Wynwood Design and Review Committee - Regular Meeting

So on the night image, is there a requirement for the sign to be able to be lit so people would have an idea? I mean, otherwise, personally, I think it looks cool. I love the glass block.

Chair, I move for approval of the package as presented.

I have the presentation here. Oh, you have it there? OK. We don't have an interior picture.

So I just had to take a moment to look at some of the adjacent ones. So Legacy, they went with the larger, they have that bull or whatever animal head that's there. And then I think the other one is like Pinrod where it's pink and it's got the logo. I think in my recommendation is that they go back and look to see if they can increase the aluminum plate, try and do something, because the font is corporate. They're not even trying to make an attempt with construction materials to make it a bit more artistic. To your point, I understand where you added murals on the inside, but when the lights a

Just show them the rejection from our team and let them know that the city had opinions about their sign and remind them that Starbucks came by and tried to go through the process and they made some changes to their, you know, they come.

So I don't think it's, and again, I'm not speaking for the rest of my committee here, but I don't think it's the location. I think it's the signs. So, like, as much as I appreciate, you know, as the architect, you advocating to the entity that inside you want to be Wynwood, we are more concerned about outside of maintaining the artistic nature of the district. And I think in large part that our intention is they could try to find a way that allows them to keep their branded logo and adding a little whether it is adding a ripple of color or something, because what is Wynwood? It is the graphics

I'm not trying to disagree with you. I guess I'm trying to understand if they, so it seems like you want color. So if they change the, I'm not putting words in their mouth, but if they change the color, how does that make that more artistic than white?

So again, we're taking this with a grain of salt, right? You've already said this is a corporate logo. We're trying to, I don't care if you use materials, I don't care if you use color, that's up to you guys to see what they're okay with. But if the Starbucks of the world can do something similar when they have locations in Soho, because the area by its nature is supposed to be different, this is... where we're asking you to encourage them to be more creative, I think that's what we're looking for as a board. I don't care what you do. I think doing nothing is just not something we're going to

I wasn't here for Starbucks, so clearly you guys were. Can we give them an idea? I'm trying to help them so that we can, they can open a business and they can be successful. So can we give them an idea?

A sign doesn't mean that they don't open their business. Sure.

Well, I mean, we give them, can we give them some background as to how Starbucks changed their sign? I've walked by all the time, but I don't know that I've noticed it being different than a normal Starbucks.

Yeah, it was, Starbucks is just an example. It was extremely frustrating for us, you know, through seeing Wynwood change and ultimately, you know, They made some sacrifices in the artistic. They put a mural in front, which was, to me, not that great, but they made an effort is the point that we're trying to make. Whether it came out at the end good or not.

But their Starbucks sign is the green Starbucks sign.

No, it was that they added a mural in addition to the sign.

I'm saying, I don't know, guys, the bottom of this canopy, they could ask the landlord for permission to maybe do something at the bottom of the canopy or use the edge of the canopy or use the columns. I mean, there's a thousand things that they can do. We're reacting to the sign. We're not giving them advice on art.

But this isn't a facade permit. This is a sign permit.

Okay, and we're saying we don't like the sign.

But I'm going to motion to vote on this.

Right. So we can all vote now and move on, or we can have a conversation about it.

The sign's 12 inches. I think it looks bigger than when it... If they're saying it's 12 inches, this is 12 inches.

To argue towards your point, which is important, is that what happened with Starbucks is they came back, they were supposed to come back and show us the change or just do a mural. And the mural that they ended up doing wasn't that great. So it was like a double whammy where we had a bad sign that was, not a bad sign, but a corporate sign and a bad mural. So it ended up being... the outcome ended up being worse because we argued for a mural that ended up being not that great.

But as someone who's a landlord and has been a landlord for a long time, when you're dealing with a company that's got 5,000 locations, I ran a business that had 2,500 locations. Our sign was our sign. If Starbucks has the green sign up, how can we not allow Paris Baguette to have their corporate sign up?

It's a valid argument. That's what we're here for, is try to figure out how to keep the identity of the neighborhood

The landlord here in this case has built a building that they have their storefronts glass. So there's only so much they can do with their storefront. The building getting their WDRC approval, maybe then there should have been more art incorporated into the facade. Here it's all glass. They have a 20, 25 foot wide storefront.

But in Legacy's example, that's their logo. They use their logo, and the letters happen to be white also. And so they're using their corporate logo for their sign. It's no different than what's trying to be done here.

So, Chair, I retract my motion. And if you wanna call for the question, someone else would like to provide a new motion, then we can vote.

Okay, can I ask you a question? Would you be willing, as a condition for approval, to agree to keep your lights on at nighttime? So I'll make a motion to approve with conditions that the store needs to be lit at night to allow for pedestrians to see the artwork. Interior lighting.

And it says Nino Gordo Wynwood. Is that the mural? It's on the cock-a-drow, and how big is that?

Okay. And the staff just, what's being approved? Just the aspect that he's now done artwork to the facade? Yeah.

Nice work. Thank you so much. Looks great. Thank you so much.