Looks Nice......

Galatoire's Bistro, which closed its restaurant on Perkins Road near Highland Road last May, has released this rendering of a 200-seat restaurant fronting Perkins at Acadian Thruway, which it expects to open by Christmas. Construction will begin in the spring. The new Galatoire's will be adjacent to Acme Oyster House at the development known as Acadian Village, where an IberiaBank branch is also under construction.

It's not so much about some big customer, it's the dozens of smaller customers that litter the line. Like Pactive Corp, which has a dozen cars at their site or FXI which has about 8 cars. I found these companies looking at a very small part of the line. Don't forget Gerdau Ameristeel's steel mill which is the bulk of the lines traffic south of Mooresville. NS upgraded the rail between Gerdau and the charlotte yard just to handle the heavy loads into and out of this plant. The Line up to just south of Mooresville is served daily M-F from Charlotte, Mooresville and north is served by a local out of Spencer. This is actually pretty busy for a line only hauling local traffic.

I am all for the red line, but the city should have had the railroad operations as a top priority, and that just does not seem to have been the case.

TH

But, really, where is all this supposed freight coming from? Lowes? That's a corporate HQ. All the mills have long since been shut down and most of the towns, like Charlotte, promote office and service type industry. Nobody really wants heavy industrial in their backyard. It's a rare day now to see a train with any kind of cargo using those rails.

And this whole time, I thought someone ran their car into the building.

So....the new 600 seat Walton Arts Center facilty in Fayetteville will be built on the university campus. Although it isn't completely clear it sounds like it will simply be a renovation of the Old Fieldhouse into a concert hall. I'm not even sure what the Old Fieldhouse is- surely they aren't talking about the former gym/ museum??? If so, it is quite the slap in the face for the city of Fayetteville. Stay tuned for more details..........

and here are more details straight from the WAC "This extended study revealed that a 600+ seat music venue could be built by renovating the Old Fieldhouse on the UA campus. This facility would better meet UA needs, and meet WAC needs by opening up space in Baum Walker Hall. In addition, the renovation project would be more cost effective than building a brand new venue."

Looks Nice......

Galatoire's Bistro, which closed its restaurant on Perkins Road near Highland Road last May, has released this rendering of a 200-seat restaurant fronting Perkins at Acadian Thruway, which it expects to open by Christmas. Construction will begin in the spring. The new Galatoire's will be adjacent to Acme Oyster House at the development known as Acadian Village, where an IberiaBank branch is also under construction.

Yeah, I agree. Opening a Fresh Market and a Whole Foods in the same location is a long shot.

Whole Foods tweeted to the Flyer that there has been no announcement, while they tweeted earlier that it was announced in a conference call. Seems like the Whole Foods tweeter was confused about the initial question, said "yes" thinking that the question was about a location in Texas instead of AR.

https://twitter.com/...035105265680384

But is it possible that Fresh Market would need to order 17.66 tons of concrete for their renovation of the Borders location? I have no clue. Would Heavy Construction of NWA have the wrong business name in their system?

But I'd still like to see another skyscraper pop up. I'm a junkie for those things...

Would it be feasible to attract retail to uptown by offering tax breaks to retailers, or by offering some other kind of subsidy?

I found these photos of Richmond's 5-Star/5-Diamond Jefferson Hotel on Google.

Enjoy:

http://www.jeffersonhotel.com/

It has nothing to do with the old name, it is the fact they are renaming with a contrived name. Contrived is never good. The young hip crowd I meet in my travels (at least the ones with taste), eschew anything contrived. I guess the best way I can explain it, is that West End just became young and fun without being contrived. NOMA is simply trying to hard. If many of you are OK with contrived in downtown Greenville then enjoy it. It certainly is not what has made Greenville great these past several years.

The name was changed for a simple reason. It was old and outdated, just like the plaza. Just because you liked the name doesn't mean that everyone did and honestly I didn't even know it had a name. The new name, along with the new plaza and the One development, will attract the younger crowd that has moved on towards the West End. Names are changed all the time and unless you have some way to influence the developers ($), you probably won't get a say it the choice of name. Noma is short, distinct and makes it seem like a new place instead of the plain old plaza in front of the ugly Hyatt.

An executive at track owner Norfolk Southern Corp. sent an email to the N.C. Department of Transportation today that called the state-backed plan introduced last year “fatally flawed” and “based upon assumptions ... that are no longer valid.”

