[The River District]

On 10/17/2022 at 12:27 PM, Hushpuppy321 said:

Yes - This is moving at a Glacial Pace but at least it’s moving.  Infrastructure portion (Roads, Utilities, Etc.) are under construction though.

At the risk of coming across as being overly critical, and that's not my intention, typically as projects are built out, marketing gets to work and posts photos of infrastructure as it's rolled out.

Decades ago it was a time consuming endeavor, with costs attached to it; nowadays it takes very little time, little to no resources, and no money.

I just find their approach a little surprising.

***
I confess my disappointment, because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity:  the land is sandwiched in between the River - and water features such as the Catawba are unique and valuable - and a busy Airport, plus it's reasonably close to Downtown.  Yet, thus far it would appear that this development will be sprawling, with no "permanent" mass transportation - an added insult because this project is a clean sheet design, in a City that spent, (possibly wasted ?), millions on the LYNX Gold Line.

And people seeking information are treated to crickets.

[The River District]

The last reply to this thread was on the sixth of July, and we're closing in on November.

I Facebooked their official page, and my query was left unacknowledged.

Things are moving s-l-o-w-l-y; even so, it would be wise for marketing/sales to update people on a frequent basis, even if they are but small updates.

[The River District]

18 hours ago, KJHburg said:

this first phase maybe not but they have larger homes closer to the Lake planned.  But all that information is just not out yet but I do know larger lots will be closer to the Lake/river. 

Thank you for your reply.

So I assuming that if I were to drive over there, they'd have some roadways in place by now, or no?

[The River District]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I dont think they have announced the builders yet for River District other than the apartment developers.  There will be homes of all sizes.   As for the schools there is a new High School coming near the Palisades and this neighborhood would go to Olympic which is much closer than West Meck.  I would not look at any presale of homes until late this year or early 2023.  Builders are releasing homes once they get a model done and many times after they have started a few to be sure of their costs. 

Will there be a sizeable number of luxury properties as well?

[The River District]

On 1/17/2022 at 2:59 PM, JBS said:

This has undoubtedly been heavily impacted by the pandemic. I wouldn't be surprised if only the retail and residential are built in the near future. 

 

On 1/17/2022 at 4:19 PM, KJHburg said:

They have been working on mostly infrastructure work in the past year but this year some residential should go vertical.  It is a big project and the infrastructure undoubtedly has been slowed by the pandemic and shortages. 

Thank you both, for your replies

[The River District]

In Jan of 2021, The River District website said that "construction begins;" we're now in Jan 2022.  Have there been no new developments worth reporting?  Even the expansion of roads, new roads...information regarding this project is scant.

[The River District]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Regular Express Buses between the River District and Uptown would be much faster for the portion of the ~10,000 River District residents that decide to live in the district and commute into Uptown. If we wanted to connect the River District to the areas people will shop and play, that is probably having a light rail connection from the River District to Berewick and the Steele Creek area. That is where the shopping and errands people would do are located that are not self contained in the River District itself. I think the principal traffic we'll get from the River District is cars driving back and forth on I-485 running errands, going to restaurants, et.. versus into Uptown for a portion of commuters. 

I'll give you that - in that an express bus might adequately serve the River District.  But what I would really love to see:  a light rail spur traversing the River District, which terminates at the outlets.  I would imagine that college students from UNC, and people around South End and Uptown, whose developments are becoming less and less auto dependant, would use the rail to shop at the outlets; students would use light rail to commute to their jobs at the outlets.

***

If I seem overzealous over the development of rail, it's only because my former home of suburban NYC was a complete and utter mess:  the roads couldn't keep up, to the extent where residents literally wouldn't go anywhere; planning trips outside of our immediate area became near prohibitive.  There was simply no enjoyment taking a recreational daytrip, when a huge part of the daytrip was spent sitting in hours of traffic, therefore, many recreational activities were left undone.  And because so much time was wasted by sitting in hours of traffic, the environment was one whereupon residents felt as though they didn't have enough hours in the day, thus the pace became very harried, and people were nasty - which affected the cohesion of the community.

