Eightane

This is largest reason I really wish the Publix in the vicinity of Skyhouse had taken off. Not only was the building itself a beautiful concept (at latest rendering released), but it would solve what Whole Foods just can't where it is. Much as I love having WF right next to the light rail, if you follow Stonewall down from there towards Metropolitan you have a 5 min. walk to Trader Joe's, and this benefits Fourth Ward's old neighbourhoods next to none. It really does feel like the two best grocery options within practical stone's-throw of uptown are basically on the same street.

Living west of the metro as I do, the hills keep flooding at bay, and I love rain anyway. But I've seen too much of how it delays projects. Esp. those in their early stages. I'd be fine with a moderate dry period for a while. I disbelieve that Legacy 1 will *ever* grow on me, but the nighttime lighting has potential in the early eve. I just want the rest of the block to swallow its lowest (read: least character-possessing) floors like a plankton.

Question, and I don't mean this to sound pessimistic: if for any reason the slow construction and/or market variables wind up raising the cost of this project significantly before it's finished, is there any reason to worry over where the funding will come from? As this was bankrolled by a lot of donation-type sources, have they continued to accept donations after launching construction just in case of a thing like this, or was it only started when there was enough in reserve to account for cost hikes, or is there some other way they might avoid troubles with money if the scenario I named should occur? I feel woefully undereducated, hah.

I'm glad the talk has shifted away from possibly turning EpiCentre into something else because I don't want to imagine a Charlotte that loses this gem (And yes it IS A gem). Now all the gripes about its state of disrepair do have validity, there should be a real remodeling done, but the solution is not and will never (in our lifetimes) be to shutter it and build taller. Uptown's only sizeable movie theater, the only bowling alley uptown, multi-story retail that runs the length and breadth of the property instead of on the outer edge, multiple nightlife venues, the extremely popular diner... My point is, no one with any understanding of what makes a city a destination should ever want this gone as opposed to improved. Personally if they could fill the old Coldstone place with a new dessertery (bakeshop gets my vote), lure Express back and also put in another non-expensive apparel store like maybe AE or something similarly accessible, this place would be perfect to me. I love that it attracts office workers, suburbanites, bus riders, the rich all the way down to the riffraff. That's what makes it the asset it is. Please no more pricing out the "poor"s even just by circumstance, Charlotte needs less sterile and more elbowrubbing. Vive la Epi! And more relevant to the latest discussion, if they spearheaded a similar clustered entertainment block I'd want it to be on the Northside (First Ward) and be branded/populated with businesses that provide a good counterpoint to Epi's lineup. If the first retail superblock we have is more attuned to bars, clubs and entertainment, let's build one that abuts Levineland (and makes him look even worse incidentally, lol) and lure a combo of dry goods and specialty shops. EpiCentre can then gradually evolve its upper club/nightlife spaces to be relevant to basketball or sports since it's closer to both stadiums and the arena, and the second iteration can bill itself according to local charm and added retail density. Make them like brothers from separate mothers. I realize that's more up to individual businesses and where they ultimately WANT to be, but it's a pipe dream that still makes more than its share of sense.

Now the lack of TLC I understand (I wouldn't be surprised if dependable grounds care is the first thing to get reduced if anyone's micromanaging money), but I don't think I get the climate part? It's true Charlotte is in the zone of deciduous plants and winter freezes, but our precip is never absent in a normal year (dry autumns are a half-exception, we sure didn't have one in '18) and plenty of evergreen vines and groundcovers exist. I'd chalk this one solely up to the property overseers dropping the ball. As for this building, I just hope those red awnings and *some* veneer of stonelike material make it to the final product. The potential here is palpable.

I still think even a small mock-up at a department store would KILL here in terms of profit. The Belk Express in the overstreet mall might have been a joke when it existed but if they took up a larger footprint in a less-solvent club here they could stock it with all-clothing and make money hand over fist. The lack of wearable dry goods in uptown is a wonder and ANYthing that makes a dent in that would be moticed, esp. in what's still a prime destination now despite its security and repair problems. Just so long as it's *ONE* store that does crazily well, as it would support the entertainment offerings and not take away from their space and focus.

Question: considering that the hotel situation in downtown is slim (if not dire) enough to warrant that some companies are telling their workforce to stay home during the All-Star weekend, how likely is is that a company in good standings financially (like most ANY bank headquartered locally) would be willing to help subsidize a new hotel with a huge room count, if only to take the pressure off their own employees in these such times? I'm not well-versed in how the risk assessment v. elective spending works with corporations in this kind of occasional squeeze.

