[G-man430’s “stop hogging it all” drone update.]

20 minutes ago, Crucial_Infra said:

I used to work in the old AAA building 30 years ago and the whole area is just unrecognizable to me now 

Worked at the same building - 720 Morehead - 25 years ago as well and couldn't agree more - its unrecognizable.  Ate lunch at Longhorn and Frankies quite a bit - both long gone.   Don't get down to that area as much now but every time I do, I cannot believe the changes. 

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

27 minutes ago, cowboy_wilhelm said:

or is the NCDOT obsolete ??? 

They are incompetent.   Especially when it comes to addressing the needs of the state's large urban centers.  

[Charlotte area population statistics]

On 12/14/2022 at 1:27 PM, Hushpuppy321 said:

Looking for it - should’ve copied the link but it’s on here within the last page or two.  I believe it was the Census estimate for 2021 which showed much slower population growth for Mecklenburg County.  Wake still pulling them in big time each year.

This link shows a good compare.  It's a good tool - can compare side-by-side multiple cities, counties, etc.  Mecklenburg growing much slower, but if you look at Cabarrus, York, Union and Gaston - all growing at a solid clip.  I pulled up the 4 large Atlanta metro counties all but 1 (Gwinnett) show population loss.  Gwinnett grew but very slow like Mecklenburg. 

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/wakecountynorthcarolina,mecklenburgcountynorthcarolina/PST045221

[Pearl District - Atrium/Wake Forest School of Medicine]

Atrium was never CMC.  CMC (Carolinas Medical Center) refers to the flagship hospital in midtown and is still called CMC today, only with the Atrium Health name added ("Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center" or CMC).  The health system was formerly known as Carolinas Healthcare System (CHS) before changing to Atrium.  There was quite a bit of brand confusion over the years with CHS, CMC, CMC Main (it was never officially called "Main" but the name stuck) and even more confusion when CMC was added in front of Pineville, University Hospital, NorthEast (Cabarrus), etc.    All the CMC's rolled into CHS. 

The Atrium name has a tie into healthcare - atrium of the heart - and that was one driver of the name.  KJHBurg is also correct, there was a linkage to the architecture term atrium, which is typically an open space with natural light.  The light represents healing.  Personally, I think Atrium is a great brand and is much more suited to the organization it has become.   As another poster said CMC (and CHS) reflects the region well, but Atrium grew outside of the Carolinas - beginning with Georgia.  Its continued growth beyond this region required a brand which wouldn't limit growth to a specific area.  So....CHS became Atrium Health.

Atrium Health today - with the Advocate Aurora deal - has doubled in size and we are very fortunately the headquarters is here in Charlotte.  With the Wake Forest school of medicine, the changes they are bringing to that area of mid-town (which was unremarkable at best) and its investment in the region as a whole - few cities can claim a corporate asset like we have with Atrium / Advocate Health.   While the banks were the key drivers of Charlotte becoming what it is today, I would place Atrium high on the list of companies that have impacted Charlotte.  In the future,  I believe they will be a significant if not leading driver of Charlotte's growth - more impactful than the banks -  as they bring high-tech research jobs and related industries to the region that we would never have been able to realize without Atrium and the school of medicine.  Its really mind-blowing the impact one school - and the related investment of Atrium into research - will have. 

[Isn't it time for Carowinds to be redeveloped?]

Growing up during the 70's / early 80's in Asheville....Carowinds (I thought it was spelled Carrowinds until I moved here in the 90's - never got that Caro was for Carolina) was always a trip I would look forward to.  Church youth group crammed in a van with no AC, school weekend trip on a big yellow school bus driving 30 mph down the interstate and then eventually driving with friends when I was a teenager - I always remember hitting 2-lane I-77 south and knew it wasn't much longer until I could ride White Lightening, Thunder Road, the Eastern Airlines Skytower and jump over the line from NC to SC at the main entrance.  I went the first year it opened and every year throughout childhood.  After moving here, spent another 20 or so years taking my kids all summer including the water park.  Jimmy Buffett concerts were the greatest - would camp out in my car at the main entrance waiting for the gates to open to get a shot at great seats.  What a wonderful attraction to have so close and for so many generations to take advantage of.   Its never going to be a Disneyworld - and don't want it to be - but it is exactly what this region and the Carolinas need.  

