Since when is a large retailer replacing LESS retail space on a lot such a horrible thing? The only reason we are not used to seeing the traffic effect of retail is because almost no one has been going to the retail that was there before Walmart.

I don't shop at Walmart, but I think its location in a zone of dying big box retail on a transit corridor and high capacity thoroughfare is not bad policy. Where would this have gone that wouldn't cause just as much traffic?

The only problem are the people going across all lanes. The cut through traffic is painful for the neighborhood, but these are city streets and as long as the traffic is calmed appropriately, it should be allowed to help ease some use of the freeway. These cars could very well be from the nearby neighborhoods, which is totally valid.

I agree that a reasonable control for this is to eliminate the right turn exits from the Walmart. People can use the freeway entrance from Pierson or drive to the exits of the Coliseum Shopping Center, which would help support the retailers there.

My hope is just like the Wilkinson Walmart, that this Independence Walmart can help create additional redevelopment of the adjacent shopping. In Wilkinson's case, the strip mall next door with Family Dollar got aesthetic improvements, and a more urban style of complementary retail near Wilkinson and Ashley.

Just looked back through this thread. The giant hole is going on 4 years now! I cannot believe they excavated that hole in 2008!

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.”