While I understand and empathize with the desire to keep development in the NC mountains low, let's not forget that the great majority of our highland provinces (I'd say 95% or more) remain *extraordinarily* rural in character. Just go up the Parkway through Avery County or west of Asheville into the Great Balsam Mountains and one will see that there is no shortage of pristine areas in our coldest biomes. There is not that much danger of eradicating any of those, and there is comparitively less area where the high country strikes that balance of "resort" and "wilderness". I'm not trying to be an apologist for reckless development in the mountains but I *will* say that there's a certain beauty in areas that are built up to be a responsible swirl of ridgelines and rock-rich planned homes and businesses, and if anyone thinks our state's mountains are imperiled by urban renewal I distinctly recall the worse conditions of Manitou Springs in CO when I went on a roadtrip a few summers ago. We could be doing SO much worse at preserving our vertical forests... Many western oases of development are essentially Gatlinburg with more snow.

This is easily my second-most-anticipated new tower (short of the Intercontinental) due to just how much it will extend the skyline and look drastically unique. Though if it's as charcoal-and-gold as some of the renderings looked, I'll be calling it the DeWalt.

I think my favourite part of this tower is the impact it should make on views from Bearden park. It will increase the 'hemmed in' feel especially looking towards the Morehead area, and the only real gap of any large scale will be directly over the Knights'.

Nah, it's just you that it "ruins" it for. I don't mean to be rude, but for me architectural merit and great lines on a building don't hinge on the sign. I'll agree that portion could look better but it has no bearing on anything beyond itself. We're lucky; one day corporations might get cheeky and start making signage in comic sans. Hah. I do have one (very minor) complaint about the tower itself, and it's so minor it doesn't even take away from its "great" status to me, it's still a wonderful addition to our queen. I wish there was a splash more colour on the sides, in a perfect world it would have a well-integrated mural commissioned to be done by opening date. As it is, something about it makes me feel it wouldn't look out of place in Myrtle Beach, albeit it would still be the nicest building there were it plopped down in that resort mecca.

As of 10:30 PM, extremely light snow in northern Gaston Co. that's barely visible. And once it starts falling heavy (if it does) I predict it has a while to go to cut through the wet above-freezing ground as so courteously laid down by the warmer layer earlier. I get the reasoning for meteorologists forecasting for worst-case scenario, it's better to make people overprepare than underprep. However in the case of winter weather and lowland NC, it should be the exception for one reason; folks here will never, ever underprepare if they hear a *peep* of snow or ice. You don't have to worry about that when every John and Jane Doe cleans the markets out of perishables, as they do here, so you might as well forecast what's more likely the median or less. In all my years of living here - born and raised - I have yet to see one winter storm whose low temp or severity takes us by remarkable surprise.

Any news on when northbound is due to open, or has it already? I haven't had the chance to drive it and Google isn't turning up any news to that effect.

I agree, this was a major, major missed opportunity. Sidewalk-oriented retail at a natural relief is one of the simplest ways to give a small patch of city character aside from public art. I wouldn't be surprised if this entire thing is just another example of function-over-form, I.E. however much money they saved or construction time they shortened by doing it the bland way.

Honestly all that it would take for me to totally like Stonewall Station is a light, frenzied art of dark streaks on the topmost white portions. Something nonsolid, maybe fractal or like a dance of curved lines in black or dark blue. That goes for the apartment podium and the high-rise together. The sides aren't really unsalvageable. That said, I know some here are almost never satisfied with anything that comes to this city so I don't expect agreement. (Not a swipe, just stating a fact)

Less than a month later, hurricane #2. Best wishes for those in the Panhandle, not sure how the winds will be once it races across here.

Honestly I love love LOVE the Camden townhomes. The colour combo and architecture both are a home run to me, like KJHBurg said on a parcel with height caveats from the start. I'd like to think if the famous row houses in San Francisco had been built 100 years later, the look wouldn't be too dissimilar. Also as a hiker and 5K runner I relish the idea of a 4-story house anyway. Daily practice, haha.

