PRESSURES ON! CHRIS PARDO: Put your gloves on! Chris Pardo has been hired to redesign the portion of the project known as Retail Block A, the boxy, plain collection of storefronts that some residents said looked like a prison or reformatory or like almost anyplace along Ventura Boulevard. Pardo said in an email that he is updating the buildings massing, referring to its shape and size, consistent with Palm Springs history of modern architecture, while offering a fresh perspective on the ever evolving city. After much criticism over the design of Palm Springs new downtown project, developer John Wessman has agreed to redesign the most controversial block, and hes hired a hip, young designer to do it. Ever since the Palm Springs Planning Commission approved the buildings size — but not its architecture — the public chorus against it has grown louder, particularly among fans of Palm Springs modernism. Wessman Developments Braun confirmed to me, We met with a planning commissioner to get some additional input. We got approved on the shell, the height, etc. We hired Chris Pardo to work within that box to do the redesign. Braun said the new retail building will have a much fresher look than the building that was presented, with lighter colors and some changes to break up the overall mass. Pardo is part of a new wave of designers and investors who have been drawn to Palm Springs. He and his business partner, Facebook millionaire Ezra Callahan, are building the Arrive Hotel in the citys Uptown Design District. In addition, Pardo has opened Ernest Coffee in the same area, and the Hacienda Cantina & Beach Club on South Palm Canyon Drive. He also worked on Wessmans highly praised new restaurant on El Paseo in Palm Desert, Il Corso, which is considered an architectural gem by many publications. Mayor Steve Pougnet said of the redesign plans, Im delighted about that. Weve got to let the project finish itself. Pougnet at one point dismissed critics of the downtown design as a small, loud group. But this week he told me, Should I have used that term? No, it was a bad choice, but in the end were listening. The mayor predicts the Kimpton hotel, which will anchor the project, will break ground in October, with a completion date 16 to 18 months later, around February 2016. But the retail space will open sooner. I do believe well be shopping at the new stores before the end of 2015, the mayor said. He said he expects the redesigned plan to go back before the planning commission by the end of August. The project will not only be the lynchpin of the new, downtown Palm Springs, it will also be the personal legacy of developer Wessman and Mayor Pougnet. Wessman has built quality projects in the desert for 50 years but none more important than this. Pougnet, who has been mayor since 2007, had the political savvy to get Measure J passed and strike a deal with Wessman to get the project moving. And now both men also seem to be demonstrating they can pivot in their thinking, listen to the public and push forward to do whats best for the city. Hank Plante of Palm Springs is an Emmy and Peabody-winning journalist who spent three decades reporting for the CBS TV stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Email him at hankplante@yahoo
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 04:17:12 +0000
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