skylinedrive

I think the reason that the VUE has been slower to sell than other projects is due to its high price point. It really is at the upper limits of what Charlotte can support.

The Charlotte Planning Staff has signed off on the VUEs rezoning request...UMUD to UMUD-O. Whatever problems the city may have had with the VUE have been resolved. Now it just needs a rubber stamp from the City Council. See item 16 on page 6 of this document: http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/eejgu...nda-06-2006.pdf

Expect to see movement soon on the Alpha Mill project on 12th St. They were just issued a demolition contract for part of the building. Don't worry, the Historic Landmark's Commision signed off on the demo. I guess they are getting rid of the crappy add-ons to the original building.

I took a self guided tour of Courtside last week. The views are just stunning. I really like the rooftop terrace which puts you right at the angled roof along the front of the building. It gives you a feeling of being in a boat or a space ship with the skyline in the background. I even liked the views from the units that don't face the skyline. Elericseven when are you hosting the urbanplanet party on the rooftop of Courtside?

I heard from a real estate frind of mine that the sales were not good on the townhome project Drakeford wanted to do. They said these homes will be in the Saussy Burbank style so they should match the 9th St homes pretty well, just smaller.

I saw the Vue model last night. It is very impressive all lit up at night.

It only seems feasible to me to have 2 seperate trains. One a people mover on 5 min intervals and then a seperate West rail line running on 15 min+ intervals. Since the airport doesn't want to build park and ride lots for CATS, then it doesn't make sense to terminate the line at the airport. It would be nice to have the West line go directly to the main terminal just like MARTA in Atlanta, METRO in DC, and BART in SFO. It looks like our arrangement will be just like Newark, where you have a free people mover running on 5 minute interals that takes you from the main terminal to the parking decks, rental car places, and then stops at the Commuter Rail line at the edge of the airport. Keep in mind that Amtrak plans on making the Airport a stop in the future for the Crescent and any future high speed rail just like at the Newark Airport.

I went out to Northlake Mall today. It turned out rather nice, especially the "main hall" They were really able to capture a "Charlotte" essecne with all the brick work and releif artwork of the trolley, Andrew Jackson, James K Polk, etc. I can't wait for them to build out the exterior "SouthPoint" part on the front side. The store selection will be nice and will get even better as the mall becomes fully leased in the coming months. I would rate the Mall#2 in the metro area behind SouthPark.

Not really. I was also at the streetcar meeting yesterday and the street car stops will basically look like our bus stops do today with the shelters. The only difference is that the stops are slightly elevated with a ramp to allow ADA compliance. However they did have a SWEET animation of both the Arena and Gateway stops. The Arena stop animation showed the street cars coming up to a stop right in front of the main entrace to the Arena on Trade St. It simultaniously showed the South LRT moving along the bridge over Trade St. The animations were a good crowd pleaser and showed just how URBAN that section of downtown will look in 3-4 years. It was very dramatic. In the breakout sessions they also had a nice 4ft blow up graphic of the Gateway Train station. The renderings they had showed the main train station, the large rail bridge, and the retail parcel buildouts. It looked really sweet. Of course it also showed the streetcar stops on Trade St.

One of the local channels had their helicopter out there and it showed every single space in their parking lot was filled.

The Avenue started construction a couple months ago. They already have the foundation poured. Should start coming out of the ground fairly soon.

What is the tallest condo tower in Myrtle Beach? Avenue on Church street will be complete before the Vue is and it will be 36 stories.

I read where the Charlotte City Council approved the contract to realign Independence and 277. This is Phase 1 of the Midtown redevelopment. I suspect we will see some graders and earth movers out there shortly. I also read somewhere that the Home Depot/ Target will get started in 4th Quarter 2005...just a couple weeks from now.

What ever happened to that Italian Restarant that was supposed to open in the space where the Vue Sales Center is now?

We had both been drinking when this coversation occured. So its very possible that I didn't hear him right or he didn't say what he meant. I could have it backwords. monsoon is right that this building will have some type of damping. When I go to the sales center I will be asking them about what they plan to use. I don't want to shell out a lot of money just to end up sliding off the potty. For anyone that cares this particular Civil Engineer I was talking with is a graduate of USC.