Learning from Other Places

[KJHburg]

This developer spent 17 years buying up property on the edge of downtown Raleigh and with a new park coming next door it will now redevelop.  But he kept all the buildings in the meantime and rented them out.   Hmm do we here in Charlotte have any developers who bought up blocks?

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article259300314.html

these parcels are across from Kane's Smoky Hollow and Peace development where they have a Publix with 11 floors of apartments above. 

[smeagolsfree]

On 3/11/2022 at 8:30 PM, KJHburg said:

This developer spent 17 years buying up property on the edge of downtown Raleigh and with a new park coming next door it will now redevelop.  But he kept all the buildings in the meantime and rented them out.   Hmm do we here in Charlotte have any developers who bought up blocks?

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article259300314.html

these parcels are across from Kane's Smoky Hollow and Peace development where they have a Publix with 11 floors of apartments above. 

I can say we have had several developers in Nashville buying up not just blocks but multiple acres. The Gulch was purchased by Market Street a local company about 20 years ago and is now a huge LEED certified mixed-use development with some rehabbed buildings along with a lot of new construction. The Gulch | Between Nashville's Music Row and Downtown (explorethegulch.com)

Nashville Yards is another project where a developer bought an entire campus, tore it down and is now reinventing is. Nashville Yards   Several buildings have been completed and, with two more high-rise now under construction with 5 to 7 more about to start.

River North- Monroe Investment out of Chicago bout around 140 acres on the northeast bank of the Cumberland River and now there are three companies planning projects. Oracle with a 65 acre campus in the planning design stage, The Landings from Creek Lane Capitol under construction, & GBT real Estate out of Nashville planning design phase 3 high-rise building at their site. Monroe still has around 25 acres still left to develop.

The New Heights District from Speed Wagon out of Chicago & The Mainland Companies in Nashville    Home - New Heights District

Hines Development- planned redevelopment of car dealership just west of downtown 11.4 acres into an 11 high-rise building project. Houston developer buys again in Midtown | Development | nashvillepost.com

AJ Capitol project in WeHo Redevelopment of old historic warehouse along with adjacent parcels totaling almost 20 acres in an older blue collar neighborhood.

The list goes on, but many huge multi acre redevelopment sites in Nashville with developers coming in and buying huge tracks of land and or blocks of homes and tearing them down and redeveloping into new neighborhoods. The next large project will most likely be the Lincoln Tech college as it is up for sale and likely to be redeveloped.

Capitol View Residential & Commercial Real Estate | Capitol View Nashville Another reinvented site in the N Gulch

Beaman Automotive site across from the reed Automotive site includes plans for around 6 million sq ft of Mixed-use space on 15 acres.

 

[KJHburg]

Lesson for Charlotte don't allow a building this ugly to be built here like this one along the Katy Freeway in Houston.  Houston has so many great looking buildings but phew this one stinks.

any architects can you talk to this style or the blue toilet looking part? 

[tozmervo]

On 3/18/2022 at 4:57 PM, KJHburg said:

Lesson for Charlotte don't allow a building this ugly to be built here like this one along the Katy Freeway in Houston.  Houston has so many great looking buildings but phew this one stinks.

any architects can you talk to this style or the blue toilet looking part? 

The blue is - what's the phrase? - lipstick on a pig.

For the style, I invite you to enjoy this other late-80s post modern project:

[KJHburg]

Well NYC does things big like a 60 story stalled uncompleted condo tower in lower Manhattan and it leans like the condo tower in San Fran.  Oh yeah it is 670 feet tall much taller than our unfinished uptown First Ward garage. 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by KJHburg

[15895]

 

DC has been throwing up quite a bit of miles of protected bike lanes a year and the new budget proposes another 10 miles of protected bike lanes (like below) every year for the next 6 years.

I've also read Chicago is about to add a ton of protected bike lanes and I heard Austin was starting to add a good amount. Charlotte needs these bike lanes everywhere in the greater center city area even parallel redundant ones. Without a vast network of bike lanes, existing ones wont be utilized to their potential. 

