ihatejohntravolta (Anonymous) says: cool (Anonymous) says: ECM is not part of the proposed redevelopment at this time. where did this story come from ?

cool, fritzel has attended board meetings for the ECM to propose this development. he instigated this.

Tom Fritzel told me this morning in a meeting with LAN that he had not gone to ECM that they had approached him.

--- well, then tom fritzel is lying to you.

WHO is this ding-ding ?

hawkperchedatriverfront (Anonymous) says: But where is the neighborhood commercial area now in the area? NONE! What neighborhood commercial would you want? Do put any in, there would have to be rezoning which would only be fought by the likes of cool and gang:..

I say, bulldoze the whole side of the hill, east west, north and south and rebuild something really interesting. Time for God to strike his/her wrath with mother nature. This fixation of saving these old "historic"houses has gone beyond common sense!

NO ONE has mentioned saving the houses as a reason to stop the hotel/condo block. Mount Oread Historic Trust has mentioned that the new proposal has less retail & commercial space than the total of the existing buildings being removed from the site.

But where is the neighborhood commercial area now in the area? NONE! What neighborhood commercial would you want? Do put any in, there would have to be rezoning which would only be fought by the likes of cool and gang.....

I say, bulldoze the whole side of the hill, east west, north and south and rebuild something really interesting. Time for God to strike his/her wrath with mother nature. This fixation of saving these old "historic"houses has gone beyond common sense!

Where the hell is the voice of ONE so-called community leader or elected official in Douglas County, in regard to this patently vulgar whites-only hotel / condo / bar proposal? I note that State Senator Francisco has signed off on it quite publicly, ostensibly on behalf of her KU bosses. But where are our political leaders hiding, when such a destructive project is being shopped around for public subsidies, for private profit?

There's not even a single square foot of neighborhood commercial space proposed for this sorry structure -- supported by the Oread Neighborhood Association? It's all about wealthy absentee KU alumni -- and the corporate pirates they swing with.

Lawrence is a community that is in a very sharp economic and cultural decline. There's no better evidence of this fact than the range of scandals and scams emanating from 'city hall' and their private clients -- and the absolute silence of the sorry pack of losers we've all elected to public office in Douglas County.

All deals should be off and all plans halted until a thorough investigation of Hack and the Deciphera deal has been completed.

It seems certain Hack is not the only corrupt apple on the city commission.

I do not trust these commissioners with Lawrence's planning, laws or money.

Recall Hack, and investigate the others too.

Garden City ? well "at least you can smell the money there ! " a favorite quote of my late great uncle Art Parrish from Garden City by the way.

so are planning on buying a condo in the hotel ?

Cool indicates he never worked on a GAP store in Denver. If I implied that, I apologize.

I know his GAP store was in that enclave of Colorado normality:... elitist Aspen. http://www.ecologicalarch.com/projects.p:

Cool probably fits in quite well in Lawrence, on second thought.

But if you get tired of the traffic, Cool, Garden City would welcome you. But a warning: the water and the electrical generation is much cleaner than you are used to in Colorado or Lawrence.

ihatejohntravolta (Anonymous) says: cool (Anonymous) says: ECM is not part of the proposed redevelopment at this time. where did this story come from ?

cool, fritzel has attended board meetings for the ECM to propose this development. he instigated this.

Tom Fritzel told me this morning in a meeting with LAN that he had not gone to ECM that they had approached him.

its_getting_warmer (Anonymous) says:

oops warm brain --- never worked on a GAP in Denver, so sorry.

Fritzel only plans two retail spaces in the HOTEL/CONDO block one about 1000 sq. ft. one 1800 sq. ft. both too small for GAP maybe you should talk to the Fritzels....about your suggestions.

cool (Anonymous) says: ECM is not part of the proposed redevelopment at this time. where did this story come from ?

cool, fritzel has attended board meetings for the ECM to propose this development. he instigated this.

