[Rendering] La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant to replace Silver Grill

Sign up now to get our Daily Breaking News Alerts

Opt out at anytime

Mexican joint files permit to build an addition to Midtown space.

The Silver Grill space in Midtown is getting a new look and a new restaurant tenant.

La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant, which will replace the Silver Grill, filed a permit with City of Atlanta last week to renovate the Midtown space, at 900 Monroe Avenue, and to also add some additional square footage.

Currently, the Silver Grill is 1,219 square feet. La Hacienda will add an additional 862 square feet, according to the permit. The total square footage of the new Mexican restaurant will be 2,081 square feet.

La Hacienda will spend an estimated $100,000 for the renovations and additions to its new Midtown store.

This will be La Hacienda’s third location. The Mexican restaurant has a location in Peachtree City and one in Newnan, according to its website.

La Hacienda was not immediately available for comment.

 

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

34 Responses

    1. hi td, thanks for your question. my guess is spring but we don’t know. for future refrence, if we don’t specify opening dates in the article, we probably don’t have that intel.

      –cjs

  1. $hitty Mexican coming to midtown!? This is a first! Wow, this is such a great thing for a city that needs a low quality restaurant full of unhealthy options!

  2. I used to go to the old silver grill just about every week…oh well, times change. Will be interesting to see the new restaurant.

  3. Gotta agree with Urbanist on this one. This is pretty dreadful. When was it that Midtown started getting imports from Newnan and Peachtree City?

  4. Well that’s one way to look at it. How bout:

    -Business owner spending $100,000 to expand local restaurant chain
    or
    -Bank commits financing to midtown restaurant project.
    or
    -Empty retail space near park gets new tenant.

    Who cares that it MIGHT turn out to be average Mexican food. If you complain about the expansion of a local business, you have your head in your arse.

  5. Silver Grill was such a great place to grab vegetable plates — I guess if that’s what the people wanted it would still be there. As an aside, when I moved to Midtown in 1985, Silver Grill was friendly to “alternative lifestyles” way before it was fashionable or even respectable to do so. I helped me realize that if some country folks could learn to be more tolerant, I could too.

  6. JM, I could not agree with you more. While I’m not doing back-flips over more affordable Mexican food in the area, I’m glad to see a local business expanding and will at least stop by to give it a shot. I guess some folks would rather have the former Silver Grill restaurant building continue to rot and sprout weeds and grafitti, right next to Grady High and so close to both a source of civic pride in Piedmont Park and a source of civic concern in the crime-ridden area of Boulevard??

  7. I studied Economics in undergrad and work in corporate finance. So, to answer your question: Yes.

    What you are talking about is the opportunity cost of putting in a mexican restaurant versus a hot new dining concept.

    What I am talking about is the owner who decided to allocate capital to a business because he felt the opportunity cost of [not expanding in the suburbs, not investing in the stock market, not buying a new Porsche] was small enough to justify opening the restaurant.

    If this was a Chili’s taking the space instead of some James Beard winner, you would have a point. But I will take crappy mexican food over an empty storefront any day.

  8. Congrats on your remedial degree from GSU, and on being a back office pencil pusher. You might want to understand what “opportunity cost” means, before you try to argue about it too.

    What I’m talking about is the opportunity cost of having a crappy, chain Mexican place sitting in a great location, and therefore preventing anything worthwhile from being in that space for years to come. The opportunity cost to the city is large.

  9. The vitriol you spew here isn’t indicative of somebody with an education or a position of power, so I’d be happy to compare CV’s anytime.

    That being said, perhaps you should re-read the second line of the post instead of attacking like an insolent child?

  10. Kid, you’ve gotta be kidding. You’re trying to impress us with Econ 101? And you think an empty building is better than a $100K investment by a local business?

    “…therefore preventing anything worthwhile from being in that space for years to come. The opportunity cost to the city is large”

    What kind of centrally planned, socialist world do you dream of, eh comrade? If this place is so crappy as you assume, it won’t turn a profit and it won’t last. So, the building will be $100K nicer for the next tenant, and in the mean time the neighborhood won’t have an empty building for vandals, crackheads and the like to gather around.