Edited March 21, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[rancenc]

In this case OTHER places are learning about NC cooking!

https://www.kcci.com/article/tupelo-honey-southern-kitchen-set-to-officially-open-in-downtown-des-moines-iowa/39491903#

[Matthew.Brendan]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:45 AM, AirNostrumMAD said:

 

DC has been throwing up quite a bit of miles of protected bike lanes a year and the new budget proposes another 10 miles of protected bike lanes (like below) every year for the next 6 years.

I've also read Chicago is about to add a ton of protected bike lanes and I heard Austin was starting to add a good amount. Charlotte needs these bike lanes everywhere in the greater center city area even parallel redundant ones. Without a vast network of bike lanes, existing ones wont be utilized to their potential. 

This is great news and should be the standard for any new bike lane built anywhere. The recent Parkwood re-do is a great example of this, along with 6th street uptown.

[Nathan2]

On 3/22/2022 at 6:36 PM, Matthew.Brendan said:

This is great news and should be the standard for any new bike lane built anywhere. The recent Parkwood re-do is a great example of this, along with 6th street uptown.

Parkwood has got to be the laziest excuse of a bike lane project in all of charlotte,  they couldn't even add plastic bollards, but tiny spherical bumps on the ground.  The design does absolutely nothing for the safety of bikers, the lanes now just serve as a gutter for broken glass and debris. I would advise you not to ride your bike in these lanes as the chances of you getting a flat are high. I for one am tired of the city half-assing these bike lane projects, with the amount of times they have to replace the plastic that cars hit you would think it would be more cost effective to just use concrete/jersey barriers in the first place. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

Fair enough, but a few points: the tiny round bumps on the ground DID have plastic bollards originally... so yeeeah... just goes to show the effectiveness of those.

Unkempt bike lanes are the norm everywhere around this city. I simply no longer expect the City of Charlotte to do anything about it. Once I let go of attachment to what the city SHOULD be doing to maintain bike "infrastructure" (aka, a painted white line if you're lucky) I simply no longer stress it. Set your expectation to zero, and only then will the city meet it.

The reality is even filled with trash and debris there is at least a dedicated bike lane now, and random sections do have a tiny concrete barrier. A very low bar to be sure, but I'll take those improvements over nothing.

 

 

[KJHburg]

Austin and perhaps Texas's new tallest tower if it gets built.  A mixed use tower in Austin over 1000 feet.

https://urbanize.city/austin/post/tallest-building-austin-supertall-rainey

[JRCLT]

Austin and perhaps Texas's new tallest tower if it gets built.  A mixed use tower in Austin over 1000 feet.
https://urbanize.city/austin/post/tallest-building-austin-supertall-rainey

In the rendering it looks huge next to everything.

[Desert Power]

Spent my first significant amount of time in Greenville, SC this weekend and came away pretty impressed. The Main St experience is quite nice with a lot of varying types of retail. It is a true stroll district that few cities in the Southeast can effectively pull off. The falls on the river are very well utilized and connect well to the rest of their greenway system. The Grand Bohemian (last pic) is going to be quite the destination.

As far as the "learning" part of the title, I was struck by how effectively traffic was calmed on Main St. Noticed parts of it were closed down on Saturday night and there were very prominent signs about their noise ordinance.  Charlotte seems to increasingly struggle with vehicles (and teens on bikes) hot-dogging it through Uptown.

I didn't take a picture of it, but there was a really well stocked Greenville Triumph (soccer team) store in the middle of this stretch. Tepper could really use something like that along Tryon.

Edited April 11, 2022 by Desert Power

[DMann]

I love Greenville!

[Matthew.Brendan]

 

JP Morgan’s new HQ. Wowza.

[DMann]

I wonder if Jamie Dimon had anything to do with the patterns on the side?

