Charlotte's Urban Lowe's Home Improvement

[Spartan]

Does anyone know if there are plans to paint some sort of cross-walk on the street that runs into South and cuts Lowes/5Guys/Noodle place from the next block of South, towards Uptown?

Do you mean across Magnolia Street or McDonald?

[JBGB]

Serously from Tremount to Remount the City should really think about spped bumps or something to slow traffic down. People get on this narrow stretch of road and think there NASCAR Drivers.

I've walked to 5Guys/noodle place from the design center and it can freak you out now and then. People in this city are getting crazier and craizer behind the wheel!

Just a thought about the great designed parking lot's around Lowe's. hmmm.... sounds more like an under thought design flaw that has an excuss now to be more green and pedestrian friendly.

[Miesian Corners]

My guess is that the sales person heard of Conformity's restaurants and thought that was what was planned in the building at the Iverson corner. Of course it COULD be used for a restaurant, but it seems more likely that they'd use it as intended, which is for the stuff they normally litter the outside of their store for like grills, lawnmowers and stuff like that.

Sorry I'm a little late to the game on this one. The Lowe's associate told me that originally the corner space was to be for seasonal items, but that (he thought) store management types had decided that they didn't want to scatter more merchandise outside the store. What he had heard was that Lowe's was thinking about putting lunch vendors in there who would cater to contractors/laborers who needed a quick lunch.

[dubone]

The city has a strict policy against speed humps on thoroughfares, so you should not expect to see that, nor should you want to see that. Speedhumps are not that effective for a large stretch of road, as people simply speed between them. I think the new light at Iverson helps reduce some of the free for all between Tremont and Remount. The key for me is that there are many needed pedestrian improvements. At Tremont on the corner closest to Tyber Creek, there is NO SIDEWALK. How that escaped the team that filled in sidewalks for the SCIP program is beyond me.

Furthermore, the sidewalks in the area are very narrow and medians are non existent. While there has been steady improvements as developments have gone in, someone will probably need to improve the edge of the Atherton Mill complex, as I don't think when they redeveloped it a decade or two ago that the area would be as pedestrian oriented as it is now.

It would be nice if they shaved off some of the parking in Atherton, adding turn lanes at McDonald and Magnolia and medians in between, and then built new sidewalks and landscaping on the west side of South in the area.

It would have been leaps and bounds better had some of the other projects in that stretch had come to fruition.

[revitalize]

Does anyone know if there are plans to paint some sort of cross-walk on the street that runs into South and cuts Lowes/5Guys/Noodle place from the next block of South, towards Uptown? I like to walk with my three year-old kids from the Trolley over to 5 Guys for lunch and it is a real scare to cross that street (I can't recall which one it is right now). Drivers pull up quickly to the stop sign, eager to turn right. If this an emerging pedestrian I would hope that an easy fix could happen.

I know exactly the area you're referring to - i nearly got hit walking across that intersection once. The City only requires/installs crosswalks at signalized intersections... so a crosswalk is highly unlikely at that location.

[dubone]

There are a few crosswalks at non-signaled intersections, such at 6th and Pine, but drivers have blinders to the intersection without the the traffic signal, so it is not necessarily any safer to cross there than if it lacked the crosswalk. On South Boulevard, I suspect the effect would be even worse.

Note that Lowe's was originally wanting to face their store to Magnolia and add the light there, but the neighborhood did not want the light for fear of cut through traffic. Therefore the store was flipped and now Iverson has the signal. It is not so far though that you can't walk there to cross when you are at Magnolia.

[New Name]

I wish they would turn South Blvd from Uptown to Tyvola into 1 lane North, 1 lane South - with a small median, and/or bike lanes, and/or turn lanes. The days of high volume urban streets should be numbered. Highways are highways, city streets are NOT the same. I feel this way about Park Road from Uptown to Fairview/Tyvola, Caldwell from Uptown out to Parkwood/Plaza area. There is just no reason for anyone to expect to drive faster than 35 mph IN THE CITY.

[atlrvr]

I would agree if there was a parallel road to South that could handle similar capacity. Euclid is the closest, but unfortunately it dead ends into Southborough and resumes a couple blocks south, only to dead end again into Ideal Way.

