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VenserSojo t1_ja5a3q6 wrote

At least it looks better than the Manchester police department but yeah it sticks out too much in my opinion.

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invenio78 t1_ja5bspi wrote

I don't know,... looks fine to me. It's modern so not a "typical New England" building. But most likely adds value to the neighborhood.

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EmeraldMoose12 t1_ja5cmoy wrote

It’s nice to see some good modern architecture in New Hampshire.

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BlackJesus420 t1_ja5hkxp wrote

Do people not like it?! I’m never in Nashua these days but I think it’s cool. Plenty of old school New England architecture around if that’s your thing but this looks like a nice modern addition to downtown.

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NewEnglandBlueberry t1_ja5is20 wrote

I thought it was a waste of money considering all of the bigger issues that Nashua has, but I agree, it does look nice.

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jmmky67 t1_ja5j3wx wrote

Looks greats except getting there will cost you a bent rim……worst roads in NH. Hey but we have fine arts!

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Irishbangers14 t1_ja5kkt7 wrote

If you showed me this and said guess the NH town I would not assume Nashua, for that matter I would say this is Mass not NH, I like the look, it doesn’t seem to fit in though given the rest of downtown, maybe upgrades will be coming to match this modern look. I’m down with that

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[deleted] t1_ja5kmd4 wrote

I drive by it basically daily, it’s pretty nice. Main Street recently during the summer has been very active and the local businesses from my point of view have been fairly busy so this will bring more eyes to the city or that portion at least.

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joostadood526 t1_ja5mjj0 wrote

Gentrification isn't a dirty word and shouldn't be. I work very close to this building and am excited for the clientele it will bring. I hope they tear down the whole fuckin street and make it look modern and fancy like this.

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sndtech t1_ja5n9th wrote

Is that the old Alec's shoes building?

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classicrock40 t1_ja5nhgs wrote

That was the site of Alec's shoes and I don't think that building was historical - just red brick. It's new and fresh and should liven up downtown.

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Curious_Buffalo_1206 t1_ja5pen6 wrote

It’s a nice building. I just wish it was housing instead, and they spent the $15 million on something better.

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Guccidom t1_ja5pj06 wrote

Holy shit I haven’t seen it since it was till warm out! That looks awesome

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ILikeCrabbyRobots t1_ja5pux3 wrote

It does, I'm excited for them to start filling up the schedule!

3

Ethanol_Based_Life t1_ja5pzzk wrote

I've never even noticed it. Usually walking along the west side of Main so I don't really have a good view

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rubbish_heap t1_ja5rsv2 wrote

Replying to bostonkyle106 (#2,040,941)

Used to be Miller's Department store. I remember shopping there a few times. Boy's department was downstairs, it was horribly depressing.
Alec's was originally around the corner, down West Pearl If I'm remembering right.

4

ANewMachine615 t1_ja5s1qa wrote

I like it! Nashua has a lot of the old architecture, but cities are made of a variety of things, and it's great that they're getting more modern buildings too.

4

ANewMachine615 t1_ja5sjv4 wrote

Replying to Irishbangers14 (#2,040,098)

> it doesn’t seem to fit in though given the rest of downtown

Why should it? Tons of architecture we love now wasn't fitting with the character of the neighborhood at the time of the original construction. Brownstones were hated in Boston, derided as cheap and cookie-cutter housing. Thank God the people who hated it didn't have the ability to make stop it. Now just think of all the stuff that we're stopping today that'd be classic and beloved in fifty years...

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Irishbangers14 t1_ja5the8 wrote

Replying to ANewMachine615 (#2,041,653)

I’m not against the building by any means , I’m more saying I hope it brings about a change in the look of downtowns infrastructure, I’m not familiar with this building tbh. I grew up in Nashua ca. 2000s -2010s the last time I visited downtown I was upset with the look (Jersey barriers everywhere with weird graffiti) it looked to me like a very stretch of an attempt to look “artsy”. However a change to something more modern/contemporary of this nature is welcomed by myself . Not that my downtown is much more pleasant ( Manchester)

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ANewMachine615 t1_ja5uaob wrote

Replying to Irishbangers14 (#2,041,848)

Yeah, Manch has a ways to go. I'm in downtown Dover now, and good Lord it's gotta be the best "big little city" in New Hampshire, by a country mile. But Manch's new city plan was quite good. Here's hoping the fact that commuter rail will never happen doesn't kill the whole thing.

