mfowler12

I'm currently spending the weekend in Cincinnati. The 2nd ward developers should take a visit here to look at the OTR area of downtown. Incredible revitalization area centered on a small urban park with streetcar access nearby. Charlotte doesn't have the benefit of the prewar building stock but I don't get why an attempt to use classic looks and styles is not part of any developers plans. Anyone else on this board familiar.

Appears the Southern Apt Group project on West Morehead has a name - had not seen this yet: The Arlo. http://www.southernapartmentgroup.com/the-arlo.html was hoping for more than 1 renderering

I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that the Golf Resort at Btyne was going to reduce it's footprint to 9 holes and make way for additional office buildings. With the recent sale and activity, it sounded like a possibility but as a golfer and a fan of the course, that would be disappointing. Has anyone heard similar news?

Sneaky underrated part of this design - the side alley. Need more of those

From what I remember - the storage facility proposed to take the place of the white building pictured did have a retail component. I think the lack of retail in the apartment (which is a block further west than the building pictured) is a real failure. This area's streetscape was transformed by DOT about 10 years ago with some serious investment. it's a shame the right zoning requirements weren't put in place. Comparable to other areas where retail is required for new apartments, this stretch would likely be able to support it. In my opinion, Wesley Heights has a built in demand for new retail needs.

News today about a redevelopment of several buildings on main street in Fort Mill. If you haven't been down that way, it's a pretty small strip of retail but does contain some nice looking store fronts and it already home to several popular restaurants.

To go a step further, eliminating seats may reduce butts in seats, but stadiums are starting to create other places inside the 'complex' to view the game - whether the game on the field or on a TV. This creates separate streams of revenue for concessions, cover charges, etc.to make up for less actual ticket sales. I think many people would pay to be 'inside' and not care if they were in a seat watching the action on the field.

Agreed..and I think to do that something has to change with the design. it can't be a 5 story enclosed complex or bowl. It has to be completely reimagined.

There's too many downstream impacts and assumptions that are hard to tie to ROI on a stadium. SC gets training camp - look at the improvements Wofford has made to their facilities because of this. Pro sports teams bring community events and services, pro athletes purchase very expensive real estate, donate to charity, etc. I'm not in the NFL, but I'm fairly certain the Shield has a monetary impact analysis that would show a positive ROI for a stadium. The need for a new stadium will happen, and Charlotte, the state, and even SC will have to figure out how much they can put towards it. The good thing right now is that our biggest threat to relocation (LA) got their team. As far as the stadium itself - I've read about the changes that future stadiums might see happen- less seating, more adaptability for multi uses for the city and community, obviously much more suites and amenities. Heck, we can even use to create another light rail or dare I say commuter rail line out of uptown.

The Browns were in Cleveland for 50 years and relocated due to stadium issues with the city. St Louis just left to go to LA. both were established markets and franchises in their own right. If new ownership purchases the franchise with no ties to Charlotte, there's no doubt that a stadium will be an issue to deal with. At some point in the not so distant future - we'll be held hostage to build a new stadium and there's no doubt Charlotte will do it. (I'm okay with it as well) As far as locations, I'd say a stadium on the same site would be best and probably what would happen. we have enough college facilities in close proximity to support a temporary move.

The 'smoke stack' is a designer piece and not temporary..I believe it's something to evoke the textile mill(s) that helped create Fort Mill itself.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't stating they moved to make their HQ more accessible to their employees or potential employees..it was driven by the financial incentives to relocate as well as the affordability of the office space.

Aside from getting an affordable corp hq to consolidate all employees, LPL received a major tax incentive to move HQ to this Fort Mill from the State of SC.. It's really no different than companies relocating to Ballantyne. Unless you're North of uptown or in uptown itself, the commute to Fort Mill is likely easier than commuting to uptown.

The Developer most likely wouldn't move closer to Charlotte as they owned the land already and have done much development in the Fort Mill area - including Baxter Village. Agreed with the connection to Baxter though - would have been nice to get a Ped Bridge over 77 or Tunnel connecting them. Looks like it will be well done though and has a Fort Mill resident, looking forward to it.

can you share that operator? I'm selfishly interested because I currently have no parking as of Sept 1.

I currently park in the Lot on this site and was given a 30 day notice that the Lot will close on 9/1 for parking. Real work may be imminent on this project.

Whatever happens at Brookhill, there would need to be some serious Traffic calming features incorporated into South Tryon. Would be very important to connect to the rest of the South End. I commute on South Tryon daily and it's a fairly congested/high speed area.

I guess I was just wondering if it is in play, and it seems it most certainly is. Recalling the response to the CM being kicked out, I'm interested to see what the response to Pike's would be.

Design Center redevelopment - is there a risk that Pike's is displaced?

You're right - just like playing armchair NFL GM, price never matters. That said - i'll still make a final plea since we have conformity's attention to create unique store fronts at the street level. think it would go a long way and then you can plop whatever you want on top of them.

RDF - I partially agree that there is some mix of materials at least, but I think it could be pushed further to do something really unique. there's many postings with historic buildings with many wishing they still existed. I wish this could be accomplished with the blank slate that exists with this opportunity. For me, varying facades, unique elevations, etc would go along way to creating a true uptown village. although this all suggests form over function and perhaps the retail market simply has to be built with the standardization to attract more retailers. Full disclosure, I lived in and around the uptown area for 15 years before moving to Fort Mill. And as taboo as it is to say this - Baxter Village in Fort Mill's retail component is example of the type of varying facades that hits a note with me and I just don't see done. But you can also point to the retail stretch along central and NODA that defines street level retail to me and can't understand why it's not tried to be recreated in some form.

I do like the additional renderings. I'm a conformity fan - I owned in the Rutzler, rented in Southborough and Elizabeth Village so I can attest to the quality. I'm still opposed to a the large square box apartments and maybe the actual product will change from the renderings. isn't there a way to break up the façade of these boxes to make them look like rows of individual units. Same goes for the retail components. There's no distinguishing between retail sections. it's all one continuous façade of windows.

Is there a specific reason - maybe political - why this isn't being targeted to a retail focused developer. This seems like it would be a large enough parcel to plop down a well designed retail center. Do the numbers just not work?

i know density is always a target, but i'm going the other way with this opportunity. I like the idea of some walkup townhome units or something similar. Heck - even more single family homes would be good with me. I think it would help to attract a more diverse mix of residents as well. I'm opposed to more 5 story square boxes no matter what they are dressed like or what retail they provide on the ground floor. I think there needs to be some options that people can move into FROM those square boxes or we're going to lose those apartment dwellers to subdivisions outside 485. For me, I'm not sure any hit the mark.

I may have been mistaken, but driving along 77 this morning i noticed some earth moving activity along west morehead at the beautiful Charlotte Pipe and Foundry "Park" -- formerly known as the "Beezer Industrial Park".. anyone have an idea what's going?