Lexington Deserves Better
Lexington has long suffered at the hands of developers who don’t value or respect the way a downtown should look and feel.
In the most recent example, CVS has proposed building a suburban CVS at the entrance to our downtown, in between Main and Vine. This site is one of the most crucial in downtown Lexington. The buildings at this intersection set the tone for most visitors entering Main Street and downtown Lexington.
A suburban CVS has no place in our downtown. CVS should deliver a store appropriate for an urban location. We know they can do it — they do it in most major metropolitan areas — and when pressured, they also do it in smaller cities. We need to apply that pressure, now — before a design is finalized.
Join us by signing your name to the petition below. Pledge to never shop at a downtown CVS if they build a suburban CVS in our crucial downtown location. We’ll deliver this petition to Mayor Newberry, in the hopes that he will care enough about this crucial entrance to our city and call CVS on behalf of all Lexingtonians to encourage them to reconsider their inappropriate design.
What’s wrong with the current design?
Primarily, the design reflects a far greater effort to stamp the building with the CVS brand than to respect and respond to the downtown context.
For example: The synthetic stucco arches have no architectural integrity, make no reference to any architectural idea or form, and yet they are dominant elements. Simply put, the arches are CVS signage, without the letters.
The false windows with the pseudo arched tops are arbitrary quotes from building types dating from the late 19th century. When plastered on a building like this, they have a Disney-esque quality: they reek of a tepid attempt to introduce quaintness.
The city and state need to work out a better way for pedestrians to walk from the east to this location. It is a frightening experience trying to cross that intersection, and it is just a matter of time before a tragic accident will result from failure to address this deficiency, because the new drugstore will attract considerable foot traffic from the residential areas immediately to the east.
CVS store in Huntersville, North Carolina - A much better alternative design
