queensguy06

Ummmm..... RV is in Fort Mill...of course they lived in the suburbs. My guess is.....FORT MILL, and Ballentyne/Indianland to a lesser extent. When I worked downtown guess where most of those millenials (me included) lived? I can't name one of my friends/co-workers that lived further out than the ring neighborhoods. I even had a couple friends who did a reverse commute to Monroe and Arrowood Rd area. Fun fact: four of us all ended up out here in downtown Denver over the course of a year and a half for various reasons (mostly work).

If you're the state, why would you not back all three proposals and give equal treatment to said three? You're supplying Amazon with three distinctly different options, upping the chances of the state to land HQ2. Sure, the RFP had some specifics for choosing a city, but all in all it is quite vague. And that's on purpose - it gives amazon plenty of wiggle room to say "city X met most of our requirements" when I think tax and economic incentives will truly be what lands the company. That's why you've seen such a wide range of cities listed in the 'top 10 choices' that varies from one news article to another. Denver, Toronto, Austin, Boston, Baltimore - even just these five are considerably unique from one another. Back to the state's perspective - another way to think about it is like buying a home. Rarely does a realtor show a client one property and say', "welp, that's all I got." They will show you multiple properties with varying degrees of difference, all within your price range. Because ultimately they don't care what house you choose - just that you buy from them.

It will be interesting to see how much mass transit plays a role in the final decision. While I think it has some great upside when pitching a city, I don't think it will ultimately be a deciding factor when weighed against other proposal elements. Meaning, I think the triangle/Raleigh has as much of a chance as Charlotte when all is said and done. To put this into perspective, if we put all things equal outside of transit, Charlotte wouldn't have a chance even with cities of comparable size. Take Denver as a prime example (link to rail map). Not only is there bus service leaps and bounds more expansive and we'll served than Charlotte's (and I mean night and day how much different), but also Denver has 8 existing light rail lines, one heavy rail line from downtown to the airport, one line under construction, and plans for two additional heavy rail lines and 3 light rail extensions. Charlotte has one light rail line, one under construction, no train to the airport, and no real concrete plans for any sort of commuter rail - it will shock me if the red line is completed within a decade. So as much as some are saying Raleigh lacks the transit infrastructure, the same could clearly be said about Charlotte. Having said all that, if you put an economic proposal together that outweighs a city like Denver, and you make concerted efforts to build transit infrastructure as the HQ2 grows over a decade or two, you absolutely can win the bidding process. Anecdoteally, it's not like Settle's rail/bus transit is anything to write home about. Personally, I think it is pretty on par with Charlotte's; you may be able to make the argument that it is marginally better. However, no one would use that in making any drastic business decisions.

Has anyone been by to check progress of utility work/site prep? This has got to be one of the slowest projects I can recall in Charlotte...not to mention the Area 51 level secrecy that seems to hover over what has been described as a rather bland, sub 30 story office tower with a slightly above average (for Uptown) amount of retail space at its base.

I second this. Additionally, I'd like the city to commit to a dedicated rail line to the airport should Charlotte win the bid to be built in tandem with phase 1 of HQ2. One glaring mismatch with other potential cities is a rail link with their major airport, which I don't think can be understated. As kermit touched on, along with great tax incentives it's going to take some creative proposal ideas to have charlotte (or any candidate city) separate themselves from the competition.

Im curious where your data is derived from. According to the Urban Land Institute (cited in This Time article from June), Charlotte ranks 18th in relative growth of population of 25-34 year olds. Still not too shabby, but behind even Raleigh and a far cry from #1 "in the country." I think a lot of people are relatively naive about geography when it comes to "the West Coast." For starters, I don't think people realize that it is roughly the same distance from Charlotte to Denver (1500 miles) as it is from Denver to Seattle (1300 miles). I personally believe Denver is in the top 3 candidates for HQ2 for various reasons, all of which are based on statistical data. I'd love to see Charlotte land Amazon, but as someone else mentioned they are the quintessential dark horse candidate. I am all for rooting for the home team, however gratuitous 'fanboy' banter passing anecdotal info off as fact is not only sophomoric at its most basic, but also counterproductive to the outcome we see as our ultimate goal. Having said that, this is just my two cents and I will certainly eat crow if/when Charlotte is announced the winner later on in 2018.

For anyone interested, here is the Amazon HQ2 RFP that outlines all requirements for proposals.

Of the over dozen articles on the HQ2 location I've read, only one mentions charlotte in the hunt - PC World. While there might be an outside chance for Charlotte, I still think cities like Denver, Toronto, Boston, Austin, and Baltimore all have a much greater chance of landing Amazon. Also, I think people are putting way too much emphasis on this being an East coast headquarters. Amazon is an e-commerce business. The state of technology today, coupled with their vast distribution network and the fact that most of these jobs will be in the programming field means you could put this facility in ANY location with an international airport. EDIT: for the record, my gut says Denver. But boy would it be cool if charlotte landed HQ2.

According to the BizJournal, this project isn't slated to break ground until July 2018 with completion of phase 1 in July 2020. It might be a while till we see some solid renderings. I do like the concept of this development and really want to see how the private "Market Street" with retail will turn out once we get final design of phase two. And that could include a commercial all high rise or hotel, as well.