    Who knows, maybe the next tenant will use molecular gastronomy or something and you’ll happily overpay. But grow up kid, just because you don’t like the restaurant doesn’t make it bad for the city. And what’s with people now deriding any place with more than 1 location as a chain, as if that’s a bad thing? Local folks selling food to local folks and re-investing their profits to grow in the community, and hire more local folks to sell more food to local folks…sounds like the good part of capitalism to me. Screw your snobby attitude, people need jobs, Atlanta needs tax revenue and cheers to any entrepreneur with the stones to invest in this economic climate.

  11. Urbanist-

    Thanks for the lesson on opportunity cost. However, you must have been too distracted by your professor’s garish fashion sense to learn one of the basic maxims of economics: De gustibus non disputandum est. Google it. Whatever opportunity cost you are speaking of isn’t economic.

  12. @ Morningsider – You’re right. It’s not that the building is bad for the city. After all, I’m sure there was some thought/planning/analysis on behalf of the new owners that determined that their low-quality, repetitive, chain concept would do well in Atlanta. Forgive me; I get tired of the exhaustive realization that Atlanta just doesn’t have a taste for creativity, style, design, architecture, density, diversity, or any of the other dynamic elements that make great cities great. I see glimmer’s of hope every now and then, which makes me feel like there are people in this city who want to see the city grow up and turn into a real urban landscape, rather than wither into a fragmented expanse of chain restaurants, burger joints, and garden apartments. However, that’s just not reality. There may be a few, but they are far outnumbered by the people who are just happy with Atlanta holding such distinguished titles such as “one of the worst housing market in the country”, “one of the country’s least walkable cities”, etc. I spend a lot of time working with developers who develop high-density residential projects all over the world, and when we talk about Atlanta, I am consistently told that Atlanta is the perfect template for “how not to build a city”…guess those people are just all kooks. Maybe they should go back to GSU and study some economics so they understand opportunity cost, and spew out latin phrases.

  13. But if someone wanted that space for “anything worthwhile,” wouldn’t they have snatched it up a long time ago?

    That space isn’t walkable from transit other than the #99 or #36 bus (and people in this city who can afford “nice” restaurants just plain will not ride a bus), so it’s not some high-visibility, highly valuable space going to waste on a tired concept. I’m as surprised as anyone that there seems to be a bottomless demand for Mexican(esque) food here, but this sounds a lot more good than bad to me. When there’s a streetcar down 10th street, 50 years from now, what goes in that spot will matter a lot more.

  14. @Urbanist

    When I first started coming to this site, I enjoyed your commentary. It was nice to see someone concerned with the urban fabric of the city. Hoping for it to be a better place, and to improve on the great things it does have. But as time wore on, you have come nothing but a whiner. No matter the proposal, the design, or business concept you knock it. You call yourself an urbanist, but any true urbanist knows that a real city, a city in the truest of senses is made up of failures and successes. It is this combination of them, and the trial and error process that helps define an area, and allows it to be a unique and vibrant atmosphere, rather than a homogenous planned area that is in someone’s “idealistic vision.” You can throw out whatever term you learned in whatever real estate or business class you took, but anyone who knows how a city develops knows it isnt done through textbook application processes learned in undergrad school, i.e. Jane Jacobs.

    This restaurant may not be the best choice for the city or the neighborhood. But given the economic climate there arent many business willing to take any risks. So we are left with two options. Let this place expand, or have yet another dying plot of land siting vacant. You know, the same ones that dot the areas east and west of midtown, and Lindbergh. Instead we get something that will generate activity and wont be a place for squatters. And as the economy improves, the clients will determine if it lives or dies. If it lives, it had to be for a reason beyond your own person distaste for the establishment. If it fails, then it at least acted as a place holder until something better came along. And the latter is exactly how all cities develop. Through the trial and error process. You speak of the lack of creativity in this city then where is yours. You dont like the restaurants, but you wont open your own. You dont like the ratio of condos vs. apartments but you wont build any apartments. You dont like the design proposal of a certain building yet you offer no alternative. You dont like homogeneous developments such as Atlantic Station, but you scream for more mega block buildings. You are a backseat driver biding time until you move to a new location, which as I said before, if is anything other than the big 5 you will find yourself complaining just as you do now within 12 months.

