The Demolition of the government Research Center on Crescent St.
Originally Published Sep. 12, 2021
For some time now, anyone walking along Crescent Street in the north of Courdelane will have noticed a rather large, fenced-off structure right next to the Imperia Complex.
Named, quite creatively, the “Courdelane Military Research Center”, it was never very clear to me just what exactly they were doing in there, and looking through the windows through the years it seems to me as if most of the building sat empty for its entire lifetime.
As can be seen from the last image, the building was definately more flattering from the front, whereas walking past the back end of the building along New World Road just made you feel somewhat… unsettled, from the sheer brutalism of it.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when I first saw the building appear along Crescent Street, but it must have been sometime in the mid-1980s, since I have some pictures I took from the late 70s about Crescent Street where it’s an empty lot.
My photo from ca. 1978 of Crescent Street
Yes, in the late 70s I was still using my parents’ camera from the 1950s.
But as you can see here, the lot that would soon become the Government Military Research Center was nothing but overgrown bush.
Some additional context behind this picture actually: This is the modern intersection between Crescent and Mountain Pass Rd., but at the time Mountain Pass didn’t actually go all the way to Grogar National Park (whose only entrance at the time was the current Western entrance) and so it was called Economic Road because at the time of construction the Courdelane government planned for the area now home to the Lucius and Imperia Complex to be more like Leadership Park in that they expected it to be a large financial hub. However, by the 90s and the construction of the Lucius and old Crescent Resort it became apparent that the area was going to be more of a tourist destination than a financial center, so they extended Economic Road out to Grogar National Park and New World Road and rebranded it Mountain Pass.
And then of course nobody seems to realize that Emerald Tower, seen here on the Left hand side of the picture, has been on that peninsula of its since the 60s with a surprisingly small amount of remodeling.
Getting back on track, the site of the former Government Research Center is now being redeveloped into a shopping center/housing complex called Sparks Center, with the main sign, central fire pit, and Light Rail station currently completed, and the rest of the land visibly reserved for their tenants.
Once Sparks Center is entirely completed I’ll write an article about it, since it already contains the most luxurious Light Rail station in the city.