JunktionFET

Wake Forest Rd. And yep, that 70s looking mall was North Hills.

Wow you're right, that would've been a great place for the arena, and it would've spawned a good number entertainment venues, restaurants, and hotels. And what do you know--there's an existing rail corridor through there too! Would've been a perfect link to the DT transit center.

Being a fan of trains and rail based transit, I have kept up some with this Nashville project and I have a great deal admiration for it since it is so resourceful. Has anyone heard any noise about it locally--like what the project status is, etc? There's only so much I can research online. And forget a first hand survey--I'm closer to NYC than I am to Nashville! If I were closer, I'd drive there myself and check out the corridor first hand. Yes I'm a geek, I've driven down the Triangle area corridors before It's fun to look at old railroad tracks--imagining that at one point in history they literally built towns. It is an incredible infrastructure that should be preserved first and foremost. I've stumbled across a lot of negative commentary by people in the Nashville area who want their money spent in other ways. People like that make me laugh--they can never say exactly what they want their money spent on, nor do they show any concern for future generations, or even what the world will be like ten years from now. I assume Nashville was having to get federal money to make this a reality--since it wasn't in the 2006 budget, will it still proceed on schedule? By far the coolest aspect of this project was the price of the passenger cars--$1.00

North Hills is actually pretty nice, I like it. In addition to the retail and office space, there is a 5 story condo component, soon to be accompanied by another 7 or 8 story condo and a 9 story hotel. All three of those structures feature ground level retail, as far as I know. The whole place is pretty nifty I think. This development will not be served by the TTA Regional Rail or any commuter rail line. This is a shame since such a development would fit nicely around a transit stop. Speaking of retail and transit, I just thought of something. The gigantic gridded retail/office/housing development in northwest Raleigh called Brier Creek will also not be served by any rail based transit, unless of course TTA were to seriously tweak their airport line--which is uncertain anyway. Holy crap that place is HUGE, and the way things are looking it is 100% auto-centric too! I wish they'd stop wasting these developments like this! Use them in places along transit corridors dammit, not off of a major loop freeway exit!

I loved the Metro back when my family lived in the DC area. I remember being on the train everytime we'd go into the city when I was a kid. We even used it once for a school field trip! After a 12 year hiatus, I took a MARC train from Baltimore to DC (or thereabouts) during a visit in 2000. That was the last time, I'm overdue for another ride.

Good thing you guys cleared that up about A&F. Skylinesbest or that Miami-airport-enthusiast-guy are liable to start a new thread on SSP, charging Charlotte with being inferior because it doesn't have an A&F store... or something to that effect. Just before I moved to Raleighwood, I nearly got an apartment literally right down the street from NorthLake Mall, in a new complex called AustonWoods. It was tight!

Grubb adding to Elizabeth project Mixed-use building to include 15,000 square feet of retail J. Lee Howard Senior staff writer Grubb Properties Inc. hopes to start construction in about 45 days on a $9 million, 38,000-square-foot retail and office building -- its latest addition to the $240 million Elizabeth Avenue redevelopment project. The two-story, 1523 Elizabeth Ave. building should take about a year to complete and will feature about 15,000 square feet of ground-level retail space. The building also is being designed to incorporate a two-story restaurant with balcony seating. Discussions with prospective tenants are ongoing, says Laura Smith, Grubb marketing manager. The company declines to identify would-be occupants. The building will be adjacent to the 1535 Elizabeth Ave. building, home to Carpe Diem restaurant and a centerpiece of the Elizabeth redevelopment. The overall project is an ambitious mixed-use development Grubb is coordinating with Central Piedmont Community College and Presbyterian Hospital. The project, expected to take about 10 years to complete, eventually will include as much as 340,000 square feet of offices, 800 residential units and up to 250,000 square feet of retail. The mix also is expected to include high-end grocers, boutiques, service-oriented shops, a 150-room hotel, as many as 25 restaurants and an eight-screen movie theater. More here: http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../01/story3.html I'm excited about this project, especially since it is getting started for real. This area is perfect for such a project too since it bolsters the SE side of Uptown... Though the Elizabeth Ave area has also been called "Midtown" for a long time, a project like this (once completed) will definitely make it more of a destination for people other than CPCC students or hospital patients. "Midtown" will certainly mean something to more people.

Yeah, the South Park district has been around for long enough now (~40 years since the first houses were built there), it is about time for some neo-urban things to appear and fill in the gaps... which is actually happening now, and will likely accelerate in the near future. I think that as the population demographic begins to shift, you will see a less suburban mindset from that area. Remember the lovely mini-bus system that South Park acquired (in addition to the main CATS buses)--the one that only two people rode for that entire week? I think that in a few years, that idea might be a lot more successful.