This retail is the placemaking program for a neighborhood underserved by street level food and beverage retail. The paseo is likely to become a destination location for sports fans and visitors attending games in the nearby stadium.
The open space motor court and residential lobby are a link in a 3-block-long mid-block connection that stretches from Romare Bearden Park in the north to a city parking resource in the block to the south. The lobby hyphen manages a 16-foot level change between the south and north sides of the building with a public stair on the north side connecting down to the West 1st Street level.
The redevelopment of the former Duke Energy Headquarters building is more than the conversion of a 1 million sf of office into 440 units and 70,000 sf of retail and residential amenities. It is the complete urban transformation of an important city block.
The brutalist Duke Energy building repelled any interaction with the pedestrian life of the street. With the demolition of the office podium and the construction of a retail pavilion in the vacated corner, an east/west paseo and a hospitality-style motor court are formed that offer access to an open, retail-oriented ground floor.