The OP may be trolling, but this thread brought back some great memories!

[The Coronavirus thread]

8 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

My business was closed because of one main reason: nobody was distancing. I had masks, and was wearing one myself, but was ridiculed.  My masks arrived from a vendor in Taiwan who was familiar with  SARS and virus transmissions. I have several surgeon friends, and a couple of dentists friends whom I consulted.  All agreed masks are valid tools in the war against spreading the virus. If the underfunded CDC and Trump said "no masks", then that goes toward what I said before,  if we had used common sense from the beginning we could've kept a lot of the spread under control.   I stand by my point.

I agree with you 100% - its about common sense. Regardless of one's view on masks at the time, if early in the crisis you as a business owner deemed that as a requirement of doing business, you had every right to do so and people should either respect it or choose to  do business elsewhere.   While much of the reaction in the beginning (closures, stay at home orders) was due to the unknown, it is unfortunate that that we could not come together as a country and find common ground, agreement and compliance on safety measures to keep things open, protect the vulnerable and lesson transmission with the general population until the vaccines arrived.   What you describe does that - a common sense approach.   Our political divisions then and now continue to be a hinderance to achieving this but its on both sides of the spectrum.  Its not just the "you ain't gonna tell me what to do"  Americans, but also "I'm smarter and more virtuous than you and you are going to do as I say" Americans.   Politicians have always created divisions but Americans have in the past transcended politics, I wish we could do so today and become one America again.   

[The Coronavirus thread]

2 hours ago, urbanlover568 said:

FACTS

 

Nice video but unclear as to what that has to do with my comment?   We were told not to wear masks in March of 2020.  That’s a FACT.   We were told 15 days to slow the spread but here we sit a year later.  That’s another FACT.   I had no political commentary in there whatsoever and never brought up Trump. 

However, I assume your post and video was another “orange man bad” commentary meant to end any discussion and debate that doesn’t fit a narrative or makes you uncomfortable.  Which is par for the course these days and a sad commentary on where we are.   

I would still like to understand from @Windsurfer the comment re: masks and how in March of 2020 not wearing them caused us to shutdown.  I’m curious and would like to engage in a discussion.   Don’t need a Trump video.  
 

[The Coronavirus thread]

1 hour ago, Windsurfer said:

Minimize those "risks".  Wear masks, keep some distance and use common sense.  If we'd have done that in the beginning there'd not have been mandates to "close businesses" etc. But, no, we have selfish and short-sighted folks who can't do the right thing because they believe their rights are being trampled.  I closed my business in March because of customers and employees alike refusing to wear masks. It was a simple request.  Just wasn't worth the fight in the end. Many of my customers also carry, so that added yet another layer to, 'you ain't gonna tell me what to do'.   Americans are our own worst enemies.

If we had "done that in the beginning"?  You mean March of last year - the same month we were told by the CDC, Fauci and the media that masks should not be worn / were not necessary for the general public?  Businesses were not closed because people refused to wear masks.  They were closed because we didn't know what we were dealing with and we needed "15 days to slow the spread".  15 days.  Its been a year.   

[Drinking Beer in Charlotte]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

/old man screams at clouds/

I was back at Haberdish for the first time in a while yesterday. The food was really good,  but I think I am seeing a trend of crappy tap curation in local restaurants and it is making me sad. Other than Gordgeous (and maybe the Fullsteam pilsner) there was nothing else local (or truly micro) on the beer list.  When the beer list is anchored by Founders All Day, Wicked Weed Pernicious and Bud Light, I really get the feeling that the bar manager is just phoning it in. Unfortunately I am starting to see this kind of tap curation in restaurants all over town — one token local and then a bunch of mediocre macros in disguise.  We live in a really good beer town, why aren”t restaurant managers seeing that?

/rant/

Agree. I love both Haberdish and Crepe Cellar, but they both have never had  much of a local beer selection.  Have not frequented Growlers Pourhouse so not sure if they provide a broad selection there.   Let’s hope Supperland ups their game with more local choices.  

[Brevard @ 4th St - Moxy Hotel - 20 Story - 226ft tower]

13 minutes ago, jtmonk said:

Let's count.  These are for tower cranes, not boom cranes.