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Irishbangers14 t1_ja63cmc wrote

Replying to Curious_Buffalo_1206 (#2,043,673)

Did they do away with them? eating inside or outside a driver texting can still plow through the building, I’m sure they stood a purpose that was not my complaint, my complaint is it made the downtown look rather dumpy. Almost had this “please excuse our appearance while we’re renovating” feel to it.

2

ArbitraryOrder t1_ja63tic wrote

It looks better than I thought it would, but it needs more lines. The issue with modernist buildings is they don't draw the eye to make obvious distinctions about the entrances and other key features

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falafelville t1_ja65dfk wrote

What's stopping New Hampshire's cities from developing? It's like the "cities" in that state are just oversized towns.

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Proper_Procedure_377 t1_ja67srf wrote

Replying to Irishbangers14 (#2,043,989)

They decided to keep them 3 years I think. But last summer painted them all the same reddish brick color. I don’t think they looked much better and not sure they needed them. I don’t understand why people would want to eat so close to traffic - the sidewalks I understand.

3

newenglandpolarbear t1_ja68vtz wrote

It's a cool building, it's also nice that it's not surrounded by a huge parking lot.

3

AngoraPiece t1_ja69qjc wrote

Drove past it recently to check it out. I was dubious before I saw it, but I think it looks perfect. Modern but good looking, large but not dominating.

It brings a great freshness; my guess is a lot of those in the FB pages complaining haven’t actually seen it.

5

Adept-Agent5454 t1_ja6c145 wrote

It looks great. The previous building was not that significant, a lot of the opposition seems to come from stubborn nostalgia. The cities history will be intact, don't fear. That structure is far from an ugly design.

I would have loved having something like this when I lived there. Good for you Nashua!

3

rehumanizer t1_ja6fu31 wrote

I've lived out state a few years... is that where Alec's used to be?!

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buckao t1_ja6hc9t wrote

It does and I bet a commuter rail station would have looked great too. Thanks a lot, Wheeler.

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buckao t1_ja6hz63 wrote

Replying to driver1676 (#2,041,341)

I'm pretty sure the whiners don't actually go to Main St and are just upset that West Pearl is temporarily one lane when they pass through on their way to Walmart or the mall.

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buckao t1_ja6ij84 wrote

Replying to Irishbangers14 (#2,041,848)

A lot of those barriers were painted by school children, kids from PAL and the Boys/Girls club, with an artist from Positive Street Art helping them. They might not have been super-pretty, but the kids were stoked. I worked on the stars and stripes on Factory Street for the benefit of Daleanis House with Involved 2 Impact.

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Opal_Pie t1_ja6qlvt wrote

I hadn't been through downtown since they started construction, and only saw the promotion photos. I thought it was a bot overdone, and didn't fit in well with the Main Street aesthetic that Nashua has. I finally drove through a couple weeks ago, and I nearly missed the building because it's not nearly as big as the photos make it appear. I think it does fit in better than what I saw in promotion photos, but I think the rest of Main Street needs a facelift, now. I'm very much for keeping the old mill town look, but maybe the block where the PAC is could be slightly modernized.

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beyond_hatred t1_ja6qt4l wrote

Whatever it looks like, I like the idea of watching a play and having a drink on the balcony.

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fabulous_phoenix t1_ja7atgf wrote

I think it looks great! My fiancé always discusses that they don’t pay taxes???

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it_was_me_wait_what t1_ja7okrh wrote

They need to fix and pave the main street. They’ve been paving other less important streets in the city and this one is just the worst

2

Odd-Chapter756 t1_ja7psah wrote

I don't mind it, I just hope they have some decent bands come to town like the used to back in the day when Holman Stadium was Holman Stadium. It will be great for all of the local businesses for them to do so. That and Nashua needs some excitement. I've been here 41 years..born and raised and it needs some uplifting. That and to be able to walk to a concert downtown would be badass.

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wakaboom1 t1_ja7qiab wrote

My take on the matter, as a Nashua resident but NOT a homeowner, is that all the people who seem mad about it in the Nashua scoop and show up to complain about it are all people who are mad because they live in Nashua purely due to its relative cheapness and that it was close enough to Mass that they could commute. Now with the Home Price bubble, the city reassessing property taxes and all the tax change ups from the pandemic they’re horrified of the idea that Nashua is trying so hard to shake its Trash-ua image and becoming a place that has enough culture and quality that people will want to price them out. It’s fair, but I think anyone who complains about PAC are the same people who cry about the barriers allowing outdoor dining. They hate that their city isn’t a cheap ghost town anymore and that robs them of the convenience they enjoyed by no one wanting to be here or do business here.

