Learning from Other Places

[KJHburg]

Check out these new or fairly new hotels in Savannah.  Wow this is how  a strict design guideline makes a difference.  From yesterday. Charlotte gets glass or stucco boxes (which are not all ugly but many are) and Savannah gets brick buildings. 

1. new Marriott branded property MLK and Oglethorpe   2. 3. 4. New Plant Riverside JW Marriott hotel 400 rooms spread over 3 buildings these are the new buildings at old power plant site on the river.  5. brand new Hotel Alida  on River St.  6. newer Homewood Suites on E Bay St.

the point is their new hotels all  look great ours 50/50 or less. 

[CM2424]

On 5/18/2019 at 7:05 PM, Desert Power said:

I wish I was creative enough to come up with ideas to renovate or use Latta Arcade more.  Brevard Court is always pretty busy 

It really has been neglected and yet has so much potential. It’s a shame so many great, small restaurant concepts are going to Tompkins Hall when Latta could have those in the middle of uptown.  It needs to be made just a little bit nicer and opened up on the evening and weekends, and it could be a real destination.

[DMann]

Latta Arcade and Brevard Court have multiple owners with different agendas.  It would be very hard to get an effort to unite that space.  For modern leasing, the individual spaces are often not conducive to plumbing, electrical, etc.

[easzman]

13 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Check out these new or fairly new hotels in Savannah.  Wow this is how  a strict design guideline makes a difference.  From yesterday. Charlotte gets glass or stucco boxes (which are not all ugly but many are) and Savannah gets brick buildings. 

1. new Marriott branded property MLK and Oglethorpe   2. 3. 4. New Plant Riverside JW Marriott hotel 400 rooms spread over 3 buildings these are the new buildings at old power plant site on the river.  5. brand new Hotel Alida  on River St.  6. newer Homewood Suites on E Bay St.

the point is their new hotels all  look great ours 50/50 or less. 

Very nice. Seeing these really questions why they couldn't bury the powerlines in front of the Railyard. Not one powerline in the pics above.

[Dale]

Tokyo to remove 5.9 million elictrical poles and bury 573 miles of overhead cable by 2020 Olympics ...

https://gineersnow.com/industries/tokyo-take-utility-lines-preparation-2020-olympics

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I came across this article and have always thought the same thing.  Anyone who has been up fairly high in Uptown, knows that rooftops can be at times very ugly and an eye sore at times...amidst the beautiful towers.  We always talk about cool murals at street-level but I think this artist's idea of rooftop murals is genius.  Maybe not sleeping giants every time, but you get the idea lol.  Adds character to the city and I think it's a great idea.  My first nomination would be the rooftop of the convention center.  

Edited June 10, 2019 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[KJHburg]

from Atlanta check this out the proposed hotel design then after planning board suggested changes look what they got.  Charlotte can learn from this.

https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/6/10/18659542/midtown-marriott-hotel-construction-ponce-peachtree

[UrbanCharlotte]

48 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

from Atlanta check this out the proposed hotel design then after planning board suggested changes look what they got.  Charlotte can learn from this.

https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/6/10/18659542/midtown-marriott-hotel-construction-ponce-peachtree

The previous design is laughable. Note LS3P is the architect as well..

[KJHburg]

1 minute ago, UrbanCharlotte said:

The previous design is laughable. Note LS3P is the architect as well..

reminds me of hotels in another city up 85 north from Atlanta ......

[U_R_]

13 hours ago, KJHburg said:

from Atlanta check this out the proposed hotel design then after planning board suggested changes look what they got.  Charlotte can learn from this.

https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/6/10/18659542/midtown-marriott-hotel-construction-ponce-peachtree

Let's not even mention this building in Atlanta. People like the redesign, but most still wish it could be 100x better especially since it is near the fox. People also want it to be taller. I would agree that the redesign is much better.

