763 replies to this topic

[urban addict 20324]

    Change is good!   

[thebarb20]

looks as if the NE corner of downtown area will continue to be a blight.  However, they are not really interested in doing any major projects in the North Dargan area.  They will continue to do major projects along Palmetto and Irby with the latest being the office building at the old McLeod Hospital site and the Fine Arts Center across the street from Poyner.

Decisions were made a long time ago that affect the city today.  They should have built a 76 bypass and kept Palmetto St. the way it was intended.  My father tells me about when Palmetto was lined w/ Palmetto trees all the way through town.  This would be awesome if that could be done again.  City Hall, etc. should have never been torn down.

The McLeod Tower is coming along quite nicely.  I'll try to get you guys some pictures one day.

[Spartan]

thebarb20, on Jan 20 2005, 10:47 AM, said:

looks as if the NE corner of downtown area will continue to be a blight.  However, they are not really interested in doing any major projects in the North Dargan area.  They will continue to do major projects along Palmetto and Irby with the latest being the office building at the old McLeod Hospital site and the Fine Arts Center across the street from Poyner.

Decisions were made a long time ago that affect the city today.  They should have built a 76 bypass and kept Palmetto St. the way it was intended.  My father tells me about when Palmetto was lined w/ Palmetto trees all the way through town.  This would be awesome if that could be done again.  City Hall, etc. should have never been torn down.

The McLeod Tower is coming along quite nicely.  I'll try to get you guys some pictures one day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tree-lined streets are great. There are many instances where the trees are taken down in the name of "progress." Thanks for this info! Please keep us updated  B)

[thebarb20]

Where else can you find three 4-lane roads crossing at the same intersection?

[Allan]

thebarb20, on Jan 20 2005, 02:19 PM, said:

Where else can you find three 4-lane roads crossing at the same intersection?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is a rather bad setup.  Downtown Detroit used to have an intersection where Woodward Avenue (5 lanes), Michigan Avenue (5 lanes), Cadillac Square (A Boulevard), Monroe Street (Another Boulevard), and Fort Street (5 lanes) all intersected.  Fortunately, they built a park in the center of the intersection, adding green space to the heart of the city and greatly simplifying the intersection.

How's this for confusing?


Fortunately the intersection now looks like this.

[waccamatt]

Unfortunately, the Florence area is not experiencing much growth. The county had 110,000 people in 1980 and only an estimate of 128,000 in 2004.

[Skyliner]

For those who haven't seen it, check out this thread.  You'll like it!

Best SC City to Live In

[thebarb20]

The latest news on Florence -  a group of doctors will likely purchase the lot of the Old Mcleod hospital on cheves St and make an office bldg.  rumor has it, around 4 stories. not that significant really, wish it would be taller.    most of the steel skeleton is up for the McLeod Tower,  its massive compared to the original structure.  there is a rumor out there for a new city/county govt bldg.

pineneedles rd is has a federal bill being passed to get it widened to 4 lanes (if it goes through)  this is a major bottleneck of traffic.

hoffmeyer road widening has been completed to 5 lanes.

senator leatherman is currently trying to get something going about getting the funding for major road upgrades all of town.  maybe the old penny sales tax or something.

[Zahc]

thebarb20, on Apr 7 2005, 10:40 AM, said:

The latest news on Florence -  a group of doctors will likely purchase the lot of the Old Mcleod hospital on cheves St and make an office bldg.  rumor has it, around 4 stories. not that significant really, wish it would be taller.    most of the steel skeleton is up for the McLeod Tower,  its massive compared to the original structure.  there is a rumor out there for a new city/county govt bldg.

pineneedles rd is has a federal bill being passed to get it widened to 4 lanes (if it goes through)  this is a major bottleneck of traffic.

hoffmeyer road widening has been completed to 5 lanes.

senator leatherman is currently trying to get something going about getting the funding for major road upgrades all of town.  maybe the old penny sales tax or something.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds good! Can't wait to see pics of the new McLeod Tower...

[Miesian Corners]

FYI, the Florence City-County building was designed to look like Boston City Hall.  Scary stuff, huh?

It amazes me how towns never learn.  If Florence wanted to get some life downtown, why didn't it put the civic center down there?  Instead it's behind a GE Medical Manufacturing facility.

[95-Souf]

Does Florence have a Downtown Development Authority or something?
Many other cities equal to its size has benifited from revitalizing its downtown area with different venues to attract more people back into its downtown.

Savannah
West Palm Beach
Columbia

are just a few cities that have done this....

[Zahc]

Miesian Corners, on Apr 8 2005, 08:59 AM, said:

FYI, the Florence City-County building was designed to look like Boston City Hall.  Scary stuff, huh?

It amazes me how towns never learn.  If Florence wanted to get some life downtown, why didn't it put the civic center down there?  Instead it's behind a GE Medical Manufacturing facility.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That building, which seems so fat and very short to me now? No way!  Yes, I agree. It was very dumb of the city of Florence to put its Civic Center in the heart of downtown...esp. if they're trying to breathe life back into it...DT was bustling when I was a boy, and SEARS was the kid on the block...

For such a large region (PEE DEE) that Florence serves, it's downtown should be bustling. Why did they open up another mall??? I believe Magnolia was the last one?

Edited by Zahc, 08 April 2005 - 09:54 AM.

[thebarb20]

FLORENCE - Florence County has retained the services of a consultant to conduct a roads study and prepare a presentation for the State Infrastructure Bank Board.