William and I were there. We rode in Dave's car. I recounted the story once before. We walked in one of the units because William just had to go inside! I kept saying this was private property! At this point there were only a couple of them built.

Hundreds gathered in Capitol Square yesterday to protest a very intrusive and unpopular bill before the state legislature.

From today's Richmond dot com:

http://www2.richmond...are-ar-1702646/

Someone should update the Nashville wikipedia page (I do not know how to do it) with our new Jan. 15, 2012 population estimates found here: http://www.bizjourna...=17789364184771

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin area is now at 1,639,245 and moved up to 37th largest metro in the US from 38th in 2010.

Not following your analogy.
Both the Drive and the Road Warriors are great names as they tie into the automotive nature of the area. Additionally, both teams were new, not existing and had to be named.
Hyatt Plaza existed, and for whatever silly, small town, reason, was changed to NOMA. A silly change for no legit reason.

I am officially a happy camper!

Just like with minor league team names in this area, I am sure people will get used to the NoMa name after a while.

I know I already posted this, but I think it's worth repeating - I'm not too worried about the next skyscraper happening. It will. When? Can't say - it may be a while, but it doesn't bother me a bit.

My biggest concern is the city's infrastructure (mass transit and parks) being built as well as attracting retail to the core and retrofitting existing downtown buildings to have street retail.

Not coincidentally - I think when you take care of the latter, the former is more likely to happen due to the increased attractiveness and marketability of the city for companies looking to relocate to the core

Southpark/Ballantyne/Myers Park would be my picks if we had any choice, but between the two, I think Plaza. Southend is too commercialized I think. And all the new condo buildings would get on my nerves. I love southend a lot. I just don't want to live there.

Everyone can call it whatever they prefer, but "NoMa" sounds pretentious (out of place) and silly in my opinion. I plan to call it the "North Main Street plaza at the Hyatt," or simply, "the Hyatt plaza."

This is different because it is not designating a part of town NOMA, only the plaza.

The one thing that Charlotte has and will always posses is the drive, instinct and ability to reach past its limitations when it comes to status and recognition. The one thing it has never possessed and I doubt ever will is the heart and soul to be considered a city of the world. I know this because only those with a heart and soul can speak out against the ruthless push to relegate its own citizens as second class...

Columbiana definitely needs an expansion whether it be a new wing or a second story. They also need at least one parking garage added to help with parking and traffic flows.

I also don't particularly care for most modern art. I think its cool that museums focus on certain genres as people can choose whatever level they'd like to be experiencing. My own criteria for enjoying artwork is that it be done by a human hand, and that it capture beauty. Traditional artwork can inspire, while a lot of modern artwork seems cheap to me. I personally care less about statements or opinions than I do craftsmanship, competence and talent.

I think the root of the phrase is because Uptown is actually "up" in elevation. It is apparently the highest point in Charlotte (I have no reference for that - just what I've heard. Correct me if I am wrong). Aside from that, I think it's also a bit of marketing ploy to make it sound more desirable.

can anyone tell me exactly what led to the central business district being dubbed Uptown, and when that happened? i'm always asked by out of towners, and all i can do is shrug and say "it's a quirk."

Speaking of which, here is an interesting (and apparently old) map

I remember that itsjust dave and a few of us were up there when those were being built. Yes we trespassed and went in the unfinished units. GREAT view for sure.. I think William was with us and maybe John.

How about Duke Energy? They seem to be in a growth mode. Did they acquire the name of the company eludes me at the moment, Progressive Energy, maybe? If they continue acquiring other companies, they might be the next company to require more space. As an aside Girrantana is a dreamer and some of his propasals never get built. We, here in Nashville can only hope it will be built. It is an unusal looking building.

This should probably be in the coffee house.

Apples to oranges IMO, despite the fact that parts of both have a hipster/arty reputation. I think the main difference is that much more of Southend's population is apartment-dwelling, and therefore more transient (case in point, I myself liked it but was in and out in 1 year). The increasing urbanity definitely makes it exciting right now, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of community pride aside from what you find on Camden and cozy places like Common Market. Plaza Midwood is more established and seems like more of a cohesive community, but the connectivity to other neighborhoods is pretty poor in comparison right now.

How about Duke Energy? They seem to be in a growth mode. Did they acquire the name of the company eludes me at the moment, Progressive Energy, maybe? If they continue acquiring other companies, they might be the next company to require more space. As an aside Girrantana is a dreamer and some of his propasals never get built. We, here in Nashville can only hope it will be built. It is an unusal looking building.

