What do you think about the indoor mall? (Lenox: condos, tenants)

[erick295]

Originally Posted by ct36

I hope that Lenox is trying to do that now. I suppose they could have shoppes all the way up to Peachtree and then have spaces in between stores for the vehicle traffic to go. The only problem with that is that it would become pretty congested. Maybe they could block it off and have a new entrance to the left of it somehow.

I wish Perimeter would do the same. The area around there is becoming too dense to just have an enormous parking sea, especially since half of it doesn't even get used anymore since they built the garage next to the MARTA station. Hopefully they'll build something there when things start picking up again. It must be pretty valuable land.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by erick295

I wish Perimeter would do the same. The area around there is becoming too dense to just have an enormous parking sea, especially since half of it doesn't even get used anymore since they built the garage next to the MARTA station. Hopefully they'll build something there when things start picking up again. It must be pretty valuable land.

When it becomes valuable enough...they will.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Indoor malls are great.

However, my main objection is that most of them were built in the era when the style was to set them way back from the street in a sea of asphalt.

If they were pulled up to the street and had their parking in decks and/or underground, that would be a huge improvement. I believe Lenox and Phipps are moving in that direction, and hopefully other malls will do the same.

I haven't noticed anything like that yet. What's been done so far?

[brownhornet]

I dint care either way as long as I get what I'm looking for.

[erick295]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

I haven't noticed anything like that yet. What's been done so far?

I assumed he meant this.

[ATLTJL]

That won't do anything to eliminate the sea of asphalt the mall sits behind. It sounds like it just means there will be stores accessible from the outside instead of having to go into the mall first, but the actual structure is to remain where it has always been....behind the parking lot.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

That won't do anything to eliminate the sea of asphalt the mall sits behind. It sounds like it just means there will be stores accessible from the outside instead of having to go into the mall first, but the actual structure is to remain where it has always been....behind the parking lot.

Well, at least the sea of asphalt is a lot smaller than it used to be. You have to wonder what's in store for the two lots that front on Peachtree. That's gotta be some of the most valuable real estate in the city.

[ct36]

Lenox definitely needs more parking. On just about any Saturday night it takes 20 minutes to find a space, and the only ones are available are at the back near Bloomingdale's, which is really annoying because I almost always shop near Macy's/center court area most of the time. I still think they should just tear down the food court and build something nicer with some nicer but still kind of cheap sit down restaurants such as Chili's, Pei Wei, etc, but still having the traditional Chick-fil-A, etc.. I think that would do well in the mall considering how many people go there. Maybe more people would consider eating in the food court then, since I know that there are people who avoid it for it's disgusting looks. I have even heard a few people say that it looks like a food court in a mall in a third world country, which it probably does. I doubt many third world countries actually have malls, however.

edit: I made a plan and this is exactly how I hope it ends up. All stores would have entrances from the front and back if possible.

The middle part would only be sidewalk and you would not be able to drive through. It would connect to a sidewalk on the side of Peachtree. Hopefully this will make people walk around Buckhead more so that way people will be more used to other people walking around and such.

[bryantm3]

i hated what they did to the 'plaza' section of lenox, where you can see all the way to the first floor. there was some really cool modern design there, a lot of curved surfaces, and the wall with mirrors all over it near the ceiling that made it look so big, and the third floor had sort of a "street" feel to it, with the shops all coming out into the walkway, that made it feel less like a mall. their improvements? flatten all the curved surfaces, remove the mirrors and press the shops back into a plain row. boo.
before (winner of the 1980 engineering excellence award):
http://www.nannis.com/images/award_lenoxsquare.jpg (broken link)
08_Lenox_Square_1986_2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28235843@N00/670689129/ - broken link)
07_Lenox_Square_1986_1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28235843@N00/671546904/ - broken link)

after:

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ct36

edit: I made a plan and this is exactly how I hope it ends up. All stores would have entrances from the front and back if possible.

The middle part would only be sidewalk and you would not be able to drive through. It would connect to a sidewalk on the side of Peachtree. Hopefully this will make people walk around Buckhead more so that way people will be more used to other people walking around and such.

Lenox is in SPI-12 so any new developments will have to comply with that. Buildings will have to have a pedestrian facade on major streets and meet a number of other more urban criteria.

It seems to me they'd want to go with at least midrise structures in that area.