Much has improved in Frankfort, Kentucky since I last did a walking tour of downtown, the Corner in Celebrities Historic District (part of the Central Frankfort District historic overlay), and the Capital Plaza complex.  For instance, the Grand Theatre has been reopened after a thorough restoration and has drawn large crowds to St. Clair Street. The once-charred buildings across the street, started by an arsonist, have all but been restored - although some work is still progressing. And Broadway has been narrowed to include bike lanes. And ground has been broken for the new judicial center.

 

1 The prominent corner office building is slated for restoration.

 

2 Woof!

 

3 The restored Grand Theatre.

 

4 St. Clair Street with the formerly gutted buildings to the left.

 

5 The out-of-character parking garage adjacent to the Grand may be demolished.

 

6 Corner in Celebrities Historic District

 

The walking tour ended with the dilapidated Capital Plaza complex. Consisting of the newly renovated Capital Plaza Hotel - the newest building out of them all, the Capital Plaza Office Tower, the Frankfort Convention Center, the Frankfort YMCA and the John C. Watts Federal Building, the location was looking worse for the wear and in need of substantial repair and replacement.

 

The first building to be completed on the site was the 28-level Capital Plaza Office Tower in 1967. Stretching at 338-feet high, it is the tallest building in Frankfort. The YMCA was completed in 1969, and the Federal Building in the 1970s. The hotel was not built until 1984, and opened as a 189-room Holiday Inn.

 

7 Capital Plaza Complex

 

8 A view towards the Watts plaza, which is in remarkably good condition. It also shows what the original plaza once looked like in color.

 

9 The plaza has seen better days.

 

10 The dated Frankfort Convention Center.

 

11 While downtown was bustling, the Capital Plaza was empty. Completely empty.

 

12 Looking towards Fountain Place Shops - nearly all deserted, the now turned-off fountain and the office tower.

 

13 Advanced deterioration has all but left outright replacement for the plaza.

 

14 The Capital Plaza Hotel from Fountain Place Shops.

 

15 Nearly vacant Fountain Place Shops.

 

16 A view towards the YMCA and downtown.

 

17 Capital Plaza

 

18 A broken planter rests in front of the YMCA.

 

How deteriorated is the plaza complex? Take for instance the office tower, where it's sufficiency rating is only 35 out of 100 which is nearing unsatisfactory and requiring replacement - or greater than 50% of its replacement cost. The tower exterior needs repaired, along with the curtain wall. The exterior glass needs replacing, the restrooms need to be reconfigured, and the escalators need replacing. Along with the outdated stairwells that need modernization, the roof needs replacement, as does the plumbing, HVAC, fire alarm system, light fixtures, data and electrical service, cooling tower and electrical system.

 

The plazas have so badly deteriorated that it makes as much fiscal since to tear them down and replace them with ground-level features than to continue to support the outdated design it features today. The plaza has been rarely used in the past decade, and is so detached from the street scene that it stands to be demolished in place of something more street friendly.

 

19 Good night from Frankfort!

 

More of my Frankfort, Kentucky photos can be found here --

http://urbanup.net/cities/kentucky/frankfort-kentucky/

 

They are not all up in order yet, since I just got my new hard drive in and will be processing the older images from backup soon.

Despite being from Kentucky, I (and I'm sure the majority of my bluegrass brethern) have only been to the capitol on the token school field trip.

 

Quite frankly (npi), Capitol Plaza doesn't look like it would have been a fun place to hang out even in its prime. I wouldn't have thought Frankfort's metro area would have been able to support such a large development.

Great shots.

 

You didn't mention the concept of pedestrian - only plazas.

 

When I was in Frankfort, I remembered a National Geographic article from about 1970 about the future of transportation. One of the schools of thought at that time was that automobile and pedestrian traffic should be grade-separated. There was a concept in the magazine that resembles the situation in Franfort.

 

Essentially what they did was to bridge over the streets with a plaza. It is easy to walk around, and pedestrian connections to the surrounding area are not bad, but in this case they simply made the plaza too big, and they followed through with boxing up all the office space in a skyscraper instead of a traditional street with storefronts.

 

Brodie Plaza at the University of Cincinnati follows the same concept. Brodie has been improved by better pedestrian connections on one side and by using up some of the space with landscaping.

Not the best architecture at Capital Plaza, but it's still a shame that it couldn't hold together for very long. It looks like something you'd see in Washington D.C., aside from the fact that the tower is twice as tall as something you'd see there.

 

  The tower and surrounding plaza sort of resembles the former World Trade Center in New York City on a much smaller scale and without being surrounded by more skyscrapers.

 

    I had the chance to visit Frankfort for just a few hours on a business trip and the difference in the street life between the plaza and the traditional urban areas was remarkable. When I was there, there were a few people on the plaza. I went during the workday about 2:00. Sherman, what time were these photos taken?

Sunset. Downtown was packed. Not a soul at the plaza.

That shot of St. Clair reminds me of Market St. in Maysville. Great post...modernism fails humanity.