[KJHburg]

Up in North Carolina's 2nd city today the capital city of Raleigh.  Couple things we can learn one thing not photographed is Raleigh and Cary's extensive greenway system.  Over 100 miles of paved and unpaved trails in the city!  Then add in Cary's extensive system.   Take the train up to their Union Station and visit some of the great museums downtown FREE for we all as NC taxpapyers pay for them.

https://www.raleighnc.gov/parks/content/PRecDesignDevelop/Articles/CapitalAreaGreenwayTrailSystem.html

1. saw 2 hot dog places in and near downtown.  2. skyline. 3 bike friendly LOL 4. nicer older buildings 5. historic buildings on Fayetteville St heart of city preserved.  6. senior housing in old hotel being renovated one floor at a time affordable housing.  7. capital city club bldg a gem 8.  oh Raleigh can save some facades in Charlotte seems to be harder to do.  9. they use Charlotte based Passport parking app 10. facade save at the Dillon  11 Union Station downtown one day soon in Charlotte 12.  skyline 13.  new Publix downtown under these new apartments at Peace 14. Few blocks from Governors Mansion convenient to downtown a Krispy Kreme

 

[videtur quam contuor]

That repurposed hotel was the Sir Raleigh, the finest establishment in town during its day. I was there for a state convention in the 20th century and it had grand public spaces.Legend has it that Raleigh was chosen as the capital due to the proximity to a tavern that served the wonderful concoction "cherry bounce". One may read this story, delightful regardless of truth, at this site:

 http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/a-brief-history-of-drinking-in-raleigh/

 

[KJHburg]

Short 48 hour trip to Richmond and of course I headed straight downtown.  Things Charlotte can learn from what I saw

1/2 Bus Rapid Transit along Broad Street with dedicated bus lanes in both directions.  This needs to be more explored in Charlotte as a transit option as it is a lot less expensive and ticketing is done on the platforms.  I know it is not as sexy as rail transit but lots of cities use it including Houston, El Paso that I have been to recently.

3. Richmond Main St Amtrak station and talk about uptown.  It is located in Shockloe Bottom and huffed and puffed up town to downtown! The elevation change had to be close to 100 feet.

4. VA State Capitol one of the best in the land.  NC has a small capitol building compared to almost everyone of the 27 or so I have visited from coast to coast. (but nothing Charlotte can do about that)

5/6 Oh my quite a historical facade save for the new VA General Assembly office building under construction.  Of course VA taxpayers are paying for this one.

7. Freeway cap park over the 195 tolled expressway downtown. Not much activity on it and locals confirmed that on UP for me. I am for more parkland uptown and wider bridges and pedestrian connections.

8. new apartment tower downtown and I must say some of ours look better than this.

9. ticketing for the Bus Rapid Transit station.

10. Great free state museum the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts huge sprawling complex with historical structures on site as well.

11. well not every apartment building is a stunner this one is on Broad

12.  we need one of these or 6 like Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill is getting. 

 

[elrodvt]

^i went to school there and lived in the fan. Great area for a young person and it's awesome how many older houses are preserved.

I had a couple friends who saw shockloe coming and bought some shells. That place was very, very low income then. Basically a slum. Then they had some bad floods with the James overflowing it's banks. I assume that's been mitigated somehow but it's low land near a powerful river. Very fun place now.

I view Richmond as a slightly improved example of a southern, car centric, city.  White flight to the burbs was a killer. They're trying though. Have two universities plus the medical college is a big help in that regard.

[Crucial_Infra]

Cool city. Great bones. Hard to believe Charlotte and Richmond were about the same size in 1980. I suppose if Virginia had more liberal annexation laws and banking regulations, Richmond might still be a serious competitor. 

[KJHburg]

10 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

Cool city. Great bones. Hard to believe Charlotte and Richmond were about the same size in 1980. I suppose if Virginia had more liberal annexation laws and banking regulations, Richmond might still be a serious competitor. 

