Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Wilson Yard Mentioned In New York Times

A reader alerts us to this Wilson Yard mention in the New York Times and writes:

"Allison Arieff had a few bizarre complimentary words on Wilson Yard in her opinion column published in today's New York Times. It's as though she didn't even look at the context of the development. She must have taken one look at a rendering, picked up on the fact that it wasn't a suburban mall, and figured that was enough for her to praise it.

From the article:

"The project dispenses with the notion of a freestanding mall and conceives instead of a walkable, mixed-use community. Key to their design is LEED silver certification, open space and multi-modal access (not just cars but rail, transit and pedestrian)."

The multi-modial access isn't a key of the development, it's built into the context of the neighborhood. Crazy."

19 comments:

  1. The Paper of Record!

    Oh the indentured servitude of deadlines, but can I help Allison out even though she authors a blog?

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  2. I just read this and almost choked on my lunch. I think this was the quote that did it:

    "The project dispenses with the notion of a freestanding mall and conceives instead of a walkable, mixed-use community."

    If only...

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  3. back of the grocery store on the sidewalk

    no integration with mass transit

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  4. Well it looks very nice from the plans.

    Just wait and see how nice Marryville looks and then morphs after they get the go ahead.

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  5. I lived with Monica Lewinsky's brother during the entire scandal and I learned a very important lesson:

    The national media is sloppy and lazy. They don't do research, and honestly they don't care.

    And it wasn't just the NYT, every major news outlet(left and right) just reported whatever they heard as if it was the truth, when most of the time it wasn't.

    I'm sure someone sent them a press release, and that was enough for the NYTs to go on.

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  6. Yeah, anytime a paper from 1,000 miles away reports on something local in passing, don't be surprised if the research is substandard.

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  7. No wonder the rag is in big trouble.
    You can bet the beast has sissors in hand, a Kool in her maw and clipping away. "Make a note," says she. "Send a copy to the Havana Bugle."

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  8. Another confirmation that the New York Times is terrible.

    Helen Shiller NY Times Person of the Year.

    Helen's tears produce enough vitamins to feed all of Chicago's poor.

    Helen once beat the 85 Bears by herself 56-0 but the game was never official because none of the Bears were healthy enough to play the second half.

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  9. I will never look at a NYT reader the same...

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  10. So where in the hell is the letter of intent from Target Corp.??
    So far- Target has not publicly announced that they are on board with this.
    If they have- has anyone seen/read it?

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  11. I thought the article was pretty good and made Uptown look like the progressive neighborhood we all want it to be.

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  12. I jsut called Target:
    MN 1000 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55403.
    Phone: 612-304-6073 (press 5)
    Fax: 612-696-5400

    The VERY nice man that I spoke to on the phone was not aware of Wilson Yard (he asked if that was in DeKalb). After giving him the address he said that only thing slated MAY be for 2010 or later, but he said he had not heard of anything going in that location.

    I also mentioned the New York Times article- that was also complete new news to him.

    Hmmmmmmm

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  13. Found this press release online about store openings:

    http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-stores/real-estate/target-real-estate-facts.aspx

    Here's a quote:

    Target opens new stores at three different times throughout the year—in March, July and October—and we’ll typically confirm plans for a new store within one year of the scheduled opening.

    So, they probably aren't opening in March 2010, but still have an opportunity to announce for July or October 2010. It'll be interesting to see.

    However, I found it interesting that they say:

    Our stores typically take nine to 12 months to build.

    That means that if they started building Target, they probably should have announced it already. Hmmm...

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  14. I would love to see Allison Arieff walk the walk instead of talking the talk and move in one of those low income units and see whats it about. Maybe its Shillers girlfriend....

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  15. Interesting research marathonman, thanks.

    However, because this site has more on it than a Target (sic) one may throw the 9-12 month estimate to the curb. Not saying it is incorrect, just that the estimate is subject to change.

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  16. "a walkable, mixed use community" yeah, right. the only think walkable about this neighborhood is the fact that the sidewalks have less potholes than the streets. As a friend of mine put it, and I'll paraphrase here, Uptown isn't the kind of neighborhood where you are afraid to walk around at night, its the kind of neighborhood where you get hit by poorly-aimed bullets on Christmas Day.

    It is kind of sad that the NYT latched on to the pretty plans and not the reality.

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  17. how long before we see "as praised in NYT" on Shiller's website or in a Holsten press release.

    let's write the NYT and ask for a retraction

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  18. I left a comment on this article berating Ms. Arieff for her lack of effort and research regarding this property. I do hope others leave comments as well. Maybe hearing from a whole lot of concerned citizens about this property in this article will spur proper research into this debacle of a development.

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