LOOK - The old marker! No wonder planted too close to the building. Ugh.

I googled and only found it with 2 i, 6ft x 10 ft., slow grower.

Fall 2017 - 18" x 18" shrub. Clip rear-most growth?

Fall 2018, 2019, 2020 - Look ok?

Fall 2021 overgrown, battle to keep in space.

Thoughts? A lot going on in this area right now and want to keep the thirsty roots in place until rest of area is done. Then decide what to do. foolish?

sounds about right, I would plant something smaller. Maybe something smaller like Chinese Holly 'Compacta' or maybe nandina 'firepower'.

I really like both those choices! What wasn't shown in my photos is that the building is about 40 ft high. Would you still go with a smaller shrub?

When you are ready to replant, do so much farther from the building. A minimum bed depth of 6'-10' to look decent on a 3-story building.

NHBabs Thank you, will do that. Shrubs 3 - 3.5 f from bldg? Kept 5 ft tall? with shorter stuff in front?

This photo shows the back of the building, doors are emergency exit. Unit entries are on the side of the building, up the walk

Yes, exterior of shrubs when full grown at least 2' from building, and better 3'-3.5' and only short stuff along the fire door. Why limit to 5' tall? Perhaps a flowering tree off the left front corner, and yes, I'd put a shorter set of plants in front with flowers or contrasting foliage. This is a case where the building itself isn't handsome, so a garden to distract from the pedestrian architecture can improve the overall look.

You could also go with the normal ilex cornuta (chinese holly) and keep the natural shape. You could also stick with the smaller shrubs and incorporate small trees like weeping cherry, needle palm,kousa dogwood, saucer magnolia, and weeping mulberry.

Thank you NHBabs and Caldwell. I will mull those suggestions over. I love the idea of flowering tree. Want to stay modern / MCM-ish. I need low maintenance, maybe 1x year trim/prune. My holly elsewhere are spindly. I have various juniper, burning bush, yew, liriope, azalea and rhododendron that love it here. wicked cray soil. acidic. This is the view from across the street.

it's ok to be brutal. We are going to do more tree trimming in September, but not remove any yet. I am trying to develop an overall plan to implement in stages

The tag that says 18" to 24" refers to how large it was when sold rather than the height when 10 years old.

I have the exact same variety, brownii, that is 8ft. tall and 10 ft wide with very little pruning after about 15 years in the ground.

I would leave the existing trees alone. They looks healthy.

http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/tree-topping-what-you-dont-know-is-killing-your-trees/

Dalton, take photos of the tree as a whole, leaf close-ups, bark, and any seeds or flowers and post on the Name that Plant forum for an ID.

I don't have enough info to decide whether it needs to be removed: space available, distance from buildings, utilities, sidewalks, etc, etc, but I typically don't have trees removed until they seem likely to soon cause an issue. However, I live in a rural area, and considerations of cost of removal, other issues such as location of hazards such as overhead wires, buildings, other trees, etc. may influence your decision and are probably different in your more populated area.

For an ID, I would post in the trees forum.