Renderings of the proposed CentrePointe project by EOP Architects.
Lexington, KY - Lexington-based architectural firm EOP has ended its involvement with the CentrePointe project in downtown Lexington.
A statement from the firm reads: "After much consideration, EOP regretfully made the decision to halt the firm’s further involvement with the CenterPointe project. This decision was based upon a number of factors all of which are fundamental to the firm’s culture and design philosophy. The importance of the CentrePointe project to the future of Lexington is inimitable and EOP sincerely hopes that its potential and opportunities will ultimately be realized."
The company's marketing director Mark Henderson Thompson declined further comment other than to say developer Dudley Webb has indicated the project will continue as planned, which includes an expected ground breaking next month and that he did not know who has been brought on to complete the design in place of EOP.
A call to Webb was not immediately returned.
Last month Rick Ekhoff, design principal for EOP Architects, helped get approval for the design of CentrePointe, the long awaited downtown project that has undergone numerous design changes since originally being announced in the spring of 2008.
Ekhoff verbally sparred with members of the Court House Design Review Board during the three hour meeting in August that saw the board hesitantly grant approval to the design, pending changes in the exterior of a seven story apartment building, with a 2-1 vote, while the board's architect abstained.
At the time, Ekhoff called the hotel portion of the design a "placeholder," and in one exchange with the panel's members said he would "die for design excellence."
“We had to submit something. We were given two weeks. It's a placeholder, but we have to get approval on the placeholder," Ekhoff said in the meeting last month.