The Park Avenue is a beautiful shoe. Classic, conservative, and well balanced. My only objection is that I think the triple stitch is slightly weird.I can't disagree with you at all. PA is just such a classic American dress shoe, that even if the same price for shell between the two, it is still a good deal. Of course, I may be biased, as the PA was my first GYW shoe in about 1990.
But yeah, I mean, you can't go wrong with the PA, but it's a steal at 150 under in shell cordovan.