About a year ago, we last brought news to you of a new parking garage rising at 1324-42 Arch St., across from the expanded Convention Center. Over the past eleven months, construction has progressed, and the garage section of the building looks to be nearly complete. Recently, work has been taking place on the commercial spaces that will front Arch Street.

From the east

Getting closer

Wowsers

Looking at the building, we were hoping that some additional design elements were still to come. Looking at a couple of renderings from the Realen Properties website, we discovered that an architectural fabric scrim will cover the facade, making it slightly less terrifying.

In the future

Closeup of the retail

The retail space, which will contain more than 16K sure to be divided sqft, has no confirmed tenants just yet, according to a couple of sources. We’d imagine that a lunch-time spot or two would do well here, drawing customers from conventions, City Hall, and the still-under construction Family Court Building. What else could succeed at this location?

While the 540-spot garage likely fills a need, it still bums us out to see a new construction project in this location that seems to be thinking small. We appreciate the commercial aspect, as well as the inclusion of some green elements like a green roof and electric car charging stations, but we would have been really excited by the addition of some more height, perhaps with residential units above the garage. Considering the height of a few other nearby buildings (including, you know, City Hall), it would have fit right in.

Oh well, at least we’ll have that fabric covering the facade…