The more urban way to hande it would be to have two parallel, one-directional streets, which I much prefer anyway. My opinion is they are safer for both pedestrians AND motorists, but there is simply no way to easily retrofit that solution in most of Charlotte.

[Spartan]

The problem with adding turn lanes, bicycle lanes or doing anything else along South Blvd is the right of way- there is none. The buildings and everything are too close to the street to add storage capacity for turning lanes or to add the 5 feet for bicycle lanes without impacting their parking or the buildings themselves. To that end, we all have to wait for redevelopment projects like Southborough to come in. The city can then request that the developers add turn lanes.

The other problem is that you wouldn't be complaining about vehicle speeds if there were a planting strip. The back of curb sidewalk makes it extremely uncomfortable to walk there.

[atlrvr]

On the flip side, having planting strips strip encourages drivers to go faster than a back of curb sidewalk.

[Spartan]

Does it? Have anything to back that up?

Most evidence points towards the opposite- street trees acts as traffic calming.

[Norm2]

The only thing that really slows down the speed of cars are cars that are parked on either side of a road. I somehow doubt that South Blvd will really cater to this though.

[dubone]

Maybe there is evidence of street designs that include wide sidewalks to the curb (with trees in wells) slow cars, but there might be other aspects of the design that do this rather than purely just putting the sidewalk on the street. Especially when the sidewalk is narrow, as spartan pointed out, it is very uncomfortable for pedestrians and the cars do really seem to go that much slower. Even on Graham with its tiny lanes and narrow sidewalk abutting the lanes, cars still speed. I avoid walking on Graham (north of 6th) like the plague.

Not in this fiscal environment, but it seems like a perfect area to obtain remedial right of way. I guess that is just probably too much to wish for, because the budgets are so low for stuff like this, but it seems that especially in a zone like SouthEnd seeing dramatic increases in urbanization and pedestrian activity. A proper wide urban sidewalk with tree wells seems just what is needed for South Boulevard in SouthEnd.

[Andyc545]

What slows down cars is having a more thorough grid where there are more intersections with lights. This will physically stop cars when its red and slow down cars when green because of the awareness and congestion at intersections. This in return provides safter cross walks for pedestrians that are well defined for this intention.

About the speed bumps: It's true what dubone where people just speed in between them and slow for the bumps. This actually has a negative effect because vehicles use more energy to slow and regain speed which contributes negatively to the enviornment when other methods can better safely get pedestrians across a street. Speed bumps only world well in areas where speed is already (suppose to be) slow, like neighborhoods and school zones.

[Spartan]

Street trees or other objects that provide visual clutter for drivers have been shown in studies to slow down traffic in addition to improving aesthetics. Parked cars do a good job, but they aren't the only way to do it. The goal is to narrow the driver's field of vision. Thats what will slow them down.

Speed humps only work for the ignorant. Its unfortunate, but true. They don't slow traffic. Anyone who lives on a street with speed humps will tell you that people still speed. In places where cars are already going slow, speed humps or speed tables let drivers know something special is going on- usually in a pedestrian area- but they don't slow them down either.

But back to South Blvd. If they could find a way to retrofit a real urban environment in there then I'd be all for it. SouthEnd is lacking in that area. But truth be told, as redevelopment occurs it will get fixed. And this is Charlotte, so lets not pretend like anything has any historic value to it. It will all get torn down eventually.

[DAC]

Yes, it's Magnolia that I was referring to. I have never lived anywhere where is any less concern for pedestrians than Charlotte. In part, I think it's a Southern thing. It's considered rude to tell folks to slow down. And somewhere cars are considered traditional, while bicycles and pedestrians are considered 'new' ideas-- communist ideas.

[Spartan]

Its "southern" only in that cities in the South largely developed in the automobile era, so their layout is for cars, not people. Northern cities, and other larger pre-WW2 cities that developed around pedestrians and horses and whatnot, typically have the best layout and the best ability to accommodate pedestrians, etc. since they were devleoped for that purpose.

[atlrvr]

This is a bonus shot from several weeks ago that I never uploaded.

