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I’d also like to add that I’ve visited practically every major city downtown in the USA and I’d place Charlotte in the top 1%, now that I’ve seen it for the first time in over 20 years. Your uptown is much nicer than any section of Atlanta by the way. Downtown Atlanta, Midtown, Buckhead- none compares to your uptown as far as walkability and diversity and availability of amenities of all types. Congrats.

Just wanted to say how impressive Charlotte is. Here for two nights for the Belk Bowl (UVA ‘72). Saw the Hornets last night at the Spectrum and the game today at BOA Stadium. Your city is incredible! And growing rapidly it appears! You are very fortunate to be a part of it all happening!

As a resident of Norfolk/Virginia Beach, I'd much rather drive 6 hours to and follow an uptown Charlotte MLB team if one existed than drive 3 hours to see the Nationals in DC. I don't think I'd do the same to see the Knights play.

Drove by there tonight coming home from NARO and it's all lit up with construction lights, over a hundred total I'd guess, on all floors. Looks like a big *** 9 story rectangular Christmas tree. Good sight. And I thought how really impressive that entire Fort Norfolk waterfront strip will someday look when it's fully developed all the way from this building down to the Brambleton bridge. Lotta real good land in there for mid and some high rise development. Gonna look awesome I believe. Let's get this party started (or finished).

CaveMaN- always enjoy your AWESOME photography! Your shots are always interesting, with great composition, angles and lighting!

Waterside will someday return as a viable piece of property, with some kind of redo. However, if you want to see a vaguely similar area, developed by the same Rouse company, trek up to Baltimore's Inner Harbor, if some may have not done already. I'm really envious. It has a very real natural advantage in that it (the area, not just the single Harborplace building) is kinda horseshoe shaped around the water rather than straight across as is the Waterside area, and in that it has no pedestrian barrier to its access as Waterside unfortunately has with Waterside Drive. Talk about bustling, their area is I'd say 10 times as big and active as our Waterside area, and no matter what our redo becomes, those two built-in advantages that Inner Harbor has will probably keep it ahead for a long time to come. That being said, the Norfolk waterfront is still an amazing testament to progress, and still has room to improve considerably. The more Portsmouth continues with its waterfront development, the more will be added to the Waterside area experience and feel as well. Come to think of it, if Portsmouth, Waterside, Harbor park waterfront, Fort Norfolk waterfront, SoNo, etc. keep developing, our overall downtown waterfront experience may even someday eclipse Baltimore's!

Just to change the subject, I've noticed reading the Charlotte forum that their downtown (uptown as they call it) doesn't have much retail or any grocery store. MacArthur Center alone has much more than four times the s.f. of all that in uotown Charlotte ( they don't even have a major dept. store uptown), and something like The Market as well doesn't exist there. They are clammoring for more, but I think it's interesting that Norfolk already has what they want (in those two categories anyway). Now, office space and pro sports facilities are alltogether another subject...