George W. Bush Presidential Center (SMU)

Cheesesteak · Post by **Cheesesteak** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:17 am

http://georgewbushlibrary.com/home

32 acres site plan.
Lots of landscaping.
Some of SMU Boulevard gets curved.
Parking lots are not prominent.
Athletics facilities at the southern end.

Not related, but Gerald J. Ford Stadium is shown with a closed south end.

Hopefully SMU football starts winning and eventually 45,000 seats are needed.

couch 'em · Post by **couch 'em** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:44 am

This doesn't make sense. They are going to eat up that much land for that tiny library? "Located just five miles north of downtown Dallas on approximately 25 acres on the SMU campus, the Bush Presidential Center will overlook the downtown skyline of Dallas and serve as the eastern entrance to the university campus." Don't Presidential libraries typically sit on hundreds of acres? This is on 25 acres, and most of that is landscaping? This building looks smaller than the Dedman center.

ponyboy · Post by **ponyboy** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:47 am

Putting aside politics, this is going to be a nice little spruce up for the campus. Didn't realize that the aged and dinky row of houses on the north side of Yale, er, SMU Blvd. would be gone. And it looks like they're going to do a serious planting of trees on SMU Blvd. and Binkley even away from the library site.

ponyboy · Post by **ponyboy** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:48 am

Or maybe those plans change a bit: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 5aa4a.html

abezontar · Post by **abezontar** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:54 am

Anyone else think all the new trees are to try to hide the frat houses?

smupony94 · Post by **smupony94** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:08 am

abezontar wrote:Anyone else think all the new trees are to try to hide the frat houses?

It is to hide W partying over there

Dooby · Post by **Dooby** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:14 am

There is no way that is the final site plan.

jtstang · Post by **jtstang** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:35 am

abezontar wrote:Anyone else think all the new trees are to try to hide the frat houses?

Not trees, coca plants. Part of the museum exhibits, actually.

ponyboy · Post by **ponyboy** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:55 am

If you find a 42 year old man trying to harvest said "trees" in the middle of the night, pay no attention. It's not me.

couch 'em · Post by **couch 'em** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:25 pm

Isn't the price tag going to be 500 million? Impossible that that building is 500 mil. Maybe the facility will be mostly a large underground complex? Tons of space undergound, and leaves above ground space for the landscaping, athletic fields, and future football practice facility.

ponyte · Post by **ponyte** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:23 pm

Clinton's library is on 28 acres. It cost $165 million when completed in 2004. Of course Little Rock real estate and construction cost may differ from Dallas. Also, there have been additions not calculated into the above mentioned cost. There have been buildings added to accommodate the artifacts (over 80,000) as well as documents (including emails). The city donated a lot of land and help create a 'park' so that cost may not be reflected in the $165.

couch 'em · Post by **couch 'em** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:43 pm

ponyte wrote:Clinton's library is on 28 acres. It cost $165 million when completed in 2004. Of course Little Rock real estate and construction cost may differ from Dallas. Also, there have been additions not calculated into the above mentioned cost. There have been buildings added to accommodate the artifacts (over 80,000) as well as documents (including emails). The city donated a lot of land and help create a 'park' so that cost may not be reflected in the $165.

How much of the 28 acres is building vs greenspace?

mrydel · Post by **mrydel** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:03 pm

couch 'em wrote:
ponyte wrote:Clinton's library is on 28 acres. It cost $165 million when completed in 2004. Of course Little Rock real estate and construction cost may differ from Dallas. Also, there have been additions not calculated into the above mentioned cost. There have been buildings added to accommodate the artifacts (over 80,000) as well as documents (including emails). The city donated a lot of land and help create a 'park' so that cost may not be reflected in the $165.
How much of the 28 acres is building vs greenspace?

It is not greenspace, it is in space. If you have ever seen it, it looks like a mobile home on stilts sticking out over the Arkansas River. I have never been on the site, maybe ponyte has, but from what I have seen from a distance is a large parking lot and a suspended in air building. It was built in an industrial section of town that was primarily abandoned buildings. Although designated as a park, it does not look like a park. Good job of revitalizng an unused area, but not what you would call a beautiful site.

ponyte · Post by **ponyte** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:07 pm

A pretty fair amount is 'park'. There is one major building (the trailer home on the river) and then the think tank/school building (an old railroad depot). The majority is open green and parking lots. Recently another building was added to house artifacts. It was in an undeveloped area so it didn't affect the green or other buildings. It sure didn't affect the parking lots.

The area where the library was build replaced an old warehouse, industrial section of town. The library was a welcome addition to that part of town.

Based on the artist rendering of the Bush complex, the Clinton library doesn├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓÇ₧┬ót have tennis courts, soccer field or football field. One wonders if those fields are planned to draw more urban activity to the Bush library area. There aren├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓÇ₧┬ót any solid family neighbors around the Clinton library and open space isn├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓÇ₧┬ót as big an issue in LR as it may be in Dallas. Some of the open space associated with the Bush facility may be a design to provide urbanites a more open and outdoor activity friendly environment. That isn├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓÇ₧┬ót as big a need in LR. Not being an urban planner, I simply speculate why there are some landscaping differences.

If one uses MapQuest search for Little Rock AR. This will take one to the downtown area of LR. The star usually is on the Capital building. Move east until one finds I-30. At the point where I-30 meets the Arkansas River, just to the east of I-30 is the Clinton Library complex. One can see how much is building, green, parking lot, undeveloped and so forth.

ponyte · Post by **ponyte** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:14 pm

mrydel wrote:
couch 'em wrote:
ponyte wrote:Clinton's library is on 28 acres. It cost $165 million when completed in 2004. Of course Little Rock real estate and construction cost may differ from Dallas. Also, there have been additions not calculated into the above mentioned cost. There have been buildings added to accommodate the artifacts (over 80,000) as well as documents (including emails). The city donated a lot of land and help create a 'park' so that cost may not be reflected in the $165.
How much of the 28 acres is building vs greenspace?
It is not greenspace, it is in space. If you have ever seen it, it looks like a mobile home on stilts sticking out over the Arkansas River. I have never been on the site, maybe ponyte has, but from what I have seen from a distance is a large parking lot and a suspended in air building. It was built in an industrial section of town that was primarily abandoned buildings. Although designated as a park, it does not look like a park. Good job of revitalizng an unused area, but not what you would call a beautiful site.

I have been a couple of times. I would recommend it. They currently have a chopper exhibition and there area some really rad bikes. Love him or hate him, there is a nice timeline of his administration and the events surrounding his administration. The White House schedule is available to the public (and no, it didn't have Monica scheduled the day Clinton got his Lewinsky). There is a life size mock up of the Oval office (other libraries do not have a full size mock up). And there is a replica of the Cabinet room. One can actually sit in the chairs and such in this room. It is an interesting place and available to the public for receptions, parties and such. Dallas may not need another party place but it sure has helped us folks in Arkansas when entertaining folks from outside the state.