    You can toot your own horn about who you do and dont work for, but regardless most of your information is nothing more than unsubstantiated drivel. “Atlanta is one of the least walkable cities”: Yet it ranks ahead (and in the top 60%) of Charlotte, Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Austin, Raleigh, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, and many more. You say that so many of the developers you work with say that Atlanta is how you do not build a city: yet sprawl, density, and pollution, are most often worse in so many other cities that you undoubetdly think are better. In fact Atlanta’s population density is higher than Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Denver, and nearly equal to that of Portland’s. Atlanta does rank very poorly in home values, but the numbers and studies never separate Atlanta from its suburban areas, and any person of real intelligence would be able to dig into those numbers and see that it is the burbs dragging down the city.

    I want to see this city succeed and improve just as much as anyone else, and complacency is the fastest way to mediocrity. But not being able to discern fact from opinion, while not being able to realize the challenges that every city is facing right now is just plain ignorant and short sighted. “Idealism” is a sure shot way for failure. And your critique over an unused plot of land as a restaurant that you personally dont favor is a huge misallocation of resources and intelligence. Would you rather that a prime piece of real estate sit vacant, acting as an eyesore and problem spot for an otherwise good, or up and coming neighborhood like the Skyline at Lindbergh, all for the sake of idealism? Or would we rather at least have a place holder at the minimum until the natural course of a city decides its fate and role in the urban fabric?

  15. @ BC –

    “a city in the truest of senses is made up of failures and successes”

    Yes, it is. Unfortunately the former far outnumber the latter in Atlanta, so much so, that the latter are almost unrecognizable.

    “anyone who knows how a city develops knows it isnt done through textbook application processes”

    Oh, you mean like all those fancy master planned communities around this city? The same ones that I’ve railed against in an article on here, and in plenty of commentary? Thanks for recognizing that.

    “You speak of the lack of creativity in this city then where is yours”

    Mine is vested and exercised with people who have equally innovative ambitions – which is to say, not in Atlanta.

    “You dont like the restaurants, but you wont open your own”

    No, I’m not a restauranteur. That would just be stupid. However, I have attempted, twice now, to open a new form of cocktail lounge – both times to have the concept declined because (i) one landlord didn’t want to be associated with a “bar”, as he thought is wasn’t morally sound enough and (ii) the other landlord didn’t like the concept, although he never could articulate why.

    “You dont like the ratio of condos vs. apartments but you wont build any apartments”

    I gladly would, except for the fact that the land isn’t available, where the type of apartments that this city needs would be viable. It’s also not that there actually isn’t land, it’s that it’s not available at a price that would facilitate accretive development, without a subsidy of some sort. Of course, I’ve also advocated in numerous places that this is an inititative the city should take – i.e. purchasing land from parking lot operators, etc. then re-selling that land to developers for infill, urban mixed use (i.e. rental housing + ground floor retail), in the core of the city (effectively subsidizing the land purchases, in return for more tax $’s down the road).

    “You dont like the design proposal of a certain building yet you offer no alternative”

    Yes, I have – that alternative is to not grant building permits to a signle developer (Novare) who monopolizes the skyline, unless they start bringing some decent aesthetics to the table.

    “you scream for more mega block buildings”

    No I don’t. I’ve never advocated for a mega-block building. In fact, I believe the best dvelopment would be series of mid-rise / small parcel mixed-use (multi/commercial) buildings, built by different developers, designed by different architects, wherever there is space to slip them in.

    “Yet it ranks ahead (and in the top 60%) of Charlotte, Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Austin, Raleigh, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, and many more.”

    And you’re point is? You’re smarter than a retard, but that doesn’t make you smart on an absolute level. Anyone can be better than a subset made up of rejects.

    “but the numbers and studies never separate Atlanta from its suburban areas”

    Neither do the residents. This city is full of people who have zero interest in dreating a true and sustainable city. There are some, but not many. The vast majority treat it as a stopover, where they can putz around the same po’ dunk bars and busted restaurants for a few years before completely surrendering and heading OTP.

  16. @Urbanist

    1,.”Yes, it is. Unfortunately the former far outnumber the latter in Atlanta, so much so, that the latter are almost unrecognizable.”

    This is the case in every city. The sh***y pizza and indian food holes fare outnumber the total quantity of great restaurants in NYC. The number of sh***y hot dog and steak joints far outnumber the quantity of great restaurants in Chicago. That is what makes great places great. The fact that they rise far and above the crap. And if you cant find great restaurants in Atlanta, then you do not get out enough.

