Instead, board members asked Vibrant Cities to come up with more documentation showing why Bush Garden could not be preserved, and a plan to honor the building’s significance. Most Board members agreed with Hsie that the proposal to keep the western facade as part of Jasmine did not meet the standards for restoring a historic property, and as a gesture to honor the building’s history and cultural significance, was insufficient. A diagram showing How Vibrant Cities proposed to reconstruct the western facade of Bush Garden to incorporate it into the Jasmine building “The brick will look exactly the same but it’s more safe,” said Bruce Zhong of DCI Engineers, a partner on Jasmine with Vibrant Cities. On October 22, Vibrant Cities explained that this would be accomplished by demolishing the entire building, labeling the bricks of the western facade, then restoring them in place in front of a more durable building frame.
“If you had told me at the first meeting that your plan to honor Bush Garden and the history there was just to put the facade back, I would not have been in support of that,” she said.Īt previous meetings, Vibrant Cities suggested it would preserve Bush Garden’s western facade.
“We haven’t gotten the information we needed, and in turn we haven’t given you clear enough direction, which has misled you towards moving forward,” Hsie said. This understanding was wrong, said ISRD board chair Stephanie Hsie during the meeting. Vibrant Cities presented its latest proposals for Jasmine’s design with the understanding that the ISRD board approved of incorporating the western front (facade) of the Bush Garden building into the new project. Real estate developer Vibrant Cities maintains that the building housing Bush Garden restaurant and bar - which the developers intend to demolish to build Jasmine, a 17 story building consisting of apartments and ground-floor retail in its place - is in such poor shape that it cannot be preserved or rehabilitated.ĭuring a design review briefing for the project on October 22, members of the International Review District (ISRD) board - which reviews alterations to buildings and new constructions in the Chinatown International District (CID) - said before they could consider the design of Jasmine, they needed more information about why the historic building could not be saved. A rendering of Jasmine, the proposed 17-story project planned on the site of Bush Garden