rockhilljames

Think for just a moment what you would do if you couldn't go up those "beautiful new steps." As someone who has been denied access to spaces for just that reason I assure you the ADA police are necessary. With a project of this size I'm sure it is fully ADA compliant.

I have no problem with the yellow, but those uneven vertical sections make it look jumbled and haphazard. Maybe the finished product will look better but I'm not encouraged.

Reminds me of this...

It's funny, the first thing I thought of when I saw the rendering was how well it would fit in Denver's skyline. It's nothing but boxes. I don't hate the design, but it's definitely not groundbreaking or even interesting on an architectural level. My hope is they'll do some cool lighting schemes for the top and maybe even do LED lights on the grid rails. It would at least make it interesting at night. Not every new building is going to be stunning and this is good infill for the skyline. I think that most people are disappointed based on what the project turned out to be rather than the initial renderings. I love the fact that Charlotte has grown to the point now where people are getting picky about what gets built. I can remember a time when we were just happy to get a new skyscraper.

Sounds similar to their project in Minneapolis.

Hell yeah!

looks good, speaking as someone who is now in a wheelchair, having a single or narrow point of entry is often less than ideal. During a festival or especially busy times, people seem to unconsciously congregate in those spaces, making it hard for anyone in a chair or any type of other device to get through. Having multiple points of entry often solves that and gives us choices.

looks good. ramps, not stairs.

Wow, I had never seen this before. This is fascinating thanks for posting. I will give Odell this, he certainly fixed the parking problems. There are a lot of complex issues at work over the decisions the city has made. I will say this though, in the video I see a city with a lot of mixed use buildings, thriving retail, and human scaled interactions. Over 40 years later we are still trying to get that back.

What is going on with the backside of the hotel?

Is this the site of the old foundry? If so that sites going to need a lot of cleanup before anything gets built there.

Ample parking

What's crazy is that I worked at this location for years. I knew that it was inevitable that Carolina Prepress would have to move, but I always assumed someone would buy out the whole block and build apartments or townhomes. I'm curious about what their plans are for parking because it's going to be even worse than the last location unless they buy another lot just for parking. The inside of the existing building is a rat maze of additions and renovations over the years with a large empty space in the back. From the preliminary renderings it looks like they plan on retaining the existing structures which is a curious choice in my opinion. It's also not a location that encourages a lot of foot traffic at the moment, although this could be the spur that connects it to the Design Center.

I feel bad for all the people that are going to be circling it looking for the ER.

I like the color, I really like the street presence, but there is a lot going on in this design. I'm not sure it's going to age really well but as has been stated it is a fantastic use for the site.

That glass is beautiful.

I kid, I kid...

I'd be super happy if they just dusted off the plans for this

Actual retail fronting the street and not a blank wall hiding a parking deck? Yes please.

Yes. Mixed use that's actually mixed and integrated.

I really hope we don't see an indoor mall of any kind. They create inward-facing voids that lack any type of connectivity with the surrounding downtown. I love what Denver has done with the 16th Street Mall (even if I did almost get run over by one of their electric buses -those things are quiet!) and Boulder with their Pearl Street Mall. It's a fairly small site, but it's location, and the ability to tie retail into the urban fabric around it allows the developer to do something truly unique. I'd love to see a stroll district created that mixes retail, residential, and office into a human scaled environment.

So horrible. It's just going to gut that end of Camden and create a big blank wall on Tryon. This is why we can't have nice things.

Ugh. There are so many other areas this could go. The Camden/East/West area has a real chance to be a stroll district. I hate losing the diversity of buildings we have here.

We know. We know. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article34330734.html#storylink=cpy