    2.”Mine is vested and exercised with people who have equally innovative ambitions – which is to say, not in Atlanta.”

    Cop out. Translation. You are either too lazy, lack the resources, or lack the ideas to be able to branch away from your clients in order to make a true impact in this city that you seem to want to just sit around on your haunches waiting for someone else to do. If you arent going to do more than sit around on some comment board on a sparsley visited website, then you have no place speaking anyways. Try actually making a difference. You can still make a decent income and will be focused more on what you do than what other people do.

    3.”No, I’m not a restauranteur”

    That should be solid enough information to prove you are nothing more than a Monday Morning Quarterback.

    4.”I gladly would, except for the fact that the land isn’t available, where the type of apartments that this city needs would be viable.”

    That might be the most ignorant thing you have ever said. The amount of prime real estate available is enormous for development. Speaking of which. Wasnt this piece of land that you are so highly touting as being misused, available recently. If you didnt like the idea of this restaurant going there and you are so wildly successful and influential as you attempt to convey yourself as you should have been able to scoop it up before some small time local chain and utilized the land in a way that you see more fit. But that’s right. Refer back to no. 2. I am definitely not some anti-subsidy person, but a developer doesnt need the city to purchase the land on their behalf just because they cant figure out how to make rental units a profitable enterprise. Its done all over this country, so if the developers here arent able to do it, then maybe someone new should step up and make it work as it does in thousands of other cities.

    5.” Yes, I have – that alternative is to not grant building permits to a signle developer (Novare) who monopolizes the skyline, unless they start bringing some decent aesthetics to the table.”

    Again with your pie in the sky idealistic dreams. This isnt feasible and any person associated with the building industry knows that. It wouldnt stand up in court and would require the city to rewrite their entire design guidelines for it to be able to. Which granted they need to be done, but it is going to take more than one sh***y developer to get it done.

    6.”No I don’t. I’ve never advocated for a mega-block building.”

    Yes you do and you dont even know you do. You consistently complain about the density around Piedmont Park (particularly the Western edge). If you remove those 4/5 story walk ups in order to achieve more density, the only real solution is another high rise or some mega block apartment structures like those in Lindbergh, ruining the aesthetic quality and history that many of those structures have. They bring scale to the street, diminishing the horrifying traffic on Piedmont.

    7.”Anyone can be better than a subset made up of rejects.”

    A subset of rejects that you consistently cite as places Atlanta should be modeling themselves after. You have cited the job creation and trendy neighborhoods of all the Texas cities. You consistently harp about how great the northwestern cities are (yeah I saw that you convientently left out the topic of population density), and you frequently point to how Atlanta is getting beat out by its Southeastern competitors. Yup that covers all the cities I listed, and all of them you have either directly or indirectly said that they are cities we should be drawing upon. But now, ironically enough, you consider them rejects. Funny how opinion changes depending upon argument. Are you running Romney’s campaign?

    8. “The vast majority treat it as a stopover…”

    You mean like you. Because that is all you ever brag about is how this place isnt s**t and you are going to move onto something better. So instead of putzing around bars, you putz around a comment board b******g and complaining waiting until you can leave rather than actually doing anything. You suggest a bar and somehow you think you had an idea to transform a city. You work in a field that is somewhat related and you think you are above the local demands, politics, and influences. Yet at the end of the day you dont actually do anything about improving this place. You find all the things that dont fit into your idealized picture of a city yet you have no idea how a city truly develops, and you completely overlook and of the great things that have occured. 4 years is hardly enough time to lay “expert” criticism about a place, when it clearly shows you know very little about it because you are too busy searching for the negative instead of making anything positive. You are so damn busy hating on mexican restaurants and burger places that you completely miss out on local grocers, excellent restaurants, and the reality of many parts of this city versus your clouded perception.

  17. @ BC

    “This is the case in every city”

    Sorry, but that’s just not true. People come to Atlanta and they ask “where is the local culture?”. Sure, it’s there, but it’s hidden behind so much crap that, as I said, it’s practically unrecognizable. People don’t go to NYC or Chicago, and say “where is the local
    flavor/culture?”. Why don’t they? Because it’s everywhere.

