Charlotte's Urban Lowe's Home Improvement

[dubone]

This plan is a whole lot better, I really like it. I love the idea of being able to walk off South blvd straight into the garden center. That will look very interesting indeed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i like the idea, too.... but i won't actually do it South Blvd is quite scary to walk along compared to euclid or iverson.

[Norm2]

Hopefully that can hange with the city instaling new pedestrian friendly stuff along the street for the light rail.

[orulz]

I really like that the landscaping area will face south.  At first i didn't like it, but it will be nice because it is inviting for pedestrians, and is attractive with all the plants and flowers for sale.  It is both commercial on the street, and a bit of a setback with landscaping, too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like that a lot too. Treat the garden like a courtyard - very creative and inviting. However, the South Blvd. elevation has not been propery updated to incorporate the garden center and the "other" retail in that presentation. I'd be interested to see an updated rendering.

[dubone]

i think those elevations intentionally don't include th other stuff. the lyndhurst elevation doesn't have the streetlevel view, but the look of the lowes behind the houses. it does reflect a change from the earlier versions, though, so i think those are up to date.

Although they are 'nice enough', hopefully they will put some more effort into them.

[cltlvr]

Didn't someone on here suggest they move the Garden Center to South and have an entrance on South?

[dubone]

I also think that Lowe's needs to put in an entrance on South Blvd. Office Depot did this at their store on South Blvd...an entrance on the street and an entrace to the rear parking lot.

Maybe they could flip the design around so that the Garden Center adresses South Blvd...most Lowe's stores already have a seperate entrance for the Garden Center anyways.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

U/L did exactly a month ago.

[Raintree21]

Lowe's modifies store plan in South End

Multiple changes to the design due to the complaints of the homeowners in Dilworth. And people say that south Charlotte has all the money and influence (485 widening).

[dubone]

i think it is actually cool that dilworth wants it to be "more urban", but i'm not sure why a smaller store size makes it so. If the neighborhood is still not happy, perhaps they should just expand the project to include more blocks south of iverson and have other small retailer areas.

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/11615840.htm

It looks like Olmstead Park, the nice development of homes and apartments on the old baseball park site, next to the proposed lowes, has a buyer to convert it to condos.

On one hand, it appears that pressley is betting against the idea that lowes will be a good neighbor... but the buyer is betting that it will be such a good neighbor that they'll be able to sell their condos.

I'm thinking this is a good sign.

[atlrvr]

I think Pressley is just freeing up cash for his continued development of Camden Square......he has a lot of plans for those parcels.

[dubone]

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Planni...ns/2005-089.htm

The revised site plan is available on rezoning.org.

It gives some additional details on their lighting, transportation and other improvements.

I also like the vacany mitigation actions.

[dubone]

and now a 2nd revision of the siteplan is on the rezoning site.

(same link as my last post).

it is just a revision of their previous site plan with more detail on materials and a few minor tweaks.

i must say i'm really disappointed by the stucco and false windows. why the heck can't they let light INTO the building? i wish the design could evolve to something more reusable when bigboxes move on...

[orulz]

i must say i'm really disappointed by the stucco and false windows.  why the heck can't they let light INTO the building?  i wish the design could evolve to something more reusable when bigboxes move on...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Stucco? eh. Most of it's brick. As long as they keep it painted the stucco should hold up fine.

But I agree about the false windows. It may be a common thing, but they have one like that in Cary and it looks stoopid. Any of those windows along South Blvd would be facing the garden center, so they should be replaced with some sort of tasteful fencing or iron bars; the ones towards the parking lot should simply be glass windows. Think of the money they'd save on lighting! (but don't think of the money they'd lose on climate control... )

[dubone]

yeah, there is a lot of brick and other redeeming factors. this is definitely a better design that almost all other big box stores.

