abttown

We actually don't know if any condo owners complained at all. Most of us here seem to think some city counsil members are using the condo owners as a way to discourage lighting. I have yet to see or hear any quoted complaints from condo owners in Uptown concerning too much light. I think bright lights are a vital part of the urban experience.

Very nice picture Mobuchu! The Vue will really make this shot pop once it's completed.

Nothing major but cnn.com has a story today about rising demand for mass transit across the nation and Charlotte is given a nod. It mentions the increased ridership on the light rail and the ordering of new buses by the city. Not too spectacular, but I was pleasantly surprised to come across the story.

^I just had a relative die this past month and I can say (at least for me) that I was very glad to see people stopping/slowing down for the procession as we passed by. Sure most of those people did not know my grandfather and vice versa, but it still shows that people have a little respect for others and gives you at least a little hope for mankind. All of the people that stopped only did so for about 15 seconds, so I don't think it would have ruined anyone's day. I can see the argument for being in a hurry and this sort of thing getting in the way and on your nerves, but in the grand scheme of things, I think it does more good than harm.

Thank you so much DjStedali! I was hoping they would be further along with the underground parking and tower portion, but there is obviously quite a bit of granite in that area. I guess once all the excavation is done, the project should move along much faster.

roningreensboro, that is part of the parking deck currently being assembled. It will end up being quite large, maybe 8-12 stories tall? I think it is going to serve the entire Novare block so I guess it has to be huge. I just hope they get creative with it like Seventh Street Station instead of leaving it as is.

I like how quickly the Ritz is shooting up now! The only problem is that I can't see the rest of the site from the 210 Trade webcam. Can someone fill me in on if the office tower has begun construction? I hope by now they're done with the excavation. Thanks ahead of time!

^Ahh....I was getting worried because I couldn't remember if we had ever had code orange in April. I guess it was a good idea to lower the standards somewhat, as it may bring more attention to the problem. Of course if we're hitting orange levels now, I'm afraid of what the summer months will bring. Hopefully we will have more rain this summer to help keep the ozone levels down, but summer rains are usually wishful thinking.

The National Weather Service has issued a code orange air quality advisory for today for the Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh/Durham metros. This is awfully early in the year to be seeing code orange days since the summer heat is not present to help fuel these type of bad air days. Its pretty deceiving since its such a nice, clear day out.

Yeah Aloft if hiding it now, but if you go back to January on the 210 Trade webcam, you can easily see the middle building between Aloft and the Trade Street building. This middle building is where the event venue area is located.

This is just a reminder to everyone that tonight is the total Lunar eclipse. It will start around 10:00pm and last until about 10:50pm. I'm not sure how well the moon will show up in photos, but its certainly worth the try. It would be great to see some skyline shots with the moon in the background!

Throwing in a little color would really help to spice things up a bit. Too bad about Carillon, I really liked the new lighting scheme. I actually think 400 South Tryon has tons of potential to become one of the coolest buildings uptown if only the night lighting was changed. Since Wachovia is the tenant, maybe they could install some blue and green night lights?

Yeah I'm not sure how much I would trust that site seeing as how State College, PA is listed as both liberal friendly and unfriendly. This is all just a matter of perspective, but IMO Charlotte for its size is rather conservative. Politically, most people don't hear much concerning Charlotte and most likely just lump it in with most other southern cities. Just saw where Spokane, WA has also been placed on both lists....confusing.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but are they assembling the new tower crane on top of the BOA parking deck? Looking at the 12pm picture from the 210 Trade webcam, there is a portion of a new tower crane on the deck. I can't tell if they actually have a platform up there for the crane or not. Regardless, its good to see some added activity at the site.

Charlotte is a big enough city that people should know where it is located. There really is no excuse for not knowing that Charlotte is in North Carolina unless you just suck with geography (which unfortunately applies to most Americans).

Great photos Dubone. That last photo with the commentary just made my week!