The art overall is broad, somewhat bland, fusty, and obviously is limited to American art. Colonial Americana is just not at all what I'm interested in. There are some interesting pieces...just not enough for a repeat, for me.

It's exactly what I would imagine a brand-new, Middle America, art-via-philanthropy museum would be. Still It's a decent start, they have a great building and grounds and plenty o'funding so I expect improvement.

Did you know that you can catch baseball at Fluor Field beginning in only five days:

Glad to have some new people. Try to join us for the March forum meet.

Great building, largely unchallenging art. Certainly worth one visit but I won't go back until the collection improves. I think i was a bit pessimistic though about it being only a regional draw tourism-wise...the museum has gotten a bunch of writeups and I've heard some anecdotes that arty coastal types are making/will make the journey.

I've thought about my position on this a little more today and here's a better explanation of what I think about it.

The master plan that the University is going for is one that gets back to the principles of the original master plan. The buildings will form quadrangles, and define space on campus. They will enclose lawns and small courtyard areas. That is a good, traditional plan for a university campus. It will also provide more density to the campus.

I really think that if you pursue this kind of density, you can't go higher than 4-5 stories and achieve the desired result. It will just be very overwhelming to people at ground level, to look up and be surrounded by 10+ story buildings.

The kind of planning that took place in the 60s that gave us the high-rise dorms pursued a different kind of density. That density was high-rise buildings, surrounded by large areas of open space.

I really think you have to choose one or the other for either to work well. Given the small footprint of the campus, the buildings are, and will continue to be, tightly packed. If you combine that with high-rise structures everywhere you could put one, it would make for an overwhelming landscape, IMO. That is the classic canyon type of environment that I don't consider to be "human scale".

There are many opportunities for greater density. The original law building is a good example. It is a 2 or 2 1/2 story building. That building would be better replaced by a 4-5 story building.

The buildings along Dickson across from the Greek theater. All of those are single-story buildings. I think for good scale and transition, as well as good density, those need to be replaced with 4-5 story buildings.

I think of good infill along the lines of how most of San Francisco or London are built. Those cities have huge areas that consist of tightly-packed 3-6 story buildings. Only particular districts of those cities contain true high-rise structures.

Also noticed that the gaudy green building on E. Colonial across Magnolia from the 7-11 (northeast corner) is now repainted and has the signage for a Boys & Girls Club. Much better looking than before.

Is this the old Steak and Ale location?

It looks to be going into the restaurant space "under the water tower," formerly the Fish Market and many, many, MANY other restaurants. The way places fail in that location, I've always suspected it was on top of a former burial ground or something. I sure hope this (or some other future project) can break this "curse."

I am anxious to see the 2011 MSA estimates.

Why the hostility? You commented, we stated how we felt. Not a single person told you that you were wrong, they merely stated their opinion on the subject. Did you expect a different response? This is a Charlotte message board after all.

And to end it with a knock on the city? Hmm. Quite an odd choice. I for one am proud to be a North Carolianian.

Because Pine Street is also SC Highway 9, SCDOT owns that road. As a result, the State could buy the parcels on the northeast and southeast corners and the intersections could be widened. At first that sounds like a bad idea- making the distance that people have to walk to get across the intersection even longer. However, a slight widening would give you the ability to create a needed, dedicated left turn lane for southbound traffic and install a large, planted median which would allow for pedestrian refuge and actually improve that area for pedestrians. By breaking up a wide intersection in to smaller chunks, it can actually be quite comfortable for pedestrians to negotiate an intersection.

Is this the old Steak and Ale location?

No expansion just Refurbished to make it look more brand New and more Modern.

I haven't seen the new and improved Brown Street in person, but I'm sure it looks a lot different than last time I saw it.

As for other streets to use for a live music district, I think Augusta Street has a lot of potential and also has the advantage of being in the West End (which, to me, currently has a somewhat livelier vibe than city center). Several offshoots of Main, such as Broad Street and Washington, have potential too. Even Laurens Street, with the things going on there, could be fun.

I guess my biggest problem with Brown Street is the fact that, other than the surface lot, the short block is made even shorter by the wasted space taken up by the back of one building and an office building across the street with no available street frontage either.

That is exactly what I was saying. NoMa creates intrigue. Having to ask where something is is not a bad thing, it allows for elaboration on a topic rather than a quick conversation. In my opinion JHM has done a spectacular job renaming the plaza, just look at the attention it has received just because of a name change.