[KJHburg]

Check this out photos of Memorial Drive in Atlanta and how it has changed in about 6 years.

https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/beforeafter-memorial-drives-unreal-transformation-recent-years

If someone did this in Charlotte what streets would you do?  I would pick N Davidson from Parkwood up to beyond 36th St or N Brevard or uptown on Stonewall from McDowell to Mint.  (and in some cases it would be even more dramatic here in Charlotte) 

[kayman]

On 4/15/2022 at 6:15 PM, KJHburg said:

Check this out photos of Memorial Drive in Atlanta and how it has changed in about 6 years.

https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/beforeafter-memorial-drives-unreal-transformation-recent-years

If someone did this in Charlotte what streets would you do?  I would pick N Davidson from Parkwood up to beyond 36th St or N Brevard or uptown on Stonewall from McDowell to Mint.  (and in some cases it would be even more dramatic here in Charlotte) 

Charlotte is well on its way out transforming several corridors like this over this decade and sequential ones.  I used to live in Atlanta, and was there when that occurred. Charlotte is doing a better job of turning around corridors now before congestion impede these measures. We should remain as aggressive towards elected leadership to continue to push these measures of transforming key corridors 

North Tryon, North Graham, North Davidson, Central towards Albemarle, the Plaza, Monroe Road all come to mind as corridors with these types of transformations.

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by kayman

[KJHburg]

We here in Charlotte could learn a lot from a city about historical preservation just 75 miles up the road that being Winston Salem.

While Winston may not have the growth rate and skyline of Charlotte they have us beat on saving historical buildings especially in their downtown. 

Check out some of these:

Pepper Building now Hotel Indigo  built in 1928.  Know any brick high rises Charlotte could save maybe on N Tryon and make into a hotel???

O Hanlon building built in 1915 renovated office building

The Cardinal a Kimpton Hotel and Residences in the old RJReynolds office building built in 1929 as offices for RJR now a Kimpton Hotel and luxury apartments (that are cheap by CLT standards) the model for the taller Empire State Building     https://pmcpropertygroup.com/properties/residences-rj-reynolds-building  photos 3 and 4

Linville Commercial Realtors building on W 4th St great renovation not sure of date built

The Nissen Building built in 1927 luxury apartments by same developer as Residence at RJR   https://pmcpropertygroup.com/properties/nissen-building-apartments   (bring this developer down to Charlotte)

The Stevens Center at NC School of the Arts built in 1929 as movie theater 

The Hall House on S Main in Old Salem.   At least one historical Hall House will stand for years to come in NC

RJ Reynolds tobacco factories now apartments, offices, Wake Forest University classrooms in the Innovation Quarter 

Oh yeah one last photo and they honor sacred places like this spot.  Unfortunately the building is gone.   Y'all know I had to go by this spot! 

Last photo is Nissen Building the apartments.  

To see more modern high rises check out the WS downtown thread on UP but all these renovations and Old Salem within walking distance of downtown makes Winston Salem a standout in NC. 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

1960s 18 story office building in Atlanta being converted to apartments.   I think we will see this in Charlotte before long uptown.

https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/downtown-office-building-edgewood-becoming-apartments

[KJHburg]

one more thing Winston Salem saved a rare only one left clam shaped Shell gas station.  In SE Winston Salem.   Worth a visit when in the area.  

[rancenc]

A major transformational project for the center of Atlanta.

https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/times-square-of-the-south-coming-to-atlanta/?fbclid=IwAR0eviEVcSPDb7b3pAmXFltVDt_S6Fv8JVEypkafkZlburK0zGmP3y5PHFY

[kayman]

On 5/8/2022 at 4:33 PM, rancenc said:

A major transformational project for the center of Atlanta.

https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/times-square-of-the-south-coming-to-atlanta/?fbclid=IwAR0eviEVcSPDb7b3pAmXFltVDt_S6Fv8JVEypkafkZlburK0zGmP3y5PHFY

The same development/property management company that has ran The Epicentre into the ground? CIM Group

I'll pass on that. We can get the same thing yet better here in Charlotte with a developer that won't let our urban core have an eyesore with the Epicentre redux.

Edited May 9, 2022 by kayman

[rancenc]

It is to bad that Charlotte's developers do not embrace more readily, the rehabilitation and refurbishing of older structures like Winston-Salem.  Here is a recent aerial view of the city's downtown!

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by rancenc

[elrodvt]

It's too bad we don't make them.