CM2424

Agreed - there is a zero percent chance Amazon will end up somewhere like that. Charlotte's only chance is uptown - hopefully the city realized that in our bid.

What about throwing in the long-discussed 277 cap as part of the deal and letting them build a city within a city right within Uptown and South End? Amazon will want to be right uptown in my opinion so it's either there or Levine-land. Here is a good discussion of our merits which I largely agree with: https://twitter.com/AdieTomer/status/906184409950420992

I think a good test of our "culture" is thinking about what you would do if you had friends or family visiting Charlotte for the first time. That's where we are behind most other cities - honestly what would you do that would be exciting and memorable? Most cities have an obvious answer to that question (with some exceptions like Houston) but Charlotte really doesn't. I've been encouraged by things like the baseball stadium, brewery scene, and Seventh Street market in recent years which are all now decent options. I'm hoping Latta Arcade will develop into something more exciting over time since it's now in an amazing location and is one of the most interesting public spaces we have uptown. There is no reason it couldn't be a small version of the Ferry Building in San Francisco which was renovated in the early 2000's and is now one of the most popular destinations in San Francisco with small food shops, boutiques, a farmer's market on the weekend, etc.

Good piece on Asheville and how it's booming downtown didn't just "happen": http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/04/asheville-just-happened-to-turn-into-a-nice-downtown-didnt-it/391391/