DeleteMe

Consumer preference surveys show that most people would prefer to live in, what is essentially, a facsimile of Mayberry. The other fact is that developers will tell you they are in the business to turn a profit, not build towns. The reality is the best selling neighbors with new construction snd ithe highest price points are in neighborhoods that function like the fictional Mayberry. They are walkable, you can walk to work, for food, etc., if choose, and parks and open space are readily accessible, this notion that developers are building what consumers want is bull. Consumers are purchasing what developers build and the vast majority of developers and builders have no interest in building new neighbors that contribute to anything outside the parcel boundaries.

It's tragically ironic that the John Hood's of the world screaming about fiscal responsibility havent figure out the least fiscally responsible pattern of development is the one currently engulfing the Triangle. "Government should be run like a business" my a##. If government were run like a business the business would be land and services, the income, tax revenue and property owners would be shareholders. We would be maximizing the return on existing investments and maximizing development where public investments have made instead of forfeiting our fiscal responsibility because god-forbid we mess with "personal property rights" regardless of what it does to our shareholders. If a business operated like that, they'd be out of business. If government were run like a business, we'd be analyzing land suitability and telling Joe Blow, sorry but allowing a shopping center on your property isn't part of our strategic investment plan. The Triangle Realtors Association, NC Homebuilders, NC GOP, Art Pope, John Hood and the rest of the rest of their kind lose their s&!t over government running like a business because it means they might have eat their own words and play be the rules. They are worse than hypocrites.

Out in LA this weekend, the ads for All-Star game "in Charlotte" period, no North Carolina, are great. My friends (1 architect the other an ad guy) commented that they had no idea that Charlotte was so big and the skyline so beautiful. One said, "Wow. That's Charlotte?!". The images are really great, actually.

No, they just use it as an example of how the Atlanta, GA sprawopolis is master of the known universe and that they are "world class" because has their biggest hub there. BTW, what the Georgia chamber of commerce misses in their touting of the "massive" population of the Atlanta MSA is that being the only city of any consequence for 100 miles means no local competition. It also means the MSA has been able to grow geographically to approximately the same size as CLT-GSO-RDU combined. The point should be, given it's in the US, the lack of competition, its status as state capital, the invention of air conditioning, automobile, and airplane, if Atlanta wasn't a large city today, it would be an anomaly.

Development, and density, follow transportation. Motorized, single-occupancy, modes of transportation require large quantities of space that detract from transit, bike, and ped mobility options. Charlotte got it right. Durham, and Triangle, continue to blow it.

Georgians are obviously used to thinking that their capital city is the be all and end all in the South. They never tire of belittling others as wannabes. I hate to tell them but Georgia was a penal colony for a reason. Not even Georgians vacation in Georgia. Georgia "beaches"? Swamps. Georgia's "mountains". Hills. In the 21st century, it's a battle of city-states. If our legislature gets their heads out of their posteriors we could easy get our film and tv industry, and the millions in free advertising it brings, back. The diversity of filming locations alone in NC is unmatched in the eastern US. Cry me a river Georgia. Had to get that off my chest. Feel better now. Thank you for the venue to rant. Commence firing. PS are Georgians really so dense that AJC readers might not know where Charlotte is? "Charlotte, NC". LOL.

At this pace, Charlotte cracks 1 million in 6 years. We surpass Jacksonville in 5.

You are welcome! ______________________ Have you heard anything about a townhouse project on Kilgore between Dixie and Brooks? I may have dreamt it...

As PT Barnum said...

Great article K'burg. Thanks for sharing it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/lifestyle/vacation-ideas/things-to-do-in-raleigh/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5b83a2147df2

https://www.heraldsun.com/news/business/article224633435.html#storylink=latest_side Maybe another tower in Durham's future?

The list of projects is impressive -- especially when you consider they didn't include the JW Marriott, Intercontinental and 42.... 8 towers?

Really good article. I think it echoes what a lot of people say when they visit for the first time -- they are surprised to find that people can formulate complete sentences and have all their teeth, Then, they realize Charlotte is pretty awesome. I'm sorry to say that I've never been to the Levine Museum, but one thing I'd hope they would include would be the fact that it was Charlotteans who went to Boston to teach them how to racial segregation and hatred.

The lawsuit brought against the City by a few homebuilders is about to set a very bad precedent and will have far-reaching implications if the court supports the homebuilders. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2019-01-15/homebuilders-sue-north-carolina-city-over-sewer-water-fees Basically, you can't charge for "future" services, roads, water, sewer, etc..