    “Try actually making a difference”

    I have, personally, and through other partnerships. There are serious headwinds at the hands of a shut-down, narrow-minded, non-progressive attitude. After fighting against that attitude one too many times, it wasn’t hard to realize that my time would be better spent focusing on other, more open, more progressive areas. When there are better alternatives, people use them. This city needs to be a better alternative, not push people towards them. I know you don’t believe that, but housing prices, job statistics, and plenty of other data suggest that my mentality is more akin (granted harsher) to reality than yours.

    “a developer doesnt need the city to purchase the land on their behalf just because they cant figure out how to make rental units a profitable enterprise”

    In Atlanta, they would, in order to take advantage of the pieces of land I’m referring to. Because of the infrastructure and dynamic, there isn’t enough pricing power in rents to justify the elevated cost of intown land. It’s simple math. If you can’t charge the rents you need to make your investment profitable, you don’t build. Period. Rents in Atlanta are at/near the same levels they were at in 2000…12 years, and growth has been stagnant. They are growing now, which is likely a large part of the impetus behind Novare & Daniel’s new project. However, they have been flat for the past 12. Get it?

    “pie in the sky idealistic dreams”

    Expecting the city to take pride in the aesthetics of it’s city and skyline…that’s ‘pie in the sky’? In Atlanta, I guess so.

    “You consistently complain about the density around Piedmont Park”

    No, I don’t. I’ve said I wish density were higher, but I’ve also lauded the development around Piedmont. There’s a big difference between saying, “it would be nice if there was a slightly higher density around the park” and ‘complaining about it’.

  18. @Urbanist

    “People come to Atlanta and they ask “where is the local culture?”. ”

    Atlanta shouldnt be geared to tourists. The changes that Atlanta makes should be geared to residents. No matter what is built here Atlanta will never rival the likes of Chicago or New York for tourism and almost every city in this country is in the same position, so there is no point in trying. You will never create a completely unique culture when your city is mainly made up of transplants. Instead it becomes a hodge podge of cultures. Elements of some of our favorite cities, weaving their way in between the existing culture that it is here. Atlanta, or any city for that matter will never have some kind of food revolution that makes them unique in the way that places like New Orleans is unique. New York and Chicago’s culture is derived from their street life activity not from pizza and hot dogs. There is nothing about Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco that makes them entirely unique from the rest of the country. It is there quality of life at the street level that people love so dearly. The ability to hop on a streetcar to move through the city, the free downtown shuttles, the trolleys, the interconnected neighborhoods. There is no food in those cities that I cant get in Portland, Maine that is just as good if not better. It is the street life.

    “After fighting against that attitude one too many times, it wasn’t hard to realize that my time would be better spent focusing on other, more open, more progressive areas”

    In other words you are too lazy, or lack the resources to make a difference. Just as I said. Clearly you do not understand the history of this city or where it was and where its come from. Many people have been able to make a significant and positive impact on this city with the exact same headwinds. We have seen the evolution of the Virginia Highlands into a great neighborhood. The salvaging of many historic buildings into condos and apartments. Castleberry Hill changing over from abandoned warehouses. Cabbagetown into a trendy historic area. Ditto for Inman Park. Midtown was once a haven for drug pushers and prostitutes. Sure it is not Michigan Avenue or 5th Avenue, but the progression it has made from what it once was is astounding. Filling in the gaps of these areas and connecting them is the next challenge. It does need a lot more work and there is no doubting that, but giving up because of challenges is a poor excuse and a cop out. If what you said was true then Midtown would still be what it was pre Olympics. But thats right. I forgot, you only consider the 4 years that you lived here as Atlanta’s history. And do you think all of these places have always been open and progressive. It has always been a fight. It was a fight when Jacobs took on Moses, (a man that even the president couldnt dethrone) a much more difficult fight than you could ever imagine encountering in Atlanta. Every major city has always had the constant push pull struggle with the government and the burbs, and you cant win all of them. Chicago gave in to a horrible Trump tower, but they continue their push to be the greenest city in America. New York’s MTA was on the verge of collapse from disinvestment and reallocation of money to roads, but they fought and won. NYU nearly decimated Greenwich but it was stopped and accomodated for. Portland’s developers continue to claim that the growth boundaries stifle the city, but it continues on.