Most people will say, "I'm going to Roost. That's the new restaurant at the Hyatt." Otherwise, as gsupstate said, most people will be asking where NoMa is.

I'll repeat a post I made on this topic 4.5 years ago:

As for the ridership numbers they're proposing? Pie in the sky. They say at a minimum 6k riders a day, I bet its 2/3 of that MINIMUM number. Sure it'll be a novelty at first for some people, but that will quickly wear-off. You will not get people standing in 85-100 degree heat and humidity for 10-15 mins on a daily basis 6 months out of the year to ride something that covers such a limited area; and having to pay something approaching $3 a round trip to boot.

So I correctly predicted the ridership numbers, and that's still 2/3 of what they said would be the minimum (6k) 4.5 year ago. It's wonderful when you can look like a hero by moving the goal posts a year before startup and then exceed that number cause you've reduced it to some ridicously low figure. As for my last sentence, well.... when you subsidize the cost of a pass to the tune $10/year then that has the effect of artificially bumping your numbers up and destroying your revenue. Wonder how the taxpayers of Norfolk are going to react when they start seeing the net annual operating costs come in each year and realize increased coffee and slurpee sales tax doesn't cover the difference. Wonder whether they would want 2500 paying full fare or 4000 paying next to nothing, $10/yr is a pretty amazing deal to businesses.

Well that is good news, I had a feeling the numbers would be higher than what was forecasted. Hopefully we will be hearing new talks of expansions soon.

Can you give a couple of examples?

I have to say the lock of vision on this is pretty amazing. There is not one foot of this block that doesn't have potential to be improved in one way or another.

One thing that I think is overlooked here, is that once the Federal building is built (yes, that may be awhile, but it will happen eventually), the economic pressure to build on the parking lots will increase even more.

I've also noticed that it looks like they're preparing to do sidewalk widening on the stretch of West Morehead along the former Beazer site. Land has been flattened next to the sidewalk and all the brush on those blocks cleared. I doubt this means any kind of project is imminent, but its good that some attention is going to get paid to the area in the meantime.

Although demolition of the old Hyatt House is sad, I'm glad that it revived memories of your time in Richmond, dbull.

I always enjoy reading your entries here and in Charlotte.

For all these reasons, the best thing that could happen to this area is for the City to somehow acquire some of these properties, tear down the motel between E. Main and St. John, realign that segment of Pine Street to take out the bend (run it through where the motel is now), and use the space freed up where Pine is now for improved parking and access for the strip mall, Fed Ex, Chamber of Commerce, or some new development. Wishful thinking, I know!

I'm sure this is just a misrepresentation, but aren't the parking spaces at the rear of the site going the wrong direction? The others seem to suggest one-way traffic and then the rear spaces suggest one-way traffic in the other direction. Odd.

Also, is Howard Street one way? If not, then those parking spaces are also angled the wrong direction... who is their site planner? No matter what stage in the design process you're in, those kind of details should always be correct.

Otherwise, the project looks really neat!

Some kind of exterior renovations need to be made to the Arena...those discolored walls need to go!

I will say that now that they have removed the trees and fountain at Repentance Park, there is a much stronger visual connection between River Road the St Phillip Street Promenade.

Cut and paste?

I read the blurb in Arkansas Business about it today too. I'm a bit disappointed that MT isn't involved because in my mind that makes it less likely there will be any street level retail/mixed use component to the project, and I think that would be a very nice component of any project on that lot.

The U of R Spiders defeated Charlotte by one point last night at the sold-out Robins Center. The final score was 53-52.

Now this is an embarrassing question and reveals how little I know about basketball. Who is Charlotte?

I can think of other downtown streets that could become our "live music district" with a lot more pedestrian friendliness.

Because there are no stations, there is no signaling on the line east of Goldsboro, who knows what CSX would have to say about the at-grade crossings of their two lines in Selma and Goldsboro, there is street running in both New Bern and Morehead which makes things more complicated and slower still, and because adding service between Raleigh and Charlotte is a higher priority, and Asheville and Wilmington are the next priorities after that due to greater population and higher ridership potential.

Service to New Bern and Morehead would be nice, don't get me wrong, but implementation is much more than a matter of Patrick Simmons down at the DOT snapping his fingers trains rolling.

http://www.postandco...-class-project/

200 Apartment units with ground floor retail at the corner of Meeting and Spring Streets. This area is really heating up.