Tbh I'm in the minority since I have one particular problem with this building, and it's those odd windows above the lobby and below the first ledge with the Union Jack-shape eight-legged raying (Good Lord I know nothing about architectural terminology). I've just always seen them on the ugliest parking decks as a cheap way to hide car space and my brain cannot process them any other way. As for the pyramid's shape or size, I'm just glad it's not another box. We get hung up on newcomers to the skyline, naturally, forgetting what absolute *abominations* have been here for decades, AKA the gold-windowed cigarette carton that was First Union's then Wachovia's forever and a day. The Boston building above is amazing, I just wish we had that sort of situation for that. I think a big problem here in the QC with attracting better designs (or moreso, discouraging value-engineering) is a combo of these: -An economy that many companies still don't see as "diverse" enough where they won't pick up and leave for somewhere that doesn't tug on their pocketbooks for better materials or more expensive shapeliness, as the risk/reward for being in Charlotte vs. more lenient cities is an intricate issue -The council/powers that be many have bemoaned, and I don't disagree there at all. We can do better in holding businesses accountable for their impact. Levine, anyone? -This is uncomfy to admit, but the business climate is so different now than even 15 years ago. Fallout from the Great Recession, plus how we deify job creators etc. has created a culture where less money spent is seen as "the right way" because investors care and corporations are now people. Welcome to the 21st C. Off-topic done, I'm curious to see when the other parcels here are developed how they add to or take away from the profile.

Worth noting is that not only will this be the tallest hotel in the state when completed, it will be the first majority-hotel use building to top 30 stories. It kind of blows my mind that it took this long to hit that benchmark.

While I agree there's problems with the facility itself getting rundown or having disrepair issues, I think we can hold off calling clientele "ghetto trash". How upscale a place feels is no indication of how successful it is nor the 'belong here' status of the type of people who visit there. Much of uptown has the problem of feeling too wealth-driven or overclean as it is, especially to the large swaths of non-rich residents in outlying suburbs. It's perfectly okay to have an attraction that doesn't cater mostly to those who wear clothes worth more than a dinner at Maggiano's. If they fix the stairs, put a newer veneer on the dated areas and make it welcoming/accessible to all classes, that can only be a good thing. It was built next to the main bus terminal so the idea one shouldn't have to rub shoulders with the gum-chewers is unrealistic even if it weren't already close to elitism.

That's interesting, esp. since The Weather Channel's website doesn't seem to agree with that but I know data can vary or be reinterpreted. Being in Gaston co. and thus a bit closer to the foothills I worry less about lowland/flood plain water than some urban areas of Mecklenburg, but then again our creek ravines can be horrible floods that much easier, esp. in the north and west.

This may be more of a 'Big Picture'-style observation, but I wonder how much some of our secondary connections to local metros and micropolitan counties assist with our growth, other patterns and so on. US 321 has just had its newly widened 4-lane segment completely opened to traffic*, making it 4 lanes from Boone well down into York County SC (and for that matter, the reverse is true, naturally). I noticed a MARKED difference in travel time going up, from the last time I tried that route up over the Escarpment. I don't doubt less-high-profile projects like this will make access to the developed parts of the high country much easier, increase attractiveness for people there as well as one more tiny feather in our cap of offerings to prospective residents. And businesses take notice, speaking as one humble slob who doesn't make my home in a relevant industry, hah. *Finish work remains; the shoulder is unpainted from Blackberry Road to halfway up the last climb, and all of it needs to be restriped at least once.

I gotta say, and I might be skewered for this, I actually like it in part *because* it fits in with other towers like BofA and Hearst, but has more bulk... The combo of lighter beige and the pure tank of a profile makes a good beacon across First and Second Wards for the entertainment (relative) Mecca beneath it. And yes I'm aware the latter is a point that could favour any more distinctive or lively replacement.

Honestly if one crops out that one building's roof and below, the whole thing looks like a real inspiration for the "Megalopolis" backdrop in the original SNES SimCity. I know I'm both old and a geek for that but I care zero, heh. They're spectacular pics in any case! BofA's flaming-hot crown in the second is marvelous.

Part of the reason I'm incredibly optimistic about this project is I remember a few past Charlotte threads on assorted other things where they mentioned this parcel, and it was commented that the seller was looking for "the right type of project" or something stunning to sell for. Yes it's still possible that the culprit was just a price high enough for it, but in this type of scenario it's hard not to believe that any preliminary info the sellers received might have wowed them enough to get their seal of approval. Also, it's certainly in one of the most premiere blocks of uptown, so it'd take a real piece of work not to address that with quality.