Moderators Note: Please do not post articles in their entriety. Post some of the main facts, key information or key paragraphs with a link to the entire article.

Full Article

Edited by Spartan, 08 April 2005 - 07:30 PM.

[Spartan]

95-Souf, on Apr 8 2005, 10:48 AM, said:

Does Florence have a Downtown Development Authority or something?
Many other cities equal to its size has benifited from revitalizing its downtown area with different venues to attract more people back into its downtown.

Savannah
West Palm Beach
Columbia

are just a few cities that have done this....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Those cities are much larger than Florence. Florence has an Urban Area of 67,000 vs Columbias 423,000. That still doesn't excuse Florence from anything. There are many smaller towns in SC that have vibrant downtowns.

[vicupstate]

In defense of the Florence Civic Center location, it would have been difficult to site it downtown.  The current site is 25 acres and was DONATED for free, despite being very valuable land.  A single city block is like 4 acres.  It would have taken 4-6 city blocks to build downtown.  That would not be very feasible.  Plus, that would have added significantly to the cost.  It was already a stretch for the city & county to fund the project as it was.  

Also, the project was very controversial and there would have been even more opposition if it had been sited downtown.  No one goes downtown and the PERCEPTION of crime, is that it's high.  

Also, there is some logic to the fact that an easy on/easy off from the interstate would attract more concerts.  It has been difficult to attract concerts even were it is, it would be even worse without the easily accessible location.  

I  understand that other forumers think the location shows the city didn't consider itself "worthy" of a nice downtown.  But given the fact that urban renewal pretty much vanquished downtown, and the aforementioned issues, I really don't see how they had much choice.   It is sort of a chicken and egg situation.

[Miesian Corners]

Still think it was a bad idea.  That huge parking lot along the Lucas St viaduct would have been the perfect place for it downtown.  

Hindsight is 20/20, but perhaps they could have gotten the state to cough up some money and use it for Francis Marion's  basketball games (like NCSU did with the RBC Centura Center in Raleigh).

As a side note, does anyone remember when the City-County tower was uplit at night?  I haven't lived in Florence since 1986, but seems like they turned the lights off about that time.

Edited by Miesian Corners, 08 April 2005 - 06:24 PM.

[vicupstate]

The parking lot you are referring to is nowhere near big enough. That area is very unsightly and not many people would be willing to park their car there at night.  

FMU, formerly FMC, does play some of it's games at the center.  Also, the state donated $5million to the construction of it.  Even with $5mm in state money and a 25 acre land donationn to soften the financial impact, there was still very strong opposition to the center, which nearly succeeded in killing it.  A couple of the councilmen that voted for it lost their next election.  

I remember when the complex was lit at night.  I wish they would return to that, but then again almost nobody would see it at night anyway.    

Believe it or not, Florence was a progressive little city not so long ago, but the leadership changed and the local mindset did too.

[Spartan]

vicupstate, on Apr 8 2005, 04:17 PM, said:

In defense of the Florence Civic Center location, it would have been difficult to site it downtown.  The current site is 25 acres and was DONATED for free, despite being very valuable land.  A single city block is like 4 acres.  It would have taken 4-6 city blocks to build downtown.  That would not be very feasible.  Plus, that would have added significantly to the cost.  It was already a stretch for the city & county to fund the project as it was.   

Also, the project was very controversial and there would have been even more opposition if it had been sited downtown.  No one goes downtown and the PERCEPTION of crime, is that it's high.   

Also, there is some logic to the fact that an easy on/easy off from the interstate would attract more concerts.  It has been difficult to attract concerts even were it is, it would be even worse without the easily accessible location. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That perception is accurate. When I went there I saw what reminded me of the bad neighborhoods from my hometown, so I associate it with crime.

Locating the civic center further from the interstate would not be to the benefit of the concerts, but to the city. They should build to suit the town, and not the people who entertain for 1 evening. Florence is a smaller city, but it isnt insignificant.

I base that on Spartanburg, which has a smaller auditorium capacity than the Florence Civic Center's, and has managed to attract some significant acts like Jerry Seinfeld and 'A Prarie Home Comanion' or whatever that radion show is called. I think its one of those situations to where if they build it, they will come.

I do understand that a free 25acre plot would be hard to turn down though.

[thebarb20]

the civic center may be too large for this community.  we rarely have situations where it is filled to capacity.  fyi, i believe the hockey team played its last game in florence tonight.  attendance has been down again this year and i heard that the team did not spend the $ on the players this year, thus contributing to a bad season.   they needed 3,500 avg attendance and ended up w/ around 2,500 avg.   tv said that the team was likely heading to myrtle beach.     i had fun at hockey games its just hard to justify $11 for A-league hockey  .. most people just do not have the $ to consistently go to hockey games with their kids and all,  in defense of the team though, i thought  they played hard and that management tried creative promotions to bring in crowds.   this is just too small a market i suppose.  league-wide though attendance is down.    charleston stingrays doesnt draw the crowds it used to either.

there were two articles in the paper today..  one mentioned the sales tax/road project referendum.  major projects listed were pineneedles rd.  301 bypass, pamplico hwy.   hwy 378

the other article mentioned a townhouse development planned for 16 acres near hoffmeyer and ebenezer rd.  w/ 160 units.  its a single family residence area and the citizens are disgruntled of course.

[vicupstate]

The new McLeod tower has it's topping off ceremony.
The hospital building is adding 7 stories to an existing 5 story building.

McLeod Tops out