I have to echo what kermit touched on. I feel the lack of platforms/train berthings is very short sighted, with not a lot of room in the way of future expansion when it will be necessary down the road. While it says commuter rail is not going to be a part of this (which I think is another HUGE mistake), just one or two additional routes for this station and it will already be obsolete. I'm glad they are trying to make this an iconic mixed use project - a la Denver Union Station - but it seems like they are neglecting the primary purpose for this project. Hell, Denver Union Station has 7 or 8 berthings for future expansion; one is dedicated to the rail line to the airport. The light rail has its own separate platforms not included in this.

So I was slightly confused before, if someone can clarify for me. The Diehl building was originally under contract to be bought buy Crescent, however since then the building is now owned by another company and no longer in play for the Tryon Place development?? Also, someone might have mentioned air rights...so at some point (or apart of the current plan?) Crescent can build on top of the Diehl building? I guess I'm just confused as to why you would purchase the air rights, but not the decrepit 2 story building on the property itself.

I wouldn't mind seeing something like Denver Pavilions which is in the heart of the 16th Street Mall in Denver (minus the movie theater). It has 40 shops and restaurants/bars, including typical mall fare Express, Gap, Journeys, Sephora, Victoria's Secret, PacSun etc. Additionally they have some local shops mixed in like a chocolate shop, tobacco and fine wine shop, a local burger/draft beer joint, among others. Gotta love the 3 story H&M! It's pretty compact as it's 3 stories of outside store fronts in a double horseshoe configuration, opening up to the 16th Street Mall.

I received a message just yesterday that the building is under contract to be purchased. The last time this parcel was under contract was with Trump, who tried to renegotiate said contract, at which the owners of the building balked and Trump had to pay to break the contract completely.

I've been reading up on Tru - the two main things to take away are that "millennial" is the key word here, and that it is a low cost brand. Room rates are said to be between $75 and $95 a night, if I remember correctly.

I'm still confused by this. Isn't Catalyst 338 feet and 27 floors? How are they able to cram 6 more stories in the same height?

As of right now the weather is saying mostly rain with little/no accumulation of snow and ice. It's supposed to be 50 and sunny on Sunday, so if there is any it will surely melt well before the game at 6:40pm. And to your note Aulukey - remember two years ago when the Super Bowl was in New York they barely dodged a major ice storm. So there still is hope for us!

With construction getting ready to start this year on the ATC tower, are there any renderings floating around for it? I'd imagine we will get something along the lines of ORD's new north or south tower, just taller at 370'. However, it would be pretty awesome if we got something like MIAL or AUH sleek designs.

Is Frontier from CLT to ORD seasonal or is this a new year round route starting up in April? My family is from Chicago and I am going to visit my sister in April. Frontier starts flying a few days a week to ORD mid April. I just booked roundtrip flight leaving on a Wed. and coming back on the following Mon. for $96.50 including taxes. And that's nonstop.

While we are on brutalism, two of my favorites are the Geisel Library and the Barbican Estate in central London. The flats are really open on the inside, and quite large (also expensive as hell). EDIT: Also anything done by Louis Kahn. He probably created some of the most recognizable brutalist buildings. There is a great documentary about his work I highly suggest called "My Architect." Great insight into the architect and the idea behind brutalism in general. Back on topic - with Lincoln Harris having yet to close on the site, are we expecting to see any sort of announcement in 2016? Or is this more likely to sit on the burner until '17-'18? One follow up - are the tentative plans one giant build out, or is this expected to be built in phases due to the size of the property?

Well, if the other courthouses are any indication, here is the scale Charlotte would be looking at for $156 million. San Antonio courthouse is $135 million, Nashville courthouse is $185 million, and the Harrisburg courthouse is $161 million.

In that last picture, what is going on to the left there? Looks like there will be a set of rails branching off on the other side of the fence?

Did this conversation involve any discussion of timelines? Lincoln Harris has some big things moving through the pipeline already (i.e. construction of tower 2 at Capitol, 360 acre redevelopment of Knight's land with Cato) that I would imagine they are going to take their time with the Charlotte Observer site. Especially if it is going to be as large as many people have alluded to. Curious to know announcement plans and possible construction start/completion dates.

From the news reports I've read, it sounds like this was suicide-by-train. They are saying he walked from the platform and laid down over the tracks. Apparently the conductor not only didn't see him, but also didn't know that he had hit anyone. For someone looking to take their own life, I don't think a fence would have done any good here. In all honesty, I would say the safety features implemented have worked admirably considering this is only the second death, of which one is looking like a suicide. How many years has the blue line been open - 8? For city transit in general this has to be the safest way to travel, by far.

If I'm not mistaken, I remember it was imploded. I went and watched it, as did about 1,000 other people - pretty cool site to see. EDIT: Ah, yes - here it is: Convention Center Implosion

Per the original article from the Observer back in Sept. 2014: "Goode Properties is requesting that Charlotte City Council approve a rezoning request to allow a 140-foot-tall building on the site. That’s 40 feet above the site’s current height restrictions. Roy Goode, owner of Goode Properties, said the eight-story building would house the hotel and the office and retail space. He said the building needs to be 140 feet tall or the project wouldn’t make economic sense, given land values and construction costs." While I could possibly see the original denial of the height at a 40 ft. differential, 6 ft. is really just splitting hairs here. Apparently Goode was able to still make this project work at 100 ft. instead of 140' somehow... Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article9164330.html#storylink=cpy