DeleteMe

Charlotte is red hot and to be honest, is doing the best job in the entire South about growth and development. As much as I hate to say it, a lot of thanks goes to Pat McCrory for his support of Charlotte's rail, and corridors and nodes planning strategy. I may be going out on a limb but I also think Charlotte is the biggest city in the Southeast by 2028 with a population north of 1 million. Thoughts?

Oxford Economics projects that San Jose, Calif., with its high-tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem, will lead all American metros in annual GDP growth through 2035, at 3%, followed by Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas (2.6%), and Seattle, Charlotte, N.C., Nashville, and San Francisco (2.4%). https://www.bdcnetwork.com/when-it-comes-economic-clout-new-york-will-far-outpace-other-us-metros-decades-come

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/business/economy/nashville-birmingham-amazon.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage The media's love affair with Nashville and Austin continues...but Charlotte (no NC) gets a nod at the end of the article. Also, why the NCGA's gift to surrounding states of our once-robust TV and film industry is paying off...for them, not us.

I've heard about this in suburban / green-field locations, but not in urban cores. Typically, they will consider "shared" or "public" parking access. Banks have not been known to be progressives when it comes to development so it wouldn't surprise me if this were a "new" requirement. It's ridiculous.

Those Bubba's understood that it was going to take government involvement to bring NC out of poverty. If it were up to the current clowns in charge, North Carolinians would still be reading by candlelight and driving on cart paths. Commence firing... Texas has oil and gas. Florida has tourism. Not to mention that the state of Texas and the federal government have made massive investments in Texas, and it doesn't hurt that Texas covers an area that would include Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia.

This is such an awesome project.

The sky definitely isn't falling but the economic development and recruitment game is very much a battle of cities/regions and states. We can't rest on our laurels. NC wouldn't have made it out of the 19th century without massive public sector involvement and that's a related, but different subject.

You nailed it. As much as I like it, and am glad we have it, WRAL Techwire is not a superior source of information. Media sources are all subject to failures -- but "jumping the gun" and your analysis, I think hits the nail on the head.

Hilarious. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/technology/tech-talent-apple-tech-giants-west-coast.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Biz editorial perspective -- https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/12/13/editors-notebookapples-decision-looks-like-a.html

Outside of Charlotte, i cant vouch for everyone, but few think that and it's not exactly something you want to use to sell postcards or t-shirts. "World's Biggest Manufacturer of Plungers", may be, but "2nd Biggest Banking Center"... it's cool and I'm proud of it but meh.

...Great summary. Well done. Thanks. We have to be sexier and weirder if we want to be more than a branch office or distribution center. We have to do a better job of selling ourselves and building our brands. When you say/read "Charlotte" or "Raleigh" to someone outside the area or country, what images pop into their heads, if anything? Austin? Nashville?

"SC does not have enough money to build roads much less light rail." ...but, but, but..."SC has lower taxes and is more business friendly"

The potential impact on development at Gateway is spot-on. Back in the day, railroad fortunes were built on development. Streetcar lines were funded by development. Development follows transportation. I think giving private rail development rights at stations is the incentive needed to get rail back up and running by private operators. I disagree about tourism flows from Europe to CLT. Between the Smokies, BRP, Asheville, OBX, Charleston....CLT (or RDU) are great gateways. The key is making people aware. I wish CLT, RDU, and NC would do more to advertise in Europe.

I'll dig up the design i worked on when I was with the City for the Six Forks and Strickland Small Area Plan in the late 1990. I agree with you. BTW, One of the most egregious examples of pisspoor City planning is at Six Forks and Saw Mill. There used to be a public library branch on Horizon Drive surrounded by housing where residents could see the library but had to get in their cars, go onto Sawmill and then onto Six Forks to get to the library. Effective separation of uses but crappy mobility planning, forcing cars onto roads when better pedestrian connections could have saved AADT.

Regarding my resume, you and JBS have implied with your comments that I am being a snob. Probably more think it. Maybe I am misinterpreting your replies. This site is good for sharing opinions and learning about projects and the built environment generally. There are things, perspectives and experiences, that people in professions like mine, have to listen to and learn about from users. Is it just a one-way street? I'm new to the site and I could have just said, "I think pedestrian bridges are bad". Suppose i just leave it at that, am I helping or hurting the situation? Credentials are important because it means you know something about what you're writing or saying. It doesnt make me infallible, more intelligent,,or a better person than you, but if you know that the person making the comment is more than casually observing, you might stop and think about it and consider things like the unintended consequences of bad design decisions, impediments to the evolution of urban spaces, the impacts on poverty, fiscal efficiency, etc.. to this point, Charlotte is doing a (much) better job at this than it gets credit for. Nationally, attention is on Nashville, TN and Austin, TX -- both which benefit from also being state capitals. What's happened and is happening in Charlotte should be shared because it is remarkable.

LOL. With "just a GED"? Making our streets and cities less accessible and accomodating to the broadest populations is bad...for fiscal conservatives, social justice activists and the rest of us slobs in middle. For example, it's not generally discussed but there's a correlation between access and poverty. Poorly designed cities and public spaces can make the difference between getting to a job or not. To reiterate the point made earlier, car ownership is not inexpensive, the current annual estimate is $9000 a year. "Build it and they will come" applies to transportation but not urban space. Installing period lighting and brick pavers isn' t alone going to attract foot traffic, you need traffic generators. A parking deck is one generator, an office building is another. They are like anchors in the context of a shopping mall. If everyone visiting the anchor tenants back in the old days when people flooded malls could travel directly from one to the other without having go "the long way", the retailers off the most convenient path between them would have a hard time surviving.

I may have to take it on. People have to know what good is happening in NC.

Thank you. "Anti-urban"...nice, "geography of nowhere" Good urban spaces are in the details. I havent been to Charlotte since the Great Stonewall Transformation but the massings of the new structures look too monolithic to make the pedestrian realm very comforting. Have you been down and walked it?

I have 30 years experience as an urban designer and a master's degree in landscape architecture. I've lived and worked in New York, Berlin and DC before teaching at NC State and working for NCDOT. I'm not a casual observer on these topics. No offense but pedestrian bridges suck the life off streets. "Adding retail" to a project at the street level is not going drive pedestrian traffic to the street, it takes it away.

It's worth trying. Unless you are looking for Charlotte specifically, people aren't going Google new development in Charlotte. You have let people know about Charlotte. Hiding out here isn't helping spread the word.

Developers, and cities, pay for upgrades to public infrastructure including roads, all the time. NCDOT will give you basic features, but if you pay for it, will gladly upgrade. Same for utility lines.

Kane has invested millions into the project but the streetscape on Six Forks looks like scheisse. DOT, Kane, the City couldn't figure out a better way to make the pedestrian crossing more....well, pedestrian friendly? It's nearly as bad as trying to get from hotels on the north sid e of glenwood to Crabtree. Kane spent a bunch of money on the decorative columns and lighting, but it's lost in the tangle of overhead wires and telephone poles. Any plans to "fix" these issues?

Like the second tower. The collection of buildings there could be interesting (good). Hate the pedestrian bridge to the office tower though (and, on different site down Stonewall, the one proposed to connect the convention center to the hotel). Pedestrian bridges kill street level activity and we more not less of that. Great pix by the way. Can some one post their pictures to the other urban/skyscraper forums? Charlotte looks dead to the world and it's not...clearly! I dont have the wealth of pix some of you have, or I would! Thanks.

Thanks for posting the link Merthecat.