Cool, the elitist Aspen architect, who has done little professionally other than build Denver sprawl and GAP stores, now tells Lawrence how to do it right.

http://www.ecologicalarch.com/projects.php

Maybe we should have a GAP store in the new hotel?

what about the new fire station at 19th & Iowa?

max1 (Anonymous) says: it is against the guidelines of the hysterical resources commission. Futuristic architecture is forbidden in the core of the city, and don't expect any futuristic architecture going up in Lawrence anywhere, because the kind of crap our braindead architects design for the city's outskirts, where there are no limits to a building's appearance, still looks like this: http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2006/aug/:

MAX 1: they may have had density but not this heighth !

the site of Yellow Sub & Crossing was CNI 35 ft/, neighborhood commercial the remainder of the 3/4 acre hotel was RM32 , 45ft. ht. ,now changed to high rise commercial and 95 ft. tall.

"Does anyone really Consider this a residential neighborhood size hotel?"

http://www.lawrenceks.org/EServFiles/2001Minutes/072401.html Furthermore, most of the Oread neighborhood was zoned RD (Residential Dormitory) per the City of Lawrence Zoning Ordinance which allowed the highest density residential uses in the City.

"It has never responded to height, scale or massing issues in a historic neighborhood" -cool

http://www2.ljworld.com/onthestreet/2007/nov/09/mos_wine/

good news ?

would FREESTATE add a location ?

parking garage is 200 spaces on 4 levels.

old zoning was CNI (neighborhood commercial) & RM32 medium density residential. with 35 and 45 ft. height limits respectively.

new zoning is PCD2 95 feet high above 12th, taller on north site boundary.

land area .749 acres / 32,604 sq. ft.

parking required 167 / provided is 200 bicycle rack required 5, provided 10 bikes (2 racks).

TIF funding will pay for approximate $6million garage. NO cost to city since owner is placing BOND for project financing etc. i cannot explain TIF / tax collection consequences.

The top two full floors of condo remain as proposed. really there has been no response to the expressed concerns about this building by HRC. It has never responded to height, scale or massing issues in a historic neighborhood -- and remains essentially as Originally proposed, actually with a larger footprint to the north.

The room count has gone up to now approximately 92 or more rooms and an indeterminate number of condos on the two upper floors - the submittal indicates 14 condominiums....

The building is now 238 feet in length facing Indiana. and as before 95 ft tall above 12th. Does anyone really Consider this a residential neighborhood size hotel ?

The parking garage and hotel together actually total 216,000 sq. ft. This is the size of TWO WAL-MARTS ! But at 12th & Oread ? It's big folks!

"It's not zoned single family, so registration is not required." -just_another_bozo_on_this_bus

Oh, I see -- not yet anyway.

"how about redesigning the HOTEL to be more modern?" -cool

You of all people should know the answer to that -- it is against the guidelines of the hysterical resources commission. Futuristic architecture is forbidden in the core of the city, and don't expect any futuristic architecture going up in Lawrence anywhere, because the kind of crap our braindead architects design for the city's outskirts, where there are no limits to a building's appearance, still looks like this: http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2006/a...

"does Candace Davis plan to have Thad register his rental units in the basement?" -hawkperchedatriverfront "It's not zoned single family, so registration is not required." -just_another_bozo_on_this_bus

Who said the proposed inspections were limited to "single family" zoning? There are entire stretches of the Oread Neighborhood that are zoned, commercial-residential dormitory. The zoning for the house shown in this picture is commercial-residential dormitory: http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2007/mar/24/119956/ Candice Davis, Lawrence, is lobbying for a new rental registration program in the city. Davis, a landlord and member of the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods, believes a rental registration program could have saved an Oread Neighborhood house like the one behind Davis at 1019 Ky., for which a demolition permit is being sought.

http://www.lawrenceks.org/EServFiles/2001Minutes/072401.html Furthermore, most of the Oread neighborhood was zoned RD (Residential Dormitory) per the City of Lawrence Zoning Ordinance which allowed the highest density residential uses in the City.

Bowhunter99:

"is it your property? no...so stop using the word 'we", 'us', ect when it comes to it. Mind your own business.