1

BrokedownAlice69 t1_ja7u4wo wrote

It’s alright. Just nowhere near the quality of architecture that used to exist which is so weird to me

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UniqueCartel t1_ja806c1 wrote

Looks fine to me. And it’s not that god awful staggered shipping container look I’ve seen in various cities as of late. Win win.

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fjwjr t1_ja825dd wrote

Well, have you seen it out of the city…?

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OregonGypsea t1_ja82bum wrote

That’s where Alec’s shoe store used to be back in the day ☺️

2

Curious_Buffalo_1206 t1_ja82e3z wrote

Replying to wakaboom1 (#2,055,457)

Nashua’s gotten several of those best places to live awards. The secret’s been out for like 40 years at this point. It also got expensive a while ago, and it was really only cheap because of the one-two punch of the dotcom crash and 2008. They should’ve been shooting in their backyards at 3am more often ten years ago if they wanted to stop it (as the memes tell you to do). Too late now.

There’s two types of people. One thinks Hudson or Grafton is trashy, the other looks at anything resembling a city and thinks it’s trashy. But never fear, everyone knows ManchVegas is trashy.

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xormybxo t1_ja82o7q wrote

Modern & historic architecture together 👌🏻

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nullcompany t1_ja8ejmi wrote

Modern architecture looks like a PDF file.

Am I celebrating or hating? Well, I'm at the 50 yard line, myself.

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falafelville t1_ja8j13w wrote

Replying to MeEvilBob (#2,055,254)

My sister lives in Concord and every time I go to visit her I can't help but think how much wasted potential NH cities have. Concord, Manchester, Nashua, and Portsmouth are just tiny, fragmented downtowns surrounded by a bunch of single-family zoning. Imagine if everything was re-zoned and looked closer to Cambridge Mass.

Then again, I suspect people move to NH specifically because they like the rural character of the state.

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Loosh_03062 t1_ja8ofpc wrote

Replying to fabulous_phoenix (#2,052,042)

Actually, they do. Because of how the financing and tax credits were done the city had to transfer ownership to an independent corporation and then lease it back. The tax bills for the past several years can be pulled from the city's web site (the Citizen Service Request section). The assessment's low because of when it was done, but will likely be updated for the next tax year.

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fabulous_phoenix t1_ja8ry34 wrote

Replying to Loosh_03062 (#2,064,244)

Thank you!! I’m going to keep this in my arsenal for when he says “They don’t pay taxes and that’s a huge financial loss for the city” and blah blah blah. I love him, but sometimes he acts like a cranky old man, like those guys in the balcony from The Muppet Show

2

ericools t1_ja8uy73 wrote

There are less appealing buildings around.

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USA-cubicle-worker t1_ja8uzxq wrote

From another multilingual keyboard user, all the love to your opiniON!

Cheers

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TiredEyes_ t1_ja98g43 wrote

I could be wrong but I’m dreading the list of artists that will be performing there. Hack comedians, washed up singer/songwriters, covers bands, and third rate theater.

Simply giving it a better name like “Gate City Center” would give artists the impression they weren’t going to be playing at a sterile, tax dollar funded venue.

And do they even serve booze lol

2

HakaelDRC t1_jaa20he wrote

Replying to NewEnglandBlueberry (#2,077,457)

The surrounding towns are mostly rural and have no downtown areas. Nashua still has a lower crime rate than Manchester and Concord despite its proximity to Lowell and ranks pretty high on the safest places to live in the country. Suggesting that crime is “high” under most measures here just isn’t accurate.

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NewEnglandBlueberry t1_jaa67u6 wrote

Replying to HakaelDRC (#2,078,040)

Alright, while I may be technically correct that it is a relatively high crime rate for the area (rural neighbors or not), I will concede that we're better than average relative to most similarly sized cities countrywide. I removed it from my comment.

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[deleted] t1_jaac7lg wrote

I’ve never been there , but I’d love to visit someday

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Proper_Procedure_377 t1_jaao5kq wrote

Replying to dontpan1c (#2,057,563)

That’s actually not true. The city funded it almost completely through bonds and the price tag went up from $15 mil to $21 mil with only $4 private funding. I’m actually excited to have it here but that’s the reason why people are opposed to it.

2