147 replies to this topic

[Hankster]

Justiceham, on Apr 19 2007, 10:06 PM, said:

Nashville - Current Atlanta

Murfreesboro - Current Nashville

That would be amazing, and almost scary.

[rusthebuss]

The problem with Hampton Roads is that we have 7 cities here and all of them are fighting to be the premier DT. Vabeach just started their DT with a 14 story apt building, 38 story Westin and 23 story office building. Portsmouth, across the river from Norfolk, has another building planned at 25 stories. Newport News has a city center or TC and a DT on the James River. If we put all those buildings in DT Norfolk it would have been huge. Norfolk lost alot of its density during the 50s and 60s. They tore down so many historic buildings its insane. Our density would be awesome if they weren't torn down.

[Shakman]

I just went through the entire thread.  I don't know if some the responses are bold or too hilarious.  I guess it is good to see people support their respective cities.  Everyone is entitled to there opinions.  Besides, a city can suddenly have a major spurt like Charlotte is having at the moment.  

Anyways...  Being a Richmonder, I do agree with the comparison of Richmond being a current Balitmore in 25-years (minus Inner Harbor East).  Currently, I have always thought of Richmond being a Charlotte during the mid 80's.  Do you Charlotte people that is a fair comparison?

Edited by Shakman, 15 July 2008 - 10:13 AM.

[rockhilljames]

A little late in my reply, but.... not really.

Most people I know in Charlotte that pay attention to urbanity would point out that Charlotte lacks Richmond's older building stock, downtown university, and signature neighborhood like the Fan.

Richmond is an old, dense, developed city. It's nicely positioned just south of DC and relatively close to Norfolk and Raleigh. I've always viewed it as the end of the Northeastern metropolis and an easing into the South.

Richmond has a LOT going for it. If the economy there can take off as it has in other cities, Richmond could easily leave a lot of cities in the dust with it's downtown since it has so much to already start from.

Trust me, there are people in Charlotte that would KILL for Richmond's building/housing stock.

[Shakman]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Charlotte did have a number of older buildings that where razed in order to have a "fresh start"?

When I made the Charlotte - Richmond comparison, I was thinking more with their respective vertical skylines.  Now you have mentioned it, it seems that Charlotte does not have the architecture mix between "new" and "old".  Though as a Richmonder, I would get on knees to have many of the Charlotte towers in Richmond.

Edited by Shakman, 13 August 2008 - 10:34 AM.

[krazeeboi]

Most of the historic buildings that were razed in Charlotte were lowrise and midrise buildings. Very, very few of them contributed to the skyline.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

I think RVA competes with Charlotte too much for a much more dominating skyline.... remember 3-4 years ago both were fighting for a NASCAR HoF.... now, it stands tall in Charlotte, a pretty addition to the skyline. Honestly, I'd like to see a signature tower in Richmond.... almost every city I can think of has one... Charlotte has the BoA Center, Atlanta the BoA Plaza, and so on....

But if I really think closely to what the River City looks like in 25 years, I would say Charlotte....

[carolinagarnet]

It seems like construction of skyscrapers has come to a halt for at least the next 5-10 years, if not longer. The biggest chance of winning new skyscrapers downtown are Fortune 500s located in the city that do not have a signature building (i.e. Duke Energy in Charlotte before they took over the Duke Energy Building) or federal courthouses, which are now almost uniformly 10-20 story buildings. I think we can all agree that big condo projects are probably 10+ years off in most cities due to oversaturation of the market, so office and apartment buildings seem to be the most likely candidates.

To answer the prompt though, I think Charlotte will start to build skyscrapers on North Tryon, Trade, College, and Church Streets in Uptown and develop will creep over I-277 into South End. The skyline will continue to develop in a very dense way a la Chicago and New York, albeit much smaller obiously. I also think we will see a proliferation of 15-25 story buildings in South Park and Ballantyne, both of which will start to resemble an early Buckhead (heavy development on one street, surrounded by suburbia).