It’s been eight months since I last looked at the Fulton Mall. Back then, major construction had started in most parts, with fences everywhere. Concrete had already been poured on the parking areas at the southern end. I assumed it would be mostly done by now, but not even close. Let’s take a look at the current status (current as of last week).
Note: Pictures taken on New Years Day, so most businesses closed for the holiday, but if you look closely you’ll note many have been run out of business thanks to the abysmal construction staging. Also, please let me know if you have trouble viewing the image. As google has killed Picassa, which was integrated with Blogger, I have moved to Flickr.
We start at the north end, by Warner’s Theater. Nothing had happened in May, so the changes are pretty major.
The sidewalks have been built as planned, with the odd, but acceptable use of different crosswalk ramp treatments
As I mentioned way back when I went over the construction diagrams, this is the best part of the project. 3 wide lanes become 2 narrow lanes.
Having the sidewalk extension be the entire length of the box office would have been nice though
Nothing has happened to the orphan road
It is hard to get pictures in an order that makes sense because the fences are serious barriers
A relocated fountain is being built
Back in May
Now
Across from the CVS, moving south
By Hotel Fresno (no progress on that project) at Merced Street.
The construction phasing, by the way, is an absolute disaster for
retailers. Like worst case scenario. If they wanted to put everybody out
of business, they could not have done a better job. The signs were
terrible and the walking paths a mess.
Detour? To where?
I could not figure out how to access this block of the mall, so I took a detour through the alley.
Looking north, odd construction phasing
This next section hasn’t changed at all. Why did they even start with the destruction only to pause for 8 months?
May
Now:
May:
Now
May:
Now
This building is looking great
The dumbest road
Mariposa towards Brodway
This won’t change hence the DUMBEST ROAD
It will dead-end here
I can’t tell if this is restoration or abandonment
BONUS FONT
Remember, this alley will be a critical part of the new vehicle circulation plan
Looking north
The stop light remains in use, but there is no pedestrian crossing
It is a pedestrian maze
Zero effort made to create a safe, accessible pedestrian crossing during construction.
Plz come shop the stores are open we claim
The southern end was the quickest to move. Concrete was put in 8 months ago. Asphalt 4-5 months ago. Now lights are in. Still not open to the public
New lights. I don’t know how I feel about them. They feel modern and dated at the same time. LEDs on the modern cobra overhead.
The new ped lights send light out sideways, rather than down
Tree well I assume
Removing the tarps make the fence maze seem less like a prison escape haunted house at six flags. However, they should maximize pedestrian space.
Too small for trees, what are these holes for? Notice the double lights and the odd lower lighting well
The sidewalk is new btw, in the same style as the mall.
Midblock crossing to only section that will remain pedestrianized
Maybe too many light posts
Across the street looking north. These are the “super wide sidewalks” the proponents have continuously lied about.
While the sidewalk is a nod to preservationists, I admit it looks a tad dated
You can barely tell what is new or old
Just hurry up and end this construction
They rebuilt the river fountain with bridge. Bridge aligned with retail entrance. Smart. However, the sidewalk overhang demonstrates the failure of the new lights. Why light up the 2nd floor?
What is this
The usable sidewalk space is not that large
SUDDENLY FROM ABOVE
Looks very sad without the trees
Supposedly this lot will be a building soon. Any day now they say.
The southern intersection is also improved with curb extensions
Fresno’s Playground
New midblock crosswalk, with Fulton Mall pavement treatment.
A billion new lights and they couldn’t orient one over the mid-block crossing, where IT IS MOST NEEDED? Seriously.
Looking north is a dead end
Walking to the end
New sidewalk extension is large, but very grey. No green infrastructure?
I can’t tell if they’re adding angled parking, but the turn lane is gone. I guess continental crosswalks were too much for the budget.
New vs old
And the end
And that’s it. Lot’s of photos coming up in the next couple of weeks – the rest of downtown, Manchester Center update, BRT, and Clovis.
BONUS DROGE BUILDING
Well, it looks like at least the cobra head and the post-type fixtures are fully shielded, a good step forewords. Did you get a decent look at the color temp. of the cobras? The pics make the lights look 3000-3500k warm white which if that was the case would be a welcomed improvement on the current 4000k. I think we might have to wait a bit to see the completed picture of what the architects wanted with those fixtures. It might come out looking good, but that being said I've kind of taken a liking to period antique type fixtures. Maybe something like this
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.404590.1314507555!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/amd-bk-bishops-crook-streetlight-jpg.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f0/4b/91/f04b916ca429a8f0c998a64de9ce6d6d.jpg
Or maybe this?
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/3e37794f737446a4b1200690917d6135/new-york-june-24-2013-a-set-of-flags-flap-by-a-lamp-post-next-to-the-da0ywk.jpg
Both fixture types would obviously have their light sources tucked up under the metal shade shielding the light and directing it downward. Or maybe concrete based semi-decorative cobra head poles? Just throwing some ideas out.
https://goo.gl/maps/QLaCWDMAwxJ2
All new lights will be 4000K – chosen to be the best compromise between light levels, energy efficiency, and visual comfort.
BTW, there should be a light going in at every midblock on the north side.
Anon, it is good to know that lights will be over the crosswalks.
Independent, I did not stick around past dark – well, I went over to check out the new cultural park, which I will post pics of soon.
Ooh, please do. Will be interesting to see more infill development. Btw, on an off side note I remembered all the vacant parking lots downtown. I'm glad there are no longer setback requirements for those lots, as they can make promising additions as propper streetfront developments. Now we just need to tackle the inefficient parking minimums.
Oh just reminded me of the "arguements" used against the General Plan and the Smart and Final as to how government shouldn't be meddling/regulating with business when ultimately what the arguers ignored is the fact that we have those suburban type strip malls because of regulation. Namely, setback requirements, parking minimums, and single use zoning ultimately create a path of least resistance leading to the development of these aweful strip malls with the parking in the front and the store all the way in the back.
Yes the Fulton corridor specifically has its own set of criteria
Anon, I described previously that 4000k was a poor "compromise", and really at this point a bad design choice given that this gen of warm whites outperforms the old blue-rich 4000k+ tech. The efficiency is always increasing. With AMA information and statistical data we have 3000k would be the most appropriate color temp.
Well, found some night shots of the "new" Fulton mall, or is it Fulton St. now?
http://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/fulton-street-progress-in-downtown-fresno/645329910
It's so devoid of color or warmth , it looks almost like a black and white still. It's like I've never known bland until I've seen this. Truly par for the course I guess.
I think Fresno should've taken more from Pasadena then from the Dead Mall series. Pasadena is special in that they use very warm white,2800 kelvin,ceramic metal halide for their decorative acorn street lighting. They make use of a good looking dual lighting system, that admittedly isn't all warm white and only uses the partly sheilded acorns, yet, but is still part of the way there.At least there's color.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3275/2719139656_db1343137b_b.jpg
http://www.oldpasadena.org/images/right-images/172_Directions_NightJJ.jpg
The color accuracy, or CRI, on the overhead mercury vapor lighting is about 20, however the warm white ceramic metal halide is around 70, so colors are more accurately represented.
Actually the more I look at it, the more almost haphazard the lighting design looks, with really tall poles really close to the street and tightly packed together. Towering over the block, they feel a bit out of scale almost. They had to pick grey to.:(