MeC2001

From Today's Stamford Advocate: http://www.stamforda...p#photo-1778200 Buildings are being proposed and built almost faster than I can keep up with. There has to be at least a dozen and a half buildings built, under construction, or proposed. It's pretty amazing!

I didn't see a project heading for this so I'm not sure if this is the best place to post, but: Downtown Stamford Hotel Project Denied Zoning Extension I think this would have been a nice project for downtown Stamford. With a company this well known in the area not to be able to secure an extension, the zoning board must have had some real questions about the developers ability / sincerity to move forward with this project, otherwise I would think it would be a slam-dunk! I wonder what happens now...

@Madvlad: Not to sound flip, but...you can have them! I hope the urban nature of this project will be awesome when it fills in, but the buildings themselves have been awful so far. (Which brings me to the next point.) @TVoR: I do care what the buildings look like on the outside because, while I agree with your point about interior spaces, the exterior materials, massing and detailing, in addition to the public spaces the buildings create, DO add to the vibrancy of a streetscape. While I do not think every building needs to scream for attention, quite the opposite actually, I do feel there needs to be care taken in the crafting of a facade. People may not be able to name five buildings, but they can tell a crappy one when they see it. BTW: I also agree with your point about large scale developments. It is my impression that one of two things (usually) happens: As you point out in Portland or Stamford, the developments often lack character. The second thing, as is happening in Norwalk, you put all your eggs in one basket and when that developer cant get anything off the ground, nothing happens. The three big developments in Norwalk have been in planning for more than twenty years, but nothing has come about. I feel if the city opened the redevelopment projects up to multiple developers you would not have to rely on a single entity raising $500 million or $1 billion dollars. That kind of money may be "easier" to get if you are Forest City, but the local guys...it doesn't seem to happen often. Who knows, if you open it up to more developers maybe there would end up being more character in the projects also.

There has been an awful lot of work done in the Harbor Point project area over the last few years and it looks like there may be three more buildings going up before long. The scale of this project is impressive, but I can't help but feel let down by the buildings themselves, sadly these renderings don't offer much hope that that will change. My link

I just got back from my first visit to Charlotte...there are, in my opinion, some very nice buildings downtown. I had no idea!

I know a story about Starwood relocating to Stamford appeared elsewhere, but, since they are moving to the Harbor Point area, I thought I would add this link here: http://www.bltoffice.com/press30.html (It's from the developers website and worth it to nose around a bit because they are involved with a bunch of stuff.) I don't know if this link has been posted yet:

If only I could be in Boston...