Downtown's New Buildings

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Despite its unfinished state, Zaragon Place already has venomous critics on the local blogs. Jon Zemke describes it on Metromode as “a plain brick box to store university students,” while Parking Structure Dude on Arbor Update makes the ultimate invidious comparison—“Zaragon Place makes Corner House Lofts look like the Dakota.”

Beckley agrees with Parking Structure Dude’s basic outlook—“It looks like it’ll share a lot of the qualities of Corner House Lofts”—though, he hedges, “it’s a little too early to tell.” Luckenbach is uncharacteristically sanguine but for a reason: “Neumann/Smith [the firm that designed Zaragon Place] is well respected and Joel Smith is a friend of mine, so I have hopes for it.”

Judging from what he’s seen, Rueter is quite positive: “It’s got a strong base [and] an interesting top, and the masonry block has strong feeling to it.” Like Metromode’s Zemke, though, Rueter says he was “sad to see the old building go.”

Across campus, Rueter has qualified hopes for 4 Eleven Lofts: “The base is too weak, though the middle is kind of nice and it does have nicely sized windows.” However, he takes issue with the street frontage: “[City planner] Jeff Kahan wanted to see retail right on the street, but I’d like to see a ten-foot setback.”