Awesome news. Plain, a bit fugly, but highly functional in a great location.
Question for the crew:
Is it an impossibility given current planning regulations and building practices to build "nicer" main floors when attempting retail? Almost all new developments with pedestrian-oriented retail go with these large, high-ceiling, cold, glassy looks, with little - if any - attention to the ground floor. All floorplates are ginormous, nearly all sit vacant for a good while.
Reminds me a lot of this
Strong Towns article which suggest recent retail space failures on the mismatching of motives (e.g. I only care about the residential units, the planning office forced me to have retail) and only interested in a chain tenant, which are hard to attract but worth the wait.
Any thoughts? It isn't this development in particular - most of our new towers with retail have this same style.