Legacy Condominiums - 121 12th Ave S (187' - 17 Stories)

[uncle phil]

So this lines up perfectly with Stone Arch from the 10th Ave Bridge. There's now 1 line to the Guthrie of condos. It's really cool. I can't wait to see MS, UofMn, Red Cross and Padilla to band together to build one tower.

Should be something else coming quite soon...

Where — in this vacinity? The (now-under-utilized) block at 11th & Washington?

I was referring to the just announced Eleven condo project...

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[bapster2006]

200 units (53%) sold. Not bad for still under construction. Demonstrates the strong demand for condos downtown. Of course, in a few years some of those units won’t have the same view.

[ko123]

I think it's deceiving looking at the Eleven site plan. The tower itself is quite slender and won't obstruct views like the base footprint suggests.

[jtoemke]

200 units (53%) sold. Not bad for still under construction. Demonstrates the strong demand for condos downtown. Of course, in a few years some of those units won’t have the same view.

I feel like a developer that could get units down to a starting price point between 250-300k would sell out at a ridiculous pace. I mean looking at pro-formas of other buildings, its not impossible. Nice-ish units in apartment buildings can be around 150k per unit at build. A 200k construction sold for 250k seems like a good deal to me.

Do you feel like the liability laws are more of what is holding this back? I wasn't old enough to have paid attention during the last condo boom to know what units were going for back then.

[Silophant]

They would absolutely sell like hotcakes in that price range. Apparently the liability laws have been holding them back, but they were changed last year. That hadn't seemed to have much of an effect, but now there's three condo projects at the Planning Commission CoW this week, so maybe that's the tide starting to turn.

[bapster2006]

Yeah, I have thought that many times, that if even 20% of a tower were in the $250,000 range that they would sell practically overnight. I think if they made it a volume deal they could put up a big building and make it worth it.

[alexschief]

Views of this project from Gold Medal Park (with the sky intentionally blown out so you can see the buildings better) and from 2nd Street. As many others have remarked, this is a huge, dark building. You absolutely feel that up close. But I think when you're further away, it actually makes less of an impression than you expect, probably because the massing is broken up into several clumps. It's hard to get a single view of the whole scale of the thing, and the view from the top of the park is actually fairly engaging and not overwhelming at all.

[transplant]

These couple of blocks of Stanton projects should be referred to as the black hole. With the composition of the two "towers" it should have been a no-brainer to treat them a little different. This is just oppressive. The tan brick looks like someone spilled some paint over the roof and it dripped down it is so measly. I love black and grey and use them a lot but they are most successful when they can play off of another color.

[bapster2006]

I have thought the same thing many times as I drive by that area, “Was there a sale on black glass?” because all those buildings have that same color. Eleven will look like a giant white phallus sticking out from all those short black buildings.

[transplant]

All I can think of is that the Architect lacks imagination or agreed to do the projects at cutthroat fees which he could only do if he reused all the design and details from the Bridgewater. Either scenario is sad.

[5th Ave Guy]

I think you can chalk that up to the fact that no one else was willing to compete with him. When you're the only one in the city building condos, you're probably going to save some money on exterior design.

[SurlyLHT]

Portland Towers isn't very attractive either. Maybe this was just Stanton's taste in design?

[EOst]

Considering Stanton planned something called "The Eclipse" that looked like this--



It may have just been his taste.

[transplant]

Maybe - but he used the same architect for all of those projects. I think they had a formula and didn't deviate from it. In any case, history will not judge this aesthetic kindly and it is too bad we have so much of it clustered in an otherwise very architecturally dynamic neighborhood.

[Silophant]

It's... fine? Remember, in the 1920s everyone hated brownstones.

[downtowndweller]

I think we need to give Stanton more credit. His buildings aren't 'iconic' but they often fit in well with the neighborhood with reasonably priced floorplans (I understand reasonable is subjective.) Without his significant development in the Mill District and North Loop, I'd be surprised if either neighborhood would be what they are today. Especially since, until recently, he was the only one building condos in a apartment heavy market.

[VacantLuxuries]

Without his significant development in the Mill District and North Loop, I'd be surprised if either neighborhood would be what they are today. Especially since, until recently, he was the only one building condos in a apartment heavy market.

Yeah, count me in on the side of bringing more people downtown and making the street level a better place to spend time. Stanton proved the value, and opened the door for others to one-up his efforts.

[transplant]

Don't get me wrong - I am glad Stanton built these and I recognize the value he has brought to the city. I happen to own a Stanton built unit built before the bust. However, I know these could have been built for the same price and value without being all the same and black. It am more lamenting the sameness of them all which I think is a critique of the architect and not the developer. That problem is especially noticeable now that Legacy is built; it was easier to overlook before when it was less prevalent.

[Didier]

When pointed out these buildings are pretty black, but in context with the city I've actually noticed that they're dark or similar looking. Everything could always be better, but at the end of the day this doesn't feel like a negative quality, just an observable quality.

[VacantLuxuries]

I personally think they're cool and they're a nice contrast in a skyline heavy with shades of beige.