Ultimately, what would be great is if CLT's rail system connected to major shopping attractions; the River District will have water access, and it would be great for residents to be able to seamlessly connect to the water, to Uptown, and to major shopping via rail.  Conversely, if the River District follows a suburban sprawl model, we will have created another Atlanta.

It would be a blunder of epic proportions for the City, and River District planners, to not incorporate a fictitious rail trail throughout the yet unbuilt River District.

[The River District]

22 hours ago, Desert Power said:

de

Unfortunately the "they" in this example is CATS. Even if the Silver Line gets built in 2 decades, I will have no confidence they will be able to manage these type of transitions between lines. Imagine trying to go to a job at Legacy Union from River District. With two transfers how long will that take?

The Gold Line probably shouldn't be extended either since the CATS can't operate it well.

I also am not bullish on the idea the River District will have nearly the amount of density/offices as Ballantyne.

Let's say you're right: the density isn't there.  But what would it cost them to arrange the development around a fictitious rail trail?  Conversely, what if the River District adds population over the years...everyone will clamor about how they "really missed the ball" by not designing into the fabric of this development, a rail trail.

As for phase 3 of the Gold Line, I agree:  it shouldn't be extended; the thing is a waste, and the phase 3 extension provides too much overlap with the southeast leg of the Silver Line.  

[The River District]

On 10/11/2021 at 10:54 AM, TGIBridays said:

I don't know too much about rail transit planning, but would a spur line work better than a separate line with a transfer?  Spur line might not be the correct term, but I was thinking that basically every other train would go towards the river district while the rest of the trains would go to Belmont.  This would result in a longer headways for the Belmont and River district sections, but those areas would be less dense and as long as the rest of the line had 10 ish minute headways the service would be about as good as the Blue Line is currently (~20 min headways).

Agreed, a spur line would be a much better alternative than having to transfer between trains.  But my original point was that right now, they can set this up at next to no cost - it literally would cost them next to nothing - to develop the River District around a fictitious "rail trail."

On 10/11/2021 at 11:58 AM, wilmore said:

For most everyday trips, this would be a one hour train ride each way, and therefore never get used - Phase 3 of the Gold Line isn't really the standard we should be striving for. 

I disagree.

The first problem with the Silver Line, is that there are too many scheduled stops, which lengthen the ride; express service would speed things along.  Secondly, the other thing that would urge ridership are the parking issues associated with Uptown.

[The River District]

11 hours ago, Desert Power said:

Really not feasible to connect this to the projected silver line track

I respectfully disagree; they could easily run a line from the Airport down to the River District; the cost would be very minimal - as the land is not yet developed right now.  Riders would hop on at the River District, and transfer onto the Silver Line at the Airport.  The key here is simply to incorporate small easeways of land right now, as it's undeveloped; this would allow them the opportunity to run a future line in the future, at a minimal cost.  Surely a light rail leg into the River District would be used far greater than Phase 3 of the Gold Line.

I used to live in NY, and transfers between trains into Manhattan was done all of the time.

But I am afraid none of this will happen.

What will likely happen, is that the River District will get built out; the area will get quite congested; City leaders will say something to the effect of:  "the roads can't keep up;" "we didn't anticipate the popularity of the River District;" "we need light rail to the River District, but the costs are prohibitive."  From there, there will be a massive move to reconfigure the infrastructure within the River District, as is happening in Ballantyne right now.

[The River District]

On 10/6/2021 at 9:49 PM, KJHburg said:

From the Charlotte Ledger about Crescents plans for the River District

 ""...20 miles of bike and pedestrian trails, plus 3.5 miles of greenway. “This master plan is going to be a refreshing alternative to the traditional-use suburban model, designed to human scale rather than the automobile,” Kerley said.""

This leaves me wondering; it would be a debacle of epic proportions if the City doesn't mandate that the plan revolves around future lightrail.

The City built out the Gold Line, which many see as being wasteful, and many people are clamoring for lightrail around Ballantyne, as the roads there can't keep up. 

They talk about it being "human scale," instead of following the traditional automobile focused model, and this is good, but immediately preceding this statement, he talks about bike and greenway trails.  Both are encouraging developments, but not to the neglect of lightrail - at the very least they should be allocating space for future lightrail, such that a future line could be installed effortlessly.