Uptown:  Marriott - 1 crane, 2LU - 1 crane, 3LU - 1 crane, FNB - 1 crane, Fed Courthouse - 2 cranes, 500 W Trade - 2 cranes, Intercontinental - 1 crane, Ellis - 3 cranes.   12 cranes total

Southend: Broadstone - 1 crane, Spectrum - 2 cranes, Lowes - 1 crane.   4 cranes total

Midtown - Novant - 1 crane, CPCC - 2 cranes, Pappas - 1 crane  4 cranes total

Optimist Park - Ulta Purl - 1 crane

South Park - Apex - 2 cranes

So far that's 23 cranes around town.  Where are some others?  Montford? Ballantyne? Airport?  I'm sure there's a few more scattered around.  

Marriott at UNCC - 1 crane

Park Road - 1  crane

25 now.

[I-485 Development (Prosperity Village, Riverbend, Crosswind, etc)]

10 hours ago, KJHburg said:

However Union County nearby has grown exponentially as has southern Cabarrus county all part of the trade area for a retail center here.  

The new Farmington development - just up 485 at Rocky River / Harrisburg a few minutes from Mint Hill - will fill that retail gap.  Dirt is turning now with a lot of activity.  New road is already being cut through. 

[Charlotte Supermarkets]

27 minutes ago, kermit said:

Ingles prefers to steer clear of large markets. They don’t have the heft necessary to compete with anybody on price and their Appalachian market area means that they can’t position themselves at the top end of any market either. Combine unfortunate market positioning with the  bleak demographic future of most of their market areas and you can see that Ingles does not have long left.

Ingles is in the metro Atlanta market, albeit not a large footprint.  They do prefer the smaller urban markets such as Greenville and Asheville (where they are based) and then of course the more rural areas where they may be the only grocer besides Food Lion.  I think they are doing quite well though and not sure why their market areas have a bleak future - I see the opposite.   Are you saying you don't see them surviving at all or that they are a target of acquisition? 

[Drinking Beer in Charlotte]

8 hours ago, kermit said:

I really like NoDa Radio Haze.

(said to no one in particular)

Drinking it now and I concur.  Best hazy IPA I think I have had. Ever. 

[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

Good article packed with information.  Potential for CLT - China service, mentions the possibility of AA expanding CLT to Europe with the smaller planes, O&D traffic continues to grow. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2019/06/28/could-charlotte-get-flights-to-china-and-europe-thanks-to-new-beijing-airport-and-airbus-a321xrl/

[Charlotte area population statistics]

6 hours ago, Temeteron said:

Jacksonville shouldn’t even be on there.  Their square miles are over twice as much.  Then again it can be said that it’s an unfair comparison about ours with other cities that have bigger metros but smaller city propers like Atlanta, St. Louis, Denver and Seattle.  

Jacksonville's city population is inflated due to it being a consolidated city-county.  The numbers reflect almost the entire population of Duval county.  Indianapolis is a consolidated city-county as well, but their county (Marion) land area is much smaller than Duval.  Jacksonville's population density is half that of Indianapolis and Charlotte. 

[The Good News Report]

19 minutes ago, kermit said:

Med School on the way! (per Observer)

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article229060864.html

But there are still many asterix's (sounds like a branch of Wake Forest Baptist). Not the kinda thing that will bring much research.

Atrium already does significant research - this will broaden and expand that and open up additional opportunities which come with being part of Wake Forest University.   This is very different from the branch program with UNC. 

[SouthPark neighborhood Projects]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

We need a crane count thread but only in place permanent cranes I saw 2 at the Novant medical office bldg today on Queens and 4th.

25 by my count:  Uptown 9 (KJHburg count), Southpark 6 (KJH), Novant Presby 3, Atrium Midtown at Kenilworth 1, Park Road 1, University City 1, Providence Rd 1 (was still there 2 weeks ago), Southend 2 and then Unknown 1 (I see this one way off in the distance from my office in Midtown, looking towards the southwest). 

 

[Good New Restaurants]

First post for me here on UP!  Wanted to share this write-up on Charlotte's developing food scene. 

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/11/16/can-charlotte-nc-become-a-great-food-city/