[Guest]

The CBJ is reporting that a Davidson investor is purchasing the last 46 of 68 residential units in Southborough (only 22 were sold -- I had heard separately this was largely due to changing FHA guidelines on conforming loans in mixed use complexes). The numbers from the CBJ indicate that they are paying around $110,000 per unit.

I am bummed that this didn't sell better. IMO its a very well designed and executed mixed use project, I guess timing really is everything.

http://bizjournals.c...town-Plaza.html

EDIT: Lowes appears to be doing much better now (as opposed to when it first opened)

NOOOOOOOO!!!! I was planning on buying a decktown as soon as I move back to charlotte from NYC. What are the investors plans?

[kermit]

The CBJ is reporting that a Davidson investor is purchasing the last 46 of 68 residential units in Southborough (only 22 were sold -- I had heard separately this was largely due to changing FHA guidelines on conforming loans in mixed use complexes). The numbers from the CBJ indicate that they are paying around $110,000 per unit.

I am bummed that this didn't sell better. IMO its a very well designed and executed mixed use project, I guess timing really is everything.

http://bizjournals.c...town-Plaza.html

EDIT: Lowes appears to be doing much better now (as opposed to when it first opened)

[kermit]

NOOOOOOOO!!!! I was planning on buying a decktown as soon as I move back to charlotte from NYC. What are the investors plans?

You may be in luck. It sounds like standard vulture investing -- sounds like they will likely lower prices and keep trying to sell units:

They are working with My Townhome Realty to market the units and have dropped their prices. For example, a three-level townhome that was priced at $389,900 is now listed for $250,000.

[caterpillar2]

Yes, it's Magnolia that I was referring to. I have never lived anywhere where is any less concern for pedestrians than Charlotte. In part, I think it's a Southern thing. It's considered rude to tell folks to slow down. And somewhere cars are considered traditional, while bicycles and pedestrians are considered 'new' ideas-- communist ideas.

Haven't you noticed the developement of sidewalks and pedestrian friendly venues in the Charlotte area. It is a top priority. I have no idea where you live or what kind of neighbors you have, but around Cornelius and other parts of Meck. County with that are quite walkable (Cornelius/Davidson), we yell at motorists that speed. If we confront them we admonish them and respond accordingly. We care about the safety of children and other pedestrians. Who considers it "rude" to tell them to slow out. Perhaps you live in an area with wimps from other places? Since this area (and many other southeastern cities) has had popuation growth that has outpaced the rest of the U.S., we have had to focus on the horrendous influx of traffic. Huge efforts are being accomplished to make all communities walkable. When I was a kid, walking wasn't a problem in central Charlotte. I don't know about you, but I have lived in several cities in various states including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Colorado, California, Nebraska, and Florida. I don't agree that Charlotte is behind most of the cities in these states for being walkable. It is not a "southern thing". At least we are working on improving. It is required that sidewalks be built in new communities within city limits. Maybe an understanding of history and demographics would dispell any association with your associating the transportation modes in Charlotte as "communist ideas". I have also been to cities in Russia. Where is the connection? Geeese!!

[kermit]

The CBJ is reporting that a Davidson investor is purchasing the last 46 of 68 residential units in Southborough (only 22 were sold -- I had heard separately this was largely due to changing FHA guidelines on conforming loans in mixed use complexes). The numbers from the CBJ indicate that they are paying around $110,000 per unit.

CBJ reports that the new owners of Southborough have sold 10 units since their purchase of the complex in late November.

It's really amazing, says Goode, adding he and his partner had forecast sales of two units per month.

[HopHead]

I've noticed that Southborough, as a result of dropping the prices significantly, has really filled up with residents. It appears that most, if not all, of the town homes on the exterior have sold. According to a sign there, 25 units have closed in 3 months.

[mallguy]

I've noticed that Southborough, as a result of dropping the prices significantly, has really filled up with residents. It appears that most, if not all, of the town homes on the exterior have sold. According to a sign there, 25 units have closed in 3 months.

Agreed. Maybe the Vue uptown will use the same tactic.

Are there any concerns that there will be a pocket of Eastland-style low-end real estate around there? The Village at Southend is nice, with some higher-priced condos in the complex, but Atherton Heights and Southborough have such low price points.

I'd think that the light rail station nearby would help keep values up.