BullDurhamer

how are they getting away with this? this is a complete and utter unnecessary abomination. i GUARANTEE this crap will get ripped out in favor of something natural down the road and people will be shocked it was installed in the first place. it's like when you look at interstates being built in the city and such. when it's 110 degrees on average in the summer you can thank brilliant forward thinking ideas like these for that. some cities are forcing developers to include actual green roofs and such in other cities. charlotte seems to be making up for that and actually faking green space. this is truly mind boggling, and i also find it odd that this site for so called urbanists doesn't seem to have much interest in protecting the quality of life of those actually dwelling in these urban environments.

can we get some pictures of people enjoying some astroturf in the middle of the city on a 95 degree day?

charlotte should paint all of their buildings green so they could call themselves the greenest city in america! that would be so dope!

too bad because you're going to. this illustration just demonstrates even further how ridiculous the astroturf is. somehow they can manage natural planting areas adjacent to the astroturf soccer field they're installing? sorry, but just because the carpet is the color green doesn't mean you get to call it "green" space.

this view of new charlotte is amazing. too bad those first few buildings built on the park look so cheap.

too many democrats benefited so the general assembly let it go. oh well!

16th street mall in denver only really appeals to tourists and visitors. it's blocks and blocks of chain restaurants. the walkability is nice, but the livability part is less than great. the epicenter isn't that unlike what denver has. i applaud the idea to open a pedestrian friendly retail corridor, but i also hope we can do better than having rows and rows of chilis, rock bottom breweries (oops, already one in place), chipoltes, and the like. there's are loads of interesting areas in denver, but the 16th street mall is only something i'd use as a model in the very big picture. it is interesting in that it resulted from a destructive urban renewal plan, so maybe there is something clt can get from it. as locals though, i'd look at this surrounding districts that are popping up with breweries, shops, and other things like that. that's where you'll want to be. i say this understanding this is about bringing tourists into the city. i'd just wish we could do better than just having a collection of the worst restaurants on earth. be better than the rest charlotte.

boy, amazon is gonna love that Whole Foods location. instant delivery for anybody living uptown.

Denver 2009/2018

ok, so I googled this and didn't find crap. I also come to this site to see development news rather than having to do random internet searches. so carry on with the completely unnecessary snark.

why not grow food for one of many possible ways that would be a hell of a lot better than putting more fake poisons into the world? https://www.chelseagreen.com/2009/02/15/grow-berries-in-your-low-light-urban-space/

Why are you stuck on grass being the only thing that could possibly ever live? Wake up! Seriously, it's time the south seriously starts to consider the impact of the growing population and climate change on how everything is impacted. It would help if the elected politicians would acknowledge all of the looming crises we face as a result of these changes since this insane idea that the only thing that could ever grow in a natural space is grass. On the other hand, you propose that concrete would be the only other alternative, another complete fallacy. I suggest you get out west some time and see how they are decades ahead of the south in terms of understanding how to address some of these questions. As Charlotte and most other urban area of size these days fills in, the time is now to decide how we want to design them for the long haul. Fake or real? I guess if you have a stake in the fake industry, then your choice may already be made. Sad.

I completely agree about grass. We need to think beyond grass and fake grass for many of the obvious reasons going forward. Making it a grass vs. fake grass competition is just a fancy way for the fake grass companies to sell more fake grass.

sure, let's needlessly poison more of our earth because modern plastic turf looks and feels almost like real grass! i think it's pretty safe to judge now.

wow, astroturf serving as the green space here? horrible

this looks awesome. finally they are understanding texture without having to use every combination possible on the same building as we'd been seeing for the last several years.

wait, the new rooftop bar doesn't allow "athletic" shoes? is this just their way to keep black people out our are they just trying to keep interesting people of all backgrounds away? i can't wait to hear. #bitemewithyourshoecodes #boycottdisnonsense and people wonder about "culture" in charlotte. a city run by bankers. ugh.

Here's the PR play for Amazon... Announce the contest...nobody's city will win, just like nobody wins the lottery. I mean, some city will win, but it probably won't be your city, whichever that may be. Then the losers, Charlotte, Detroit, Baltimore, Denver, Portland, etc. will all get these enormous deals anyway, as they've set the table for getting some nice tax breaks and whatnot from the municipalities who all have already professed their love for Amazon. All the while everybody in almost every major region in the country and Canada are reading and talking about Amazon all of the time. It's got to be one of the world's greatest marketing gimmicks ever.

I believe the expression is "you reap what you sow".

fantasyland. you really think atlanta would be happy for detroit? will the good people of tampa applaud if newark's give away wins the day? get real... not just HB2. remember the justice department told us all that NC is deliberately trying to keep black people from voting and being represented. sad to say, but nc is anything but 'inclusive' right now.

and 30K moved to NY/NJ. i was simply trying to understand if this chatter about Charlotte being a millennial center was true, and while of course it's a popular destination, it doesn't necessarily stand out in this regard in any particular way. With that said, if Amazon gets in downtown Charlotte, throw all that out and yes, I do think it's a possibility. Unfortunately the HB2 might get too confusing to have HQ2 but we'll see.

Charlotte has been mentioned on the short list as an expansion candidate, though the city is likely looking at the next round. I'd guess Charlotte gets a baseball team in 2030 or so.

This is a solid post, imo. I'm in the camp that believes the city with the most brew pubs will win or something along those lines. Amazon is competing for talent and has the opportunity to position themselves to be at the top of the list for where folks will look to go work. What cities qualify as awesome for hip young people? The awesome cities for young people that are big enough to handle Amazon are few and far between. Seattle fits that bill pretty well. Does Newark? Detroit? I'd bet that googling a list of best cities for young professionals will probably get you as good of a list as any to work off. I'm also interested to see if Amazon will go all the way to an Atlanta. That's 6 hours in the plane from Seattle. I'm not so sure... you keep saying that like it's true. http://time.com/4797956/cities-millennials-moving/ charlotte isn't even ahead of raleigh...

what's more business friendly than new jersey paying amazon to take newark off their hands? Or consider this list: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/11/americas-top-states-for-business-2017-overall-ranking.html

trump is the worst human alive.