Very interesting article in the national press about Asheville being a center of global climate research. Paints a great picture of the city. https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2018-12-26/asheville-north-carolina-brands-itself-as-climate-city

Last obs... Raleigh-Durham with "central parks" surrounded by density. Three -- 1.) Umstead, 2.) Falls Lake, 3.) Jordan Lake. With the completion of the East End Connector and continued revitalization of downtown and Northgate Durham, expect growth to really start spilling over Falls and into Butner and southern Granville. The Falls Lake "wrap" will come from Wake Forest and Butner and up the 85, US 1 and NC 50.

Observations... The move from urban edge to urban core is really strong in Boston: Sprawl is alive and well in Denver and Nashville (where growth is surprisingly tepid) for the all the attention BNA gets: Atlanta is also sprawling but growth is also being focused at nodes. Unfortunately, though so much in the center of the city. The same is happening in Charlotte, EXCEPT, growth has also exploded in the city center. Except for Atlanta, growth in Georgia is unimpressive or depressed.: In NC, growth is shared and like Massachusetts, big spikes in center cities. Atlanta's growth is north and east toward the Carolina's. Growth to the west and south is paltry. Charlotte growth in the center city, along the light rail corridor, generally focused at nodes.

I imagined the spikes are high-rises -- which in effect they could be -- it gives me a real sense of the urban form of places. In the Triangle -- the vast open space of Umstead Park is going to eventually be one the greatest features of the Raleigh-Durham metro. A gigantic central park left largely in its natural state. The juxtaposition between that space and the massive city to be around it will be something to behold. In effect, Umsted will be a huge historic site -- the historic landscape of central NC on one side of the road and the city of the future on the other. Now, that will be something people will want to visit.

I believe that what Charlotte has started with the light rail corridor trail that makes it superior to what they've done in Georgia, and what makes it superior to a generic greenway, is that rail makes the trails, public spaces, artwork, etc. accessible to those who are not otherwise mobile, and like the San Antonio river walk, parallels a mode of transportation. I think developers are on-board with walkability in Charlotte, and the City supports it. but we need more -- including more public awareness, more public investment in art, public venues, design, and IMHO, more boosterism. We also need a much more multifaceted vision that makes greenways more than corridors for walking, biking, etc., but are, like roads and waterways and rail lines, mobility corridors that have nodes for focusing development and public activities. There's nothing unique about the Georgia project greenway that utilizes an abandoned rail corridor -- but, one thing I think they have done well is convincing people that they invented the wheel and have secured public-sector and private support of their vision. I think Charlotte has to make the light rail trail and Sugar Creek Greenway and the development and public spaces investments taking place along them, BETTER than anywhere else. You all have talked about the features we need to be fighting for -- an architecturally-significant (symbolic) bridge to connect the light rail trail to Uptown and your thoughts about the design of projects in the South End, Optimist Park, NODA, and Metropolitan - Elizabeth neighborhoods. Imagine, vehicular corridors become the back doors to development -- the front doors open onto non-vehicular corridors (an element of the Greenbelt communities was to have houses face open space while vehicular movement and storage was "in the back".) In essence, the opposite of how places are typically built, but which is happening in Charlotte right now with projects like the light rail trail and the Metropolitan. I'm rambling.... Sorry everyone...

Charlotte's rail trail is unique. It should be a special design district lined with innovative architecture, public spaces, art, and outdoor venues. The Sugar Creek Greenway, through Elizabeth should do the same. The trails could be to Charlotte what the "river" is to San Antonio.

Charlotte-based CitiSculpt first proposed a mixed-use development two years ago, with plans calling for 255 apartments, a shared parking deck and what's now a seven-story, 90,438-square-foot office building on a site generally bounded by Kenilworth Avenue, Greenwood Cliff and Harding Place. https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/12/05/developermidtown-boutique-office-project-could.html#i/10236635

These are awesome pix K-burg. Thank you. I think to fill in that parking lot between Gantt Center and St. Peter's is one of the most important developments for Uptown. As important to south Tryon as is the parking lot on Trade next to the Presbyterian church. Along Trade, these are the parcels, in ranking order of importance(IMHO) to the urban fabric of Trade Street. Feel free to disagree.

I'm a data geek - Love this infographic (if you've all seen, I apologize for reposting). The image I posted isn't great. Here's a link... https://www.charlottestories.com/heres-charlotte-became-fastest-growing-city-country-past-decade/

The next closest city in the SE, Jacksonville(which sort of cheated, like Nashville, Augusta, Athens, Indianapolis, etc. and combined with surrounding counties)...growth per annum: 2017 892,062 11,169 2016 880,893 14,037 2015 866,856 13,377 2014 853,479 10,096 Charlotte per annum: 2017 859,035 15,551 1.84% 2016 843,484 16,774 2.03% 2015 826,710 18,390 2.28% 2014 808,320 15,446 1.95%