#1Son

@Popsickle, I was geeked over this post until I opened the link every photo in this article is credited as "Charlotte, NC or North Carolina"

Is this blue font??? Because I have never heard of Triangle Research Park either, but I once worked for IBM at their Research Triangle Park (RTP) location

Wasn't able to get behind the pay wall but I wonder if Kohl's department stores are involved in this as well. I went in to Kohl's last week and the store had an Amazon return drop off location. I wasn't paying attention to the signs and thought how convenient to put a checkout register in the middle of the men's department.

Raleigh and Cary are not really a good comparable for Charlotte due to the impact of State funded parks in the Triangle. Umstead Park is an amazing State park that accounts for half of the park acreage in Raleigh. But it is funded by the state of NC. Thanks to the donor counties like Mecklenburg, Guilford, Forsyth, etc. Raleigh doesn't have to pay the cost of its largest park. Dorothea Dix was a state mental hospital that the state originally leased to the city of Raleigh for pennies on the dollar. Raleigh ultimately buys the property, but the only reason the land was preserved is because the state owned the land. Charlotte and Mecklenburg county have not benefited in the same fashion as Raleigh and Cary. And that doesn't include Jordan Lake State Park and Fall Lake State Park. Charlotte/Mecklenburg County has zero state parks

@SouthEndCLT811 Thanks for that tidbit. Driven over the Cuyahoga using the Innerbelt, Shoreway and Detroit Ave tons of times but never across the Hope bridge.

UNC CHARLOTTE just needs to make a big enough fuss and the name can be changed. NC State was founded as "North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts". At some point it was changed to the "University of North Carolina at Raleigh" which didn't sit too well with the alumni so now it is officially "North Carolina State University at Raleigh".

Does anyone have an update on when/if the boutique hotel construction will begin?

Sounds like Global Entry is the way to travel. I am not a frequent international traveler as I fly out of the country once a year, but I haven't been lucky flying back through JFK. I landed at 1:30 pm and didn't clear customs until after 3 pm twice at JFK. When I was on a pre-clearance flight from Dublin it allowed me to land at the JFK Jetblue terminal and walk right to baggage claim. The time to clear customs in Dublin was 20 to 30 minutes and based on the past experiences I thought it was pretty convenient. Maybe I just need a better travel agent . @LKN704 I don't recall having to go through security twice in Dublin, but I was connecting in the airport. I clearly remember going through the Canadian TSA check point then immediately going through US TSA checkpoint in Toronto even though I was connecting to O'Hare. I thought it was in response to covid-19, but it took over an hour to pre-clear customs in Toronto. Maybe that is just the normal wait time in Canada.

Canada and the Caribbean make sense. I would not think Ireland would have pre-clearance, but it was really nice not having to clear customs at JFK. The wait to clear customs in Ireland was 20 to 30 minutes tops. I can't remember waiting less than an hour at JFK especially when 4 or 5 planes land in the same bank.

@LKN704 does Lufthansa fly to CLT from an airport that is pre-cleared by US customs? My last two flights from Europe flew through Dublin and Toronto. Both flights had US Customs Agents clear the flight before it left from Ireland and Canada respectively then land at a domestic terminal. This was a surprise especially from Dublin, but the flight actually landed at the JFK Jetblue terminal and connected as if it was a domestic flight. Maybe Lufthansa will use this process and start landing at A-North.

That would make sense. I always thought it was in Smyrna or Marietta because you cross the river into Cobb County. As always thanks for the enlightenment.

Who knew??? All these years I thought it was just the name of the Mall. Please don't tell me Lenox Square is in the Lenox area and not Buckhead or I'm gonna be lost.

Some little company in California wants it's second tallest building between Georgia and Pennsylvania back. Everything happens for a reason.

Point taken. This is a rough idea but Truist Field could be redesigned and expanded to the size of Camden Yards if the city decided to close Mint Street and reduced the size of Romare Bearden park. The ballpark broke up the city grid closing 3rd from Mint to Graham already so traffic could easily be routed from the 4th and Mint intersection to Poplar down to MLK and back to Mint. In theory Green's and the remainder of the surface lot could be incorporated into the expanded ballpark. Another option would be to tunnel Mint under the right field but that would be super expensive.

MLB is drooling to put a franchise in the Carolinas largest city. MLB is a regional sport and NC and SC have almost 15 million as a region. Plus the Carolinas have a huge number of fans for other teams Yankees, Cubs, Braves, etc. Weekend attendance will not be an issue as fans throughout the Carolinas will come to watch a game or two over the weekend and make coming to Charlotte mini vacation. Which fans currently do for NFL, NBA and NHL games. Weekday attendance is the question. As stated before the City lacked the foresight to build the Knights ballpark with the ability to be expanded. Until a stadium is built or a plan to build one is developed MLB is sadly a dream.

I totally agree with this statement, but I think @xapostrophe is advocating turning US 321 (York Hwy) in to an interstate hwy from the SC line up to I-85.

Charlotte A's just rolls of the tongue

@DPK nailed the reason this project is taking so long to complete. I ride through the US 70 side of this project all the time to go to work . They had to relocate a cemetery, replace/widen a railroad trestle and create three new interchanges and replace the mainline bridges over NC 98. The 1.25 mile "connector " has been complete for 2 years. I will be so happy once this project is finished.

https://www.500nations.com/casinos/nc-catawba-two-kings-casino.asp Looks like July 1st is the official opening date according to the website.

Typical Tarheel fan. I bet you are a Lakers fan as well

Not hotel related, but the article does touch on N. Tryon development somewhat. Despite the hotel plans being stalled, a number of other projects are underway as the North Tryon area experiences a revitalization. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library unveiled plans in late 2019 for its $135 million overhaul of the main branch along North Tryon. The city, county, library and Bank of America plan to sell 3.1 acres along North Tryon between 6th and 8th streets to Virginia-based developer Metropolitan Partnership for a mixed-use development. The $600 million project includes plans for an office tower, apartments, retail and parking.

I really think the Carolina Panthers influence that perception. Whenever I fly overseas I wear Panthers gear and jogging pants so I don't have to take off a belt while going through TSA. Everyone who spoke English asked if I was from Carolina. When I say "NORTH" Carolina they say "Oh the northern part" or something to that effect.

That was the original plan when the Garden Parkway toll road was proposed, but it was dropped early on in the project. Mainly due to opposition to the toll road even though the connector wasn't part of the toll road. NCDOT archived the original source but the link explains what basically happened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Parkway

@tozmervo beat me to the punch. The airport owns the majority of the property along Little Rock and Wilkinson already and the long term plan is to develop that as a gateway to the airport, so the remaining land will be purchased sooner or later. Shifting the light rail station closer to the terminal makes developing that area more difficult imo.

This once thriving entertainment center is a ghost town. It is really sad to see the cobblestone growing grass between it