Metro Raleigh is now the size of Metro Richmond and yes Charlotte and Richmond were about the same size.  Banking and finance of course helped Charlotte but so did our airport more importantly in attracting new companies thus jobs thus people to the Queen City.  Richmond's airport is way to close to the DC metro area airports and thus our hub status made us really grow.   When I lived in VA in the 1980s Richmond really did not want to grow and wasn't aggressive about it while Charlotte kept reaching for the stars. 

[Crucial_Infra]

6 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Richmond's airport is way to close to the DC metro area airports and thus our hub status made us really grow

Well, they still have “the largest airport in central Virginia” which is how I once heard someone earnestly describe it. 

[KJHburg]

1 minute ago, Crucial_Infra said:

Well, they still have “the largest airport in central Virginia” which is how I once heard someone earnestly describe it. 

if you can name at least one airport I would believe that.  the Petersburg airport called Dinwiddie County airport LOL

[QCxpat]

18 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

Cool city. Great bones. Hard to believe Charlotte and Richmond were about the same size in 1980. I suppose if Virginia had more liberal annexation laws and banking regulations, Richmond might still be a serious competitor. 

 

7 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Metro Raleigh is now the size of Metro Richmond and yes Charlotte and Richmond were about the same size.  Banking and finance of course helped Charlotte but so did our airport more importantly in attracting new companies thus jobs thus people to the Queen City.  Richmond's airport is way to close to the DC metro area airports and thus our hub status made us really grow.   When I lived in VA in the 1980s Richmond really did not want to grow and wasn't aggressive about it while Charlotte kept reaching for the stars. 

1970 Decennial U.S. Census Bureau City Pop.

Charlotte:  241,420          Raleigh:  122,830          Richmond:  249,332

1980 Decennial U.S. Census Bureau City Pop.

Charlotte:  315,474          Raleigh:  150,255          Richmond:  219,214

1990 Decennial U.S. Census Bureau City Pop.

Charlotte:  395,934          Raleigh:  212,092          Richmond:  202,798

2000 Decennial U.S. Census Bureau City Pop.

Charlotte:  540,167          Raleigh:  276,094          Richmond:  197,790

2010 Decennial U.S. Census Bureau City Pop.

Charlotte:  731,424          Raleigh:  403,892          Richmond:  204,214

2018 U.S. Census Bureau City Pop. Ests. as of 07/01/2018

Charlotte:  872,498          Raleigh:  469,298          Richmond:  228,783

2018 U.S. Census Bureau MSA Pop. Ests. as of 07/01/2018 (Metropolitan Statistical Areas)

Charlotte MSA:  2,569,213          Raleigh MSA:  1,362,540          Richmond MSA:  1,306,172

 

 

[HopHead]

I lived in Richmond for years prior to moving to Charlotte around 2006. It's such a cool city. Has so much character and history. The Fan is one of the coolest neighborhoods on the East Coast imo.   Spent a lot days boozing there back in the day.  haha. Also loved the James River, but thought it was under utilized. I always thought if you could combine Charlotte and Richmond, you'd have one of the great American cities. 

Edited June 20, 2019 by HopHead

[Crucial_Infra]

A near perfect population analogy...

Richmond:Charlotte::Charlotte:Atlanta 

This can be interpreted many ways of course.  

Edited June 20, 2019 by Crucial_Infra

[rjp212]

I relocated to Richmond from Charlotte about 2 years ago.  It's definitely been a blast living here so far,  and the city has made leaps and bounds in the past few years.   It's gone from a shrinking city to the 2nd fastest growing city in VA (outside of Alexandria with DC and Amazon) in about 10 years.   Some of the apartment complexes mentioned above are a doozy, though the city has the highest usage rate of the historical tax credit in the US.   It's downtown definitely is dead at evenings like Uptown was in the 90s/00s,  but the Fan and Shockoe are bustling.   Definitely come take a visit if you haven't been here before.    It's like if you took 28205 and made an entire city out of it :-)

Edit:  There is currently legal battles by a local “attorney/activist” and the mayor over a proposed Arena redevelopment.  Reminds me of the hold up with the Knights Stadium and Charlottes Arena. 

