uptownliving

I was on a Lynx train up front the other day and was able to see into the operator cab where at every stop the operator would count to 5 before pushing the button to open the doors. Not sure why this is happening but it is very intentional and part of their policy. A very annoying policy at that. Let me off this damn train!

I feel sorry for the people that have to work on the first 6 floors of this building. The back side is only the view of a parking deck. What a depressing place that would be to have your desk.

Speaking of the New Concourse A, City Council earlier this week approved the architectural contract for Phase 2 which will be a 10 gate expansion. Construction is expected to begin by the end of this year. When complete I would expect Delta to move to these new gates and American will take over all of original A.

Thumbs up to whoever put the mulch down yesterday in the planter between the tracks and the arena. Looks soooo much better.

Anyone know if they are going to put in any landscaping here. Even just putting down some mulch would be better than the weeds and gravel that is there now.

Who is the hot guy that shows up at CCCP meetings? Shorter, dark hair, Olive skin tone. Dreesses to impress. Is he a developer?

Good News for International travelers arriving in CLT that have to go through the CBP facilities. City Council just approved a $1.1M contract with RS&H to program and scope the renovation of the CBP area at CLT. The plan is to completely demolish and reconstruct all interior areas of the CBP at CLT (ground floor of Concourse D) Sounds like as part of the redesign they will be adding 15,000 sq ft of space. This is just the initial design which usually takes 6 months. Later this year the full design contract will come before the City Council for approval. A fully redesigned and expanded CBP I would estimate could be operational by 2023. Referring to the Master Plan there will be an additional 12 Passport Kiosks and 16 more CBP Podiums. There will be 6 total bag claims. http://www.cltairport.com/AboutCLT/Documents/Development Master Plan/CLT ACEP 02232016 - FINAL.pdf

Maybe for wind and dust?

Mmmmaaaaybe :-)

Had some delicious Krispy Kreme bread pudding which is served at Zepplin, right next door to KK new office in South End

Yeah the ramp space is just 500 sq ft below the gate they use on Concourse D. This space has always been leased so it is nothing new, just a 5 year renewal of their current space at the airport. My source is the agenda for Charlotte City Council's meeting they will be having on Monday. I'm guessing that you have not seen anything announced because City Council has not approved this lease yet.

CLT will be getting an American Express Centurion Lounge. It will be going on the 3rd level in the expansion they are building between D and E. The 13k sq ft lounge will be open by this time next year. Couple of other notes: - Spending $750k to upgrade the HVAC for Concourse E. They will be putting in larger air handlers to push more chilled air to E. - Lufthansa just signed a 5 year contract for office and ramp space at the airport so looks like they will be around a little longer.

Interesting article, shows that design alone can't fix a dead space, you have to draw people in and make them feel welcome.

View from the top of the Ascent.

There will be a CATS bus component to Gateway and it will go on the land adjacent to BB&T Ballpark at Graham and 4th. Also CATS is almost finished with completely redesigning the Bus System to cut down on transfers at CTC. They are calling it Envision My Ride and you can read more about it here: http://charlottenc.gov/cats/transit-planning/envisionmyride/Pages/envision-my-ride.aspx

From the article it sounds like the thrill seeker was climbing the building on the outside, not up a staircase.

UNC and Duke are great schools with lots of successful graduates, however if Apple and/or Amazon setup shop in the Triangle they will be hiring mostly NC State grads. Go take a look at any of the tech companies in RTP today: IBM, Red Hat, SAS, Citrix, etc. and you will see mostly graduates of NC State.

Presentation about Gateway Station was made to the City Council tonight. They are moving forward with plans to buy the Meck Co land adjacent to BBT Ballpark and use that land for the CATS operations. Also, it stated that in Phase 1 construction begins in July and will only include the foundations for the canopy. If all goes well we will have the station operating at Gateway by 2022. The actual canopy that has been depicted in renderings will come in Phase 2

Looking closely at the 2nd pic you can see that each of the signs is plugged into an electrical outlet. I'm guessing they just have not been turned on yet. Maybe they are waiting til the new A North Concourse opens next month. And I agree with Dubone's analogy that since A North is really a whole separate building they started with the 20's to make it more obvious that there is a big difference. Imagine people's first time at CLT that are running late and are assigned to gate A13. They arrive at this split and see the signs. If there was an A14-A22 they would probably stop and double check their boarding pass again to make sure they are going the right way. It is a lot easier to confuse A13 with A14 than it is to confuse A13 with A21.

Deisgn Center is moving right along.

Does anyone actually believe the quote from Kessler that it took a year and a half for the architects to design this hotel? I look at the renderings and honestly think "that's it"? http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article212199054.html

City Council approved the Concourse A Renovation construction contract tonight for $42M. Construction will start soon and wrap up by 4Q 2019. Once complete this concourse will house American and Delta. Concourse A will receive the same treatment that Concourse B is currently getting: -New Ceilings -New Wall Finishes -LED Lighting -New Seating -New Carpet/Terrazzo Flooring -New HVAC, Restrooms, Fire Controls

Reminds me of NorthLake Mall.

I rode one from First Ward to Suffolk Punch this afternoon. I have never ridden an electric scooter before yet found it to be very easy to use and yes fun. I rode on the side streets of Uptown with no issues (crossed the train tracks with no problem) however when I got to South Blvd going across I-277 I switched over to the multi-use path as I felt the scooter was too slow to be on South Blvd. After 277 I switched over to the Rail Trail and I felt like they are a little too fast to operate at full speed safely. There were a couple times I went into a skid to avoid hitting pedestrians and dogs that made sudden turns across the path in front of me. However once the trail cleared up it was fun to let er rip :-) I can see this being a nice thing to use if you want to arrive somewhere not as sweaty as if you were riding a bike.