports the downtown more? :spinny:The 2k live in :swoon
The 30k vistors that come downtown for 10 hours a year or the 10k who live their 24/7.
Having lived in urban settings for a decade, I'd choose the Hy-Vee in a heart beat, especially since they are envisioning it more as an urban grocery store than just a big box store. Frankly, if you live downtown, bars suck... And if the city wants people to live downtown, they need to make it livable. Hy-Vee will go a long way towards populating downtown and fueling growth. Theaters/bars etc only have hit and miss busy periods of customer traffic, and won't fuel economic growth around them. The Hy-Vee will make it much easier to live in the area, and will encourage other businesses to come up around them as there will be a more constant customer traffic flow. This was a smart recommendation.
I work downtown, I live in the suburbs, and I visit downtown about every weekend. I go downtown on the weekends to visit places that are not available in the suburbs. So bars, restaurants, civic center, farmers market, sporting events, etc.
The Hy-Vee wouldn't be for me it would be for the people that live down there.
The Hy-Vee wouldn't be for me it would be for the people that live down there.
...and without people living in downtown, you wouldn't see many of those unique attractions, as they wouldn't have a consumer base to keep them downtown.
At first I was disappointed with the Hy-Vee plan selection, I thought Hubbell had the best overall plan and was the most detailed. A couple of things have changed my attitude towards the Hy-Vee plan. They mentioned that they were going to look at fitting more residential units along 4th to help fill the block with more density which is a good thing. Secondly, they said that the architecture would be revised to fit in better with the historic nature of the area. While I think it's kind of lame to put a grocery store in what is supposed to be an entertainment district, there's not doubt that this could be a huge spark to further all kinds of additional development downtown.
I agree that the downtown needs a grocery store but this is a terrible location for one. 5th and Court are both low traffic, two lane roads with very little free (if any) parking. The location is also not very convenient for the majority of downtown residents who will be Western Gateway, MLK area, East Village. It will be a cluster to get in and out of that place, plus you are clogging 30k feet of prime real estate with a boring property. With the new large apartments complex South of MLK that would be a perfect place for a supermarket. It would have direct access to MLK which is basically the gateway to downtown and easy to hit from all areas of the downtown area. YOu could build it right on the street with an entrance and parking to the side so it would be an easy walk from Court Ave but also drivable.
I can't think of any other "Entertainment district" in the country that has a grocery store as it's primary anchor. There are plenty of places to put a grocery store, I just don't think this is the right one.
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