    “Because of the infrastructure and dynamic, there isn’t enough pricing power in rents to justify the elevated cost of intown land. ”

    And this is where developers need to evolve. The standard model that has been used for decades no longer works. There is a massive housing typology shift that will occur in this country and if people like you and developers think that they can continue chugging along with the same spreadsheets they were using in 2000 then they will all fall to the wayside. If these people, such as yourself, are in it for more than just money, but to also make a difference, then they will find ways to navigate these changes. The cost of land in prime locations will not go down no matter how little some ranch house out in the burbs plummets. Taking advantage of the telecommuting boom, the desire for more rentals, the incorporation of more uses, creating housing for the ever more mobile population. They will adapt, that is why housing continues to evolve. Simply throwing in the towel because you cant make your outdated spreadsheets and pro formas fit the changes in our economic climate is not a valid excuse for such a p**s poor effort. I can give you an extensive list of developers who were able to take advantage of this economic climate all over the country by tweaking their models and adapting for new needs and desires. You said Atlanta is lacking that kind of creativity, well there is your chance to prove otherwise, unless that is you are still too lazy or not willing to take a risk that has paid off for many many people while still improving the urban environment.

    “Expecting the city to take pride in the aesthetics of it’s city and skyline…that’s ‘pie in the sky’? In Atlanta, I guess so.”

    If you think a city is defined by a skyline then you really need to change your name from Urbanist to Tourist. If you think Atlanta is going to recreate the Empire State Building, Space Needle and Hancock Tower then you need a reality check. A true urbanist wouldnt care about the skyline, just like most real urban residents. It is about the activity on the street. Case in point. The new Bank of America tower in NYC. Looks great to a tourist flying in or coming across the bridge, but its impact at street level at such an important place is absolutely disgusting. I would rather see a glass cube rise into the skyline if it meant a better streetscape, because guess where life occurs. On the ground, not in the sky. Chicago’s Gold Coast has no skyline, but the best urban qualities of the city. Greenwich Village and the West Village are low rise walk ups and create the best urban atmosphere in New York. Charlotte’s Fourth Ward is the most pleasant neighborhood in the city, made up of buildings no taller than 4 floors. People that live in the city, which is who cities are be made for, dont walk around with their heads in the clouds. Look at Portland’s skyline, or lack thereof.

    “No, I don’t. I’ve said I wish density were higher, but I’ve also lauded the development around Piedmont. ”

    Yes you have, and we have had a conversation on here about it previously. I would be happy to retrieve it. If density were to be increased, that means the buildings that are there have to be replaced, so then we can wipe out more of Atlanta’s history. Great idea. We can be like Charlotte’s downtown where no building pre dates 1966 and the stench of urban renewal can take the last remaining elements that keep that area unique.

  19. The last word will be mine!

    Please Midtowners,

    Mobilize against Mexican on Monroe . This restaurant is bad, I repeat bad, for the economy!

  20. “so there is no point in trying”

    There you go…that’s the attitude that has Atlanta in the pit that it’s in, and from which it will never get out.

    “You will never create a completely unique culture when your city is mainly made up of transplants”

    Hundreds of cities across the world have done it, why can’t we?

    “New York and Chicago’s culture is derived from their street life activity”

    Yeah, because they understand that when you develop crappy little stand-alone mexican chain restaurants you don’t get any street life. That’s why they never did it.

    “There is nothing about Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco that makes them entirely unique from the rest of the country”

    Umm…what?

    “It is the street life.”

    Yeah, I know. The opportunity cost of adding a suburban chain restaurant on a stand alone site, is that there will, for the foreseeable future, not be a capability to put something there that engages with the street life.

    “In other words you are too lazy”

    I’m sorry…didn’t you just say something along the lines of “there’s no use in trying”? And you’re calling who lazy? I’m not cornered into Atlanta. Why would I waste my time trying to act against apathetic primps like yourself, when I can engage with other areas of the world that are far more satisfying? It has nothing to do with laziness…it has to do with the allocation of my time and effort, which I choose to allocate in better places.

    You should fill your soapbox with something other than nonsense next time.

  21. @urbanist

    Great job taking singular lines and addressing them devoid of context. We can see your limited reading abilities very well. What are you, FOX News. Oh wait you might as well be. You have the same mentality. Everyone else is just wrong except for you right? No wonder everyone on this site thinks you are an a@@hole and dogs you on a regular basis. Your comments aren’t even worth responding since you removed all surrounding context, such as the line “it’s not worth trying.” For the love of god please just pack your bags and get the hell out of dodge so that the rest of us who do care about this city can keep working towards improving instead of having moronic a@@holes who don’t understand the meaning of compromise attempt to control the argument.

