District: Warehouse District - Full Control
Owner: 739 Convention Center Blvd LLC
HDLC Staff: Dennis Murphy
Rating: Unrated
Applicant: Verges Rome Architects
Permit #: 22-20109-HDLC
Description: New construction of an 18,000 SF three-story hotel building on a vacant lot.
Previous ARC Recommendations:
07/19/2022: The ARC voted to defer this application for additional review. The ARC also agreed that:
Many of the proposed exterior elements seem to be historically inspired, however, the building is new construction with modern requirements such as a 14’-0” first-floor FTC height which may be generally incompatible with historic proportions and detailing.
The retail entry on Convention Center appears to be crowded by the adjacent ramps. The exterior ramps are distracting and complicated and the applicant should further study if some or all of these can be incorporated at the interior of the building, such as by consolidating access to a single point of entry for the building.
The applicant should further refine the relationship of windows to doors, especially at the rear on Fulton Street, such as by adding a double transom above the trash doors.
There is a large portion of wall on the Notre Dame side that is blank and additional window openings should be added.
Windows are shown as floor-to-ceiling, but additional detail information should be included such as window types, mullions, where doors are proposed for balcony access, etc.
More information on the proposed balcony divider panels should be submitted.
The proportions of the cornice appear to be off relative to the floors below and the tripartite condition should be further refined such that each band has its own dimensions.
The applicant should reconsider the use of brackets at the underside of the balconies if they will be cantilever-supported. Additionally, the applicant should consider eliminating the continuous wrap-around balcony condition to help reduce the horizontality of the façade.
Additional perspective and aerial views of the building massing should be provided for the next review including elements at the rooftop such as elevator over-rides, HVAC equipment and other permanent amenities to better understand their visibility from the surrounding streets. Overhead lines on the roof plan should also be made darker for clarity.