Atrium for StarView Plaza abandoned
October 13th, 2009 | by Clay Gump | Published in Starview Plaza | 4 Comments
[flickr]2693387340[/flickr]
As reported in the Diamondback last week the Starview Plaza has dropped its plans for the atrium due to costs. Its replacement will be a open air grassy space.
Mukesh Majmudar, developer of the StarView Plaza, scheduled to open late next year on Route 1, said he could no longer afford the atrium, which he once said would provide private amenity space and reduce energy costs by moderating the building’s temperature.
It is too bad they could not scale back on the 355 parking spaces and keep the Atrium in place.
October 13th, 2009 at 5:30 pm (#)
While is would be cool for those who live in the building, you can’t even see it from RT 1. I think. I’m sure they can come up with perhaps some cool gardens in the space as well as grass. The missing atrium shouldn’t take too much away from the design. That’s like ordering a sweet looking car and having to settle for the 17 inch tires with the stock rims instead of the 18 inch tires with the tricked out rims. It’s still a sweet looking car.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:15 am (#)
More precisely the atrium was lost because the project has to be built in two phases as the result of financing problems. You can’t phase an atrium.
The parking is not that bad. Their will not be parking for a lot of students and the parking is underground and is the result of being required to dig a 15+ foot deep hole over much of the site to get rid of bad unstable fill put on the site in the 1930’s to get rid of dirt and rocks from some campus construction.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:45 am (#)
It’s an impressive looking building, but I get the impression there’s a student housing bubble in the making in College Park.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:29 am (#)
Planning to write a post about the impending student housing bubble very soon. Good observation. Any interest in writing for the site?