The Harvey Funeral Home at 508 N 36th St. came down today. Demolition crews reduced the longtime building to a pile of rubble, leaving the front steps and landscaping eerily intact. A seven-story, 169-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail and 63 parking spaces is planned for the site by Prometheus Real Estate Group. For the full rundown on what’s coming to this block and the Ballroom block next door, see our earlier reporting: Big changes coming to N 36th Street.
I am so sad about this. Two giant 7 story blocks, blocking out light, and making parking impossible. I’ve been here 36 years and we chose Fremont for it’s vitality, vibe, and lower (3 stories, max) buildings, leaving light and air. And for all the talk about lo-income housing or family housing, it never happens. I’m also concerned I never heard about it nor saw a chance for public input. So very sad. They are also taking out what few trees we have down there on 36th.
I don’t oppose density but I do oppose ugly. Density brings more people with new ideas, new energy, new diversity and much needed new housing. Unfortunately we lose our history and creativity in the form of old buildings to box structures that you can find pretty much all across the country. These cookie cutter buildings are out of scale, don’t reflect the neighborhood in design and often seem insensitive to the general neighborhood vibe. I’m sorry to see the Funeral Home go – it’s a lost opportunity to have created a community center with housing and a new park, for example. How do we change the design review process and the historic preservation guidelines to better reflect what people want to see?
Excited that they’re using this lot for something, but why on earth do we only build apartment buildings with Studios/1-BRs? Wouldn’t it be better if we built units that could host more families?
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