For the most part, though, all the changes reflected in this new siteplan are cosmetic. They basically have their big box, and are making some tweaks to the outer skin to make it appear more urban and aesthetic. That is a fine goal, but is still disappointing that they are choosing a faux treatment for the outside rather than letting the input for windows, etc., be a part of the true design of the building.

I guess my feeling on this lowes is as follows:

- i'm glad they are locating near downtown

- i'm glad they leveraged their garden center to create a pedestrian-orientation on south blvd

- i'm glad they are making the outer skin appear more aethetic

- i'm glad they are leveraging their roof for parking

- i'm glad they are adding housing and small retail as a buffer

- i'm glad they have a full-sized store, allowing for all merchandise of their typical stores

- i'm glad they have created a solution to minimize truck noise

- i'm disappointed that the design does not allow for more true windows, and true entryways on all 4 sides

- i'm disappointed that the materials and design are not a little more human scale, as the storefront still has the appearance of most other big box buildings. I'd prefer something that looks more like the old cotton mills, with tons of small real windows. Somehow the smaller details repeated more often appear more human scale than the much larger and few details.

[archiham04]

Stucco? eh. Most of it's brick. As long as they keep it painted the stucco should hold up fine.

But I agree about the false windows. It may be a common thing, but they have one like that in Cary and it looks stoopid. Any of those windows along South Blvd would be facing the garden center, so they should be replaced with some sort of tasteful fencing or iron bars; the ones towards the parking lot should simply be glass windows. Think of the money they'd save on lighting! (but don't think of the money they'd lose on climate control...  )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The elevation note for the south blvd side says: false window "open to beyond"... so hopefully the "falseness" of the window is simply that there is no glass, and that it will be an opening, with window-like mullions in it, that match the truly fake windows on the front elevation.

[dubone]

it appears that the lowes is already generating activity for the other under-utilized sites on south boulevard nearby. The block just across iverson has a big available sign, and there is a new restaurant or something called Mac's that has a really cool design.

I think the area will see a strong resurgence over the next few years.

[monsoon]

I agree about the area. There is a problem with some of the property in that area having to deal with enviormental waste, but in general this area will look completely different in 10 years.

[nyxmike]

Are they building/going to build the Lowe's, or are they still working with the county for a better siteplan?

[dubone]

Are they building/going to build the Lowe's, or are they still working with the county for a better siteplan?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the rezoning hearing is in september,so likely they are still working with the planning commission or lobbying the city council members or whatever until their time comes.

[atlrvr]

The actual hearing was held last week, but the vote is in September. The only sticking point at the moment is the actual design of the townhomes. DCDA and the planning staff to a lesser extent want the townhomes to be specifically shown on a site plan with renderings. They also want the heights of the townhomes specified for different frontages......

It seems a bit over-kill to me, but if it gets this project to happen, then do what they have to do.

[dubone]

i wonder why that small retail project behind Batteries Plus wasn't kept as-is. I believe their siteplan has that lot as the beginning of the townhouses on magnolia. They are adding back neighborhood retail, so why not just keep what is there? It is very recent, as i believe it was rezoned at the same time as Village of South End.

[dubone]

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Planni...ns/2005-089.htm

There is now a THIRD revision of the site plan is available on rezoning.org.

there are not many major changes, but this one shows tons of small details and small changes from before.

this siteplan has many many more details on the residential and mixed use sections of the rezoning.

rezoning is in a couple weeks.

[dubone]

one exciting change in this site plan is they have made the "outdoor living center" a urban/pedestrian-oriented outparcel building at the corner of iverson and south. it has the effect of hiding the surface lot, as well as creating an additional urban/pedestrian retail building on south boulevard to a smaller scale.

i really think they have done good job with mitigating the problems. i don't know how others feel, but i think this should be approved hands down.

[graydog]

I'm with dubone. All things considered, (and I hate to say this about a box store) this is very impressive. The residential designs are awesome too. Didn't know until now that Conformity was on this project. Their stuff is good.

[DigitalSky]

Yeah I agree too, it is good