hill valley circa 1955?

No, not exactly. But Marty McFly would definitely have something to be excited about. You are not looking at fresh farmland being turned over for next season's croppage. What you are actually looking at, is quite possibly the beginning of Mr. Hoda's long delayed / future parking garage / condo / retail / current eye sore in all its newly flattened glory. Join me as we take a step back, as we stumble past Dirty Danny Earth Mover. Looks like he's had a busy day:


Gone are the canisters, barrels, miscellaneous galvanized cages, soda cans, hub caps, 5 foot weeds and wild trees that have stagnated on this property for the last few years. Could we be witness to the rebirth of 800 Monroe? A little late in the game but definitely worth the wait?


FYI - the deal the developer has with the city, as part of the Monroe Center of the Arts redevelopment plan that was passed deems this plot of land to be built out first, before any other condo buildings can go up on plots to the south and behind the arts center. Future development calls for hundreds of condos and additional retail where the parking lot currently is. But enough about that. For right now, let's focus on the 800 Monroe block four story garage (which butts up against Fields Crossing) and the attached mixed use residential tower (along the south end of the parcel facing 8th Street). The top of the garage will be 'green space'. Open to the public 'green space'? Who knows.

Could this really be the start of something?

It is also worth noting that the burned out old Bronco is gone as well. While the auto sculpture garden was an interesting idea, something tells me a beat up Chevy with the windows blown out was most certainly frowned upon by the neighbors.


Time to rejoice? Hope so! Pretty soon our little bedroom community is going to wake the hell up and smell the coffee. Starbucks can't be that far behind (wink, nudge) !


Also I'd like to give a shout out to the flux capacitor. Happy Friday everyone!