New Urban Village Near Scaleybark Light Rail Station

[MZT]

The city library, free parking for CATS riders, open park space, change the equasion.

Remember, the city has *budgeted* that these things will just show up for "free" in the sale. If the land was simply sold, and completely privately devleoped, then they'd have to find money for these.

[dubone]

Well, I'm glad it is a local company, and a group that was responsible for building up much of uptown, which has been successful.

I do wish there was somehow magic money to get the city all sorts of things like libraries, affordable housing and parking decks for free. But the fact is, those are public responsibilities, and unless deducted from the cost of land (an approach the city council previously denied), then the funds must come from the city through other forms of subsidies. It appears that the loan is just the mutually agreeable form of payment by the city for the affordable housing.

[monsoon]

Well, I'm glad it is a local company, and a group that was responsible for building up much of uptown, which has been successful.

....

[Charlotte_native]

BofA and McColl were basically the catalyst for reviving 4th Ward, for much of 1st Ward, they saved the burnt church on Tryon, and have done much more than build large buildings. They were some of the very first, years ago, that worked to bring residents back to downtown.

[orulz]

I guess it depends upon your viewpoint. I fault this company as the main contributer to he monolithic sterile look of downtown these days. Even their signature attempt at urbanism, Gateway Village, is pretty lacking in my book. It was a nice try but they neglected a lot of details that kept it from being a great development. I hope they do a better job at this new location.

[dubone]

They did at least put retail space in, even though retailers were very slow to pick it up, and eventually they leased it to J&W for their library and other functions. I feel like the pverall intentions have always been right and good, and there have been some failings in design by their architects and/or project managers. Furman's projects in First Ward were mostly townhomes, so they by nature lacked a vertical mixture of uses. However, he has included street retail on all of his multi-level condo projects there, even if they have lacked a tenant for a very long time.

This will be a unique project, however, with a unique design, and I'm sure they will have to do what makes the numbers work here. At least we know there will be a grocer and a library, so two major drivers of community will be instantly there. Uptown had to push very hard to get a grocer, but this neighborhood will have one at the outset.

[MZT]

The above post from Metro.M was propably intended for

Village at Lake Norman Thread

[monsoon]

The above post from Metro.M was propably intended for

Village at Lake Norman Thread

[uptownliving]

City Council is expected to vote to officially select BofA as the "winner" of the Scaleybark RFP contest. Here are the particulars of what BofA is going to build:

[uptownliving]

Well bad news for the Skaleybark Station plan...BofA has just withdrawn their proposal. There was a timing problem between when BofA could close on the land and when they would be able to use the New Market Tax Credits to make it work. This now goes back to City Staff and Council's Economic Development Cmte to figure this out.

[rockhilljames]

Dag. Any chance that any of the other partners might be interested in moving forward with it?

[dubone]

This is AWFUL news for the showcase project of the LRT line. Hopefully they can call Pappas back into the picture and just put in the extra affordable housing funds. This is nuts.

[A2]

I concur, this sucks big !!! I can't believe such a pivotal project being put back onto the drawing board. Geeez BofA!!!

A2

[paholler]

Grr...

WJZY just ran a story about the BoA backout side-by-side with an oft-repeated rundown of the cost overruns, insinuating that the BoA pullout was a result of/reaction to the cost overruns.

Somebody, whether it is the mayor, the head of CATS, or someone else needs to go on a massive PR campaign to clear up the misconceptions regarding the LRT line in general and the Scaleybark proposal in specific.

[uptownliving]

I don't get it? Why would the city have to give back 3 million dollars to the fed just because a private developer backed out of it's plans at a station? Who's to say that someone else won't come back and come up with new plans for that station.

[MZT]

The problem for the city however, is that the developers all know they are under pressure to get it sold. So I doubt the new proposals will be much different than the previous ones, and possibly tougher, in terms of the net to the city.

[Mobuchu]

The traffic light is now operating next to the Scaleybark station for Whitton st./park and ride. The pedestrian crosswalk will make a huge difference as well as the light helping to calm traffic.

[roningreensboro]

Why is Charlotte not using Chicago as an example for their stations. The blue line in Chicago runs right in the middle of Int. 90. To get to the station you park, go through the ticket booth, take the stair down below the interstate and take the stair up onto the train platform that is placed in the middle of the interstate. It's simple, safe and effective.

[e2ksj3]

Why is Charlotte not using Chicago as an example for their stations. The blue line in Chicago runs right in the middle of Int. 90. To get to the station you park, go through the ticket booth, take the stair down below the interstate and take the stair up onto the train platform that is placed in the middle of the interstate. It's simple, safe and effective.

[MZT]

I think I'd agree. The Green line in LA County is a median-style line. It is successful in ridership, but when I lived in the area 1996-2002 it was only slowly attracting any transit development.

[roningreensboro]

The SE corridor be it light rail or busway will be mostly in the middle of Independence Blvd, which is being converted to a quasi freeway/expressway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think transit running in the middle of an interstate or expressway does to well in promoting transit oriented development type of development. Those type of stations mostly serve commuters who take advantage of the Park and Ride service.

[monsoon]

True, this really makes me wish Charlotte put the whole SE corridor above ground. A true El.

[paholler]

The blue line in Chicago runs right in the middle of Int. 90. To get to the station you park, go through the ticket booth, take the stair down below the interstate and take the stair up onto the train platform that is placed in the middle of the interstate. It's simple, safe and effective.

[roningreensboro]

True, but they are also unbelievably noisy and dirty as a result of their location.

[roningreensboro]

Though it is off topic, I think the El through Chicago should have been put underground as it was in all other major cities. BTW, Charlotte is building a light rail system and because of that, it does not need multimillion dollar stations such as that seen on a heavy rail train system such as the El.