In April 2008, Mills Group demolished the mid-century Doctors Building at Euclid and West Pine the Central West End. An under-appreciated modernist gem fell for a supposed "Citywalk" -- a mixed-use building with residential condominiums and street-level retail. Although located in a preservation review district, the building's demolition was approved by the Cultural Resources Office without a Preservation Board hearing. Fans of urban infill like the Park East Tower and Nine North Euclid down the street rejoiced.
Now, two years later, the site is a vacant lot with a pre-Softball Village condition. Crushed pieces of the Doctors Building are still strewn about the site. In September 2009, Mills announced that a part of Department of Housing and Urban Development financing had fallen into place, but there has been no news since then.In some instances, the call for preservation may rightly be called an impediment to some developer's ready-to-build plan. In the case of the Doctor's Building, it was not so.
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2 comments:
I wonder if lending institutions contribute to the lack of creativity in new development. If I owned the Doctors Buildings, I'd have wanted to keep it and build around it. Would the banks have allowed me? If not, why not?
I hope the pro-lifers aren't holding things up by trying to get the site declared a Native-American-style "sacred ground." (The Doc Ors Building--it was missing a T for years--contained a much-picketed abortion clinic.)
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