DMann

Gene Buchan, Gene's Master Cuts. Great guy, one man shop in the Hilton downtown, 704-372-0846. Try him, you will like him. Cuts are $25.00 I believe. Worth more.

On a separate note, the condo between the two hotels on MLK Jr Blvd near the NASCAR Hall of Fame is about to go live as The Madison! DMann

In the overall move by Duke Energy to the DEC, I would think that the facility on College and MLK will be vacated and the data center moved to the current Duke site on Church and Stonewall. That College Street site would make for a better location for a convention center hotel, or other potential developments. I still think the former IJL building is the most likely candidate for 5/3, not only newer, but closer to the center of town. DMann

I would expect to see Fifth / Third either in the former IJL building between 5th and 6th, Premier was rumored to have been considering that spot, or the building above McCormick and Shmicks. I would bet on IJL.

With Electroluz taking the Fifth Third complex, does that free FT to move to downtown Charlotte?

While I believe the property will be completed, I think we may have another Catalyst. This is not necessarily bad, changing from condo to rental, but it may be necessary during these times.

Wooden Vine, a wine store.

d.) is the obvious winner.

The Founders Hall end of this project has taken down the wooden barracades and is quite impressive.

Before you cast any aspersions at us Fourth Wierdos you had better check with the city zoning laws to see what might and might not be allowed. For years the FOFW was trying to get something on the back side of the Days Inn facing Church Street. Painted over plywood is not very nice for us uppity people to look at. DMann

You misjudge the people going to the Belk and Blumenthal. When the original walkway went down, many people stopped coming to the performing arts.

Let's see, Monsoon, if'n you are going to attribute a quote to a county commissioner, perhaps you can identify Bill James instead of pretending that it is a statement from all the commissioners.

Please ask anyone in Chicago where they would rather see a game, Comisky or Wrigley. Had any land been available at that time at anywhere near a competitive price, the Sox would not be there now. You may recall there was a serious threat of taking the team to St. Petersburg, and it was only after the Illinois Senate got involved that a deal was struck. Any and all stadiums since then, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis etc have taken an urban setting, preferrably with a city view. Furthermore, Wrigley attendance was 3.3 Million vs 2.5 Million for the Sox, both first place teams, that is about a 25% difference. There are plenty of restaurants within driving distance of the site, and I am sure there would be a few more if the stadium was built there. I personally cannot see one similarity between the property that the current baseball stadium sits on and the Eastland mall site - not one. Part of my point exactly! Driving Distance! Balantyne or Lake Norman are in driving distance, and once someone gets into their car, and they are not likely find parking at a restaurant within driving distance, they will move on. That means the Eastland Mall site is a destination, just like Fort Mill. If you come to a Bobcats, or Checkers, or Panthers game, and don't want to immediatetly get into traffic, you can stop at any number of places for a drink or food while you wait for the traffic to abate. Eastland Mall has heavily traveled streets bounding it, not exactly inviting to cross.

Let's see, which restaurants would you go to near Eastland Mall, or would you do a reallocation of all restaurants and retail in the area to acccomodate the baseball stadium. Would you walk there, or park 3 block away and walk there? Would you build a parking garage to accomodate the influx of cars for 70 some events? What is the cost of demolition of that site, could it be more than the $8 million in infrastructure improvements needed in the Third Ward? How would the neighborhoods appreciate the influx of traffic for those 70 some events, or do we care what they would think? Could the Knights merchandise this field as they would an urban field? Minor league baseball is about training and entertainment, not sports. The Knights do not pay their salaries, just facilities, the operation is supported by the parent team. Where would the parent team want to play? The Eastland Mall site makes as much sense as Fort Mill did, or Tyvola for an arena did some 15 years ago. It is a destination only site, not one with commercial infrastructure to support it. This land swap has been approved by our elected officials, by the business community who will profit / invest to support it, by the major tenant, the Knights who will make a significant investment in a facility, and will take responsibility for the $8 million in infrastructure and be paid back with tax credits over some 10 year period. Furthermore, it kick starts the ability to redevelop the Second Ward into a residential and commerical section of the city.

Too bad we are a representative democracy. We elect people to make decisions based on the present and future good of society in general, not based on emotions. Seems like the democratic vote type were trying to whip up emotion against rail and the repersentatives we elected made an infrastructure decision. Seems like the voice of the people rose up over the "choo choo foes".

Trump Entertainment files for bankruptcy

I believe Novare has an issue with a grocer going in. More to do with the truck traffic than anything else. I toured several of the units yesterday, and found them to be very impressive. Somewhat Avenue like, but slightly better. The views from both north facing corners are wonderful, my guess is the night views will be great. 12 is officially on hold at this point. The corner it will occupy will become essentially a park, just a grassy expanse.

When comparing months, it must be remembered that this is only sales as recorded through MLS. And as for prices dropping, the average sale price is deceiving, a more accurate indicator is the average price per square foot. That accounts for true value, and not size of the unit. Downtown property in 2007 averaged $346.8 while 2008 averaged $399.1. Square footage averages were 2007 $335, and 2008 $332. That represents a decline of .0089% from 2007 August. Numbers can be manipulated to say a lot of different things. Truth is that the demand for downtown property remains robust, but financing for new construction has become tighter.