Edited June 23, 2019 by rjp212

[cltbwimob]

On 6/18/2019 at 8:04 PM, elrodvt said:

^i went to school there and lived in the fan. Great area for a young person and it's awesome how many older houses are preserved.

I had a couple friends who saw shockloe coming and bought some shells. That place was very, very low income then. Basically a slum. Then they had some bad floods with the James overflowing it's banks. I assume that's been mitigated somehow but it's low land near a powerful river. Very fun place now.

I view Richmond as a slightly improved example of a southern, car centric, city.  White flight to the burbs was a killer. They're trying though. Have two universities plus the medical college is a big help in that regard.

Did you go to VCU or U of R?    I agree with you about the Universities.  I think if Charlotte had a VCU and a University of Richmond, given our other advantages, would really be punching above our weight in terms of knowledge economy jobs-even moreso than what we already have.  As for culture/identity, VCU and U of R give Richmond something that is simply not replicated in Charlotte.  Having two universities of their pedigree and caliber in Charlotte, from a culture/identity standpoint, would truly be game-changing.  

On 6/19/2019 at 9:38 PM, HopHead said:

I lived in Richmond for years prior to moving to Charlotte around 2006. It's such a cool city. Has so much character and history. The Fan is one of the coolest neighborhoods on the East Coast imo.   Spent a lot days boozing there back in the day.  haha. Also loved the James River, but thought it was under utilized. I always thought if you could combine Charlotte and Richmond, you'd have one of the great American cities. 

I agree 100%.  I lived in Richmond for a few years prior to moving back to Charlotte area last year, and I think a hybrid Richmond-Charlotte would be perhaps the coolest city in the US.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could take Richmond’s identity, historical preservation culture,  universities, political relevance/institutional culture (with the state government, federal courts, Federal Reserve bank, and military bases) merge it with Charlotte’s more cosmopolitan feel, its transit, airport, and its exponential growth, all while maintaining the business elements of both cities (I.e. Fortune 1000 companies, industry, etc )?

Edit: BTW, thanks KJ for the photos.  As much as I love Charlotte, I do miss my old home of RVA a lot.  The pictures allow me to reminisce on the great memories I made in that town.

Edited June 24, 2019 by cltbwimob

[elrodvt]

9 minutes ago, cltbwimob said:

Did you go to VCU or U of R?    I agree with you about the Universities.  I think if Charlotte had a VCU and a University of Richmond, given our other advantages, would really be punching above our weight in terms of knowledge economy jobs-even moreso than what we already have.  As for culture/identity, VCU and U of R give Richmond something that is simply not replicated in Charlotte.  Having two universities of their pedigree and caliber in Charlotte, from a culture/identity standpoint, would truly be game-changing.  

I agree 100%.  I lived in Richmond for a few years prior to moving back to Charlotte area last year, and I think a hybrid Richmond-Charlotte would be perhaps the coolest city in the US.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could take Richmond’s identity, historical preservation culture,  universities, political relevance/institutional culture (with the state government, federal courts, Federal Reserve bank, and military bases) merge it with Charlotte’s more cosmopolitan feel, its transit, airport, and its exponential growth, all while maintaining the business elements of both cities (I.e. Fortune 1000 companies, industry, etc )?

Edit: BTW, thanks KJ for the photos.  As much as I love Charlotte, I do miss my old home of RVA a lot.  The pictures allow me to reminisce on the great memories I made in that town.

I went to VCU. I agree having that cool University vibe in the city makes a huge difference. I moved to Burlington from there and it was even better. The culture was and is defined by UVM. 

[cltbwimob]

6 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

I went to VCU. I agree having that cool University vibe in the city makes a huge difference. I moved to Burlington from there and it was even better. The culture was and is defined by UVM. 

Cool...Didn’t know that I had a fellow VCU alum in the Charlotte forum.