  22. “Yeah, I know. The opportunity cost of adding a suburban chain restaurant on a stand alone site, is that there will, for the foreseeable future, not be a capability to put something there that engages with the street life.”

    What street life is there to engage with right there? Right now just about the only reason anyone on foot stops at that corner is to wait for the light to change so they can get to the businesses on the other side of Monroe (all of which are shoved to the back of parking lots). Sure, you’re grateful to make it across the “street” with your “life” still intact, the way people drive through there, but that’s about it.

    Putting something, anything on that corner – especially if the parking is in the back and there’s some outdoor seating on the street side – will help to actually generate some street life and can only be an improvement over the big nothing that’s there now. Besides, it won’t be there forever.

  23. Wait, so I address things you said, and that’s devoid of context? That’s an interesting point. I took the singular lines that represented the points you were trying to make. I never said I was the only one who was right….I don’t think I am. There are plenty of people out there that have valuable, intelligent opinions, and might be able to refute some of my points effectively….you’re just not one of them.

    This weak little fight you’re putting up is nice, and as effective as you may think the name calling is, I’d prefer to stick to the more relevant points. I know you think you’re “working towards improving” a city, but you don’t improve a city with hypocrisy and contradictions. Your idea of compromise is “I want a city with a great street scene, but I’ll compromise by accepting a development that completely acts against the creation of a vibrant street scene”. Compromising with people who don’t even know what they want, or understand what they want well enough to properly defend it, isn’t a compromise at all…it’s more like listening to a bratty like kid yell “I want it, I want it, I want it” over and over again…

  24. @Urbanist

    How did you address them. You took single sentences and made a blanket statement.

    “so there is no point in trying”

    You know damn well I wasnt talking about not trying to improve this city but you ignored the context it was in. There is no point in trying to make this a tourist city right now. You cant make a tourist city if you cant get your own citizens to love it first. So focus on making this city great for its residents, then make the improvements for tourists. Put the horse before the cart.

    You did the same thing with this sentence:“There is nothing about Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco that makes them entirely unique from the rest of the country”

    Again you know damn well I wasnt saying they werent unique. But there is nothing solely unique about their food (which is what this conversation began with) that makes their streetlife fantastic. You dont walk New York streets because of pizza. You dont take San Francisco’s trolleys because of Rice a Roni or fish. Portland’s urban growth boundaries were not a result of some great revolution against chain mexican restaurants. They are a result of great and traditional planning. The culture that they created came from their city streets and planning. Their city streets and planning were not derived from their food culture.

    And are you seriously whining about name calling. You do it everytime someone disagrees with you. You sound like a small child, you can dish it out but you cant take it.

    Your concern over this restaurant alone shows you have no idea how to prioritize the needs of a city. This is an intersection that is still years away from being anything significant. It is too far from transit for most people, yet too close to the urban core to warrant a building with a massive parking lot. Once Downtown and Midtown are squared away, then worry about what goes on that site. But until this area is better connected to Midtown or increases its density, it doesnt matter if a bland mexican place or a five star restaurant goes there, it wont make a bit of difference. So let a place holder go in there for a little while. Otherwise it will sit vacant and deteriorate the rest of the surrounding area. Put it this way, did Woodfire Grill transform Cheshire Bridge? It is a great concept, local, and great food, and nothing has changed since they established themselves there.

    And find me these contradictions. You wont unless you choose to again utilize one sentence while ignoring its context. Compromise has to be made. Atlanta is primarily made up of transplants. People who fled many of the cities that we love so dearly. So if you think we are going to be able to make a great urban landscape that is a carbon copy of them you are living in a pipe dream. A new path has to be forged, composed of people who are willing to take a few risks, stick around for a few years, and put up with the usual politics that try to derail great ideas. Do you think people are abandoning Chicago because the Cabrini Green project is on hold? Is Brooklyn slowly dying because Atlantic Yards hasnt been envisioned (horrible project anyway)? Did St. Louis throw in the towel on MetroLink just because the village around the ballpark wasnt completed? No, these places moved on to more pressing issues or found alternatives. They didnt just roll over like you have.

Leave a Reply to W Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

Search