UrbanDesign: Factory Rehab and New Construction

Check out the two buildings below - one is new construction and the other is a historic rehab. Can you tell which is which?

The first picture is a historic rehab. However, this project has been in the works for the three years that I've lived near it. I don't think they are ever going to finish, but they did finally get the new windows in. It's supposed to be condos...

The new construction is the second picture - townhouses in the Brewer's Hill neighborhood next to the Natty Boh Tower. These were built a few years ago and finished as the recession hit...I don't think any have sold. They were originally priced too high and although they've come down some, I guess not enough - they're still listed in the $475,000 to $500,000 range. And that's a bit too much when you can get a rehabbed house around the corner for $250,000 or less. But they do have two-car garages! And I checked out the online listing, the interior looks awesome!

I love that the new construction looks like it could have been an old industrial building. I think it helps it to blend into the neighborhood. You can see from the picture above that it is larger than the existing rowhouses, but so is the old factory historic rehab below (see the rowhouse on the left).

The other reason I think the new townhouses work well in their setting is that the Natty Boh Tower complex is just across the street, and the scale and massing of the buildings increase substantially. If anything, the townhouses create an intermediary zone and the height gradually changes instead of more drastically changing. Below is a picture of the Natty Boh buildings on Conkling Street. You can see how the buildings gradually get taller and take up the entire block.