12 HOWARD

In the four-block radius known as the Old Market,12th and Howard always felt like the epicenter of something, though you wouldn’t really know by looking at it. After all, a parking lot can only offer so much. There was certainly an energy here, but nowhere to really harness it. It seemed appropriate to look into developing this spot into something Old Market-dwellers could really use.

This idea was devised over time while working on Bloc 12. When the moment finally came, we moved towards a redevelopment project that would fit in with the neighboring structures while offering something—actually, multiple somethings—for the community to use. As a departure from the one-story building that had been there for years, we thought it’d be a good idea to go vertical. In the interest of maintaining the character of this long-standing favorite hangout corner, we built to the west right up to the neighboring building, where the exterior painted brick Coca Cola advertisement was incorporated into the space.