Well, Bowhunter99, its like this. I live near the project with in 250 feet. I'm, going to make it my business to stop this project one way or another. Fritz co, any of the investors, Marci Francisco, ONA, City Commission or planning crooks that are supporting the hotel project, are people of interest who should be investigated for coruption. However, their doing a really good job of defeating themself. Lol.

"does Candace Davis plan to have Thad register his rental units in the basement?"

It's not zoned single family, so registration is not required.

"However, it has been a defunct operation for decades."

What does that mean?

"The noise ordinance is not enforced at that place when parties occur."

Yea, they really throw some wild parties up there.

the ECM content of this story is in a way a distraction from the main issues of the HOTEL & CONDO block. it is really not a tower.

the community should ask rather:

is it too large and too much parking for this site & intersection ? since it did not meet HRC requirements should the design as proposed even continue to receive approvals ? or be built without being down-sized ? approximately 100 hotel rooms plus two floors of condominiums ?

THE TIF is also a distraction from the real issues of fitting appropriately to the site and neighborhood.

ECM is not part of the proposed redevelopment at this time.

where did this story come from ?

Who really cares about whether there is a hotel or not and as far as ECM, does Candace Davis plan to have Thad register his rental units in the basement?

This whole thing is out of control and all because there are no leaders in the community. People with real money would just step in a pay to remodel ECM. However, it has been a defunct operation for decades. The noise ordinance is not enforced at that place when parties occur.

As for the design of the hotel, I have always been amazed that such an ugly design did result. This town is hung up on buildings looking like civil war relics. Could God strike this place just once with a tornado. Quantrill could never do what mother nature could do in one hour.

Looks like "Don Corleone" Fritzel is at it again.....the Fritzel gang needs to be stopped. They are wreaking havoc all over town - trying to take the downtown post office site for their public/private new library proposal (looks to be dead for now, mercifully), running out Yellow Sub for a hotel project that isn't economically feasible (supposedly) without a tax break, now this. Lawrence citizens need to flood the city commission with complaints about how heavy-handed the Fritzel's are. Oh, and not to forget, they had all of that blasting done two years ago near Monterey and Stetson so they could develop the next phase of Fall Creek Farms (grand total of 1 house started in two years), after that I had to pay $12,000 this summer to fix my foundation, and three neighbors nearest the blasting had to replace their sewer connections, which had all mysteriously collapsed. There are also driveways buckling and heaving (even Stetson Drive itself in one spot) all up and down Stetson Drive, all of which happened within 18 months of the (unnecessary) blasting. Coincidence - I think not. That 12k I spent came right out of my pocket and went straight into Gene Fritzel's in the form of the $$$ he saved by blasting rather than breaking the rock manually. Makes perfect sense - he's a mutimillionaire and I am just a wage-earner.

I was "in his way" - and so are the downtown post office, Yellow Sub, ECM, a piece of a downtown parking lot that they "needed" for one of their buildings they were renovating, and who knows what else. This is just disgusting the way our city commission bows down to the Fritzel's - it is so bad, even Dolph Simons and the LJW have editorialized aginst their plans. Now that is something.

What I want to know is, what kind of hidden economic interest do any of our city commissioners have in any of the Fritzel companies? How about looking into that, LJW?

No that will not effect it!

All of you complainers should buy out the project, then YOU will be the owner and will be able to build what you would like!

cool (Anonymous) says:

how about redesigning the HOTEL to be more modern ?

Let me get this straight.

First you don't want the hotel because it would ruin the historic environs and now you would like the hotel to look more modern? It sounds to me like you're changing your stance on this whole area.

how about redesigning the HOTEL to be more modern ?

maybe that is a way to make the hotel look better. ECM is harmless.

ECM is not the 800 lb gorilla ! it is a relatively small harmless building.

hey hey hey instead of Gidieon Bibles in the hotel rooms maybe ECM could be part owner of the hotel as part of the negotiation ?

the top floor ? owned by ECM ? providing a permanent revenue stream for ECM as just compensation ?

The ECM doesn't fit with the Hotels architecture? Perhaps they should have matched the hotel to the ECM... it was there first...

are they going to tear down all the homes and apartments around the hotel too because it doesn't match?? The Union problably won't match either, best tear that down too...