170 replies to this topic

[TowerRooster]

Don't shoot me, but I too think Winston feels more urban. In fact, it feels more Northern or Mid-Atlantic than Greensboro by far to me. Just my opinion.
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I guess my friends and I aren't crazy, after all.

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[krazeeboi]

kmurphy19662003, on Jul 6 2005, 07:58 PM, said:

Winston-Salem's downtown is a underacheiver.  Winston has more unique buildings than downtown Greensboro,  but what do they do with them?  I get frustrated with the downtown redevelopment progress in Winston-Salem.  After dark, South Elm in Greensboro has a vibe to it that Winston-Salem lacks.  I can see a world of change in downtown Greensboro over the last five years,  hopefully Winston-Salem will realize its potential.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow, I really hope so too. Maybe Winston-Salem could take some notes from Greenville, SC as far as downtown redevelopment goes. I believe Winston-Salem has the brainpower to attract and hopefully retain new businesses. I wish it the best of luck.

[Beany]

DCMetroRaleigh, on Jul 7 2005, 12:41 AM, said:

Don't shoot me, but I too think Winston feels more urban. In fact, it feels more Northern or Mid-Atlantic than Greensboro by far to me. Just my opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

  pow! pow! pow!  hehe

[dromulus]

TowerRooster, on Jul 6 2005, 11:36 PM, said:

Yeah, it's obvious Winston is going to have to look somewhere outside of banking and tobacco.  The high-tech industry, particularly bio-tech, seems to be the best prospect for the twin city these days.  I remember hearing somewhere that they are trying to invest in that area.  Hopefully the new research park will get the ball rolling there.  They've got great intellectual resources with Wake Forest, WSSU, the NC School of Arts, and Salem, and a very historical city with an urban core ripe for revitalization, lots of beautiful neighborhoods and parks, and now a new Dell plant.  If the players play smart and the cards fall right, Winston could have a bright future that hopefully lives up to and even outshines its rich past.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yes. when i first moved there, i felt it had kind of a northern "rust belt" feel.  with all the abondoned factory buildings, very visible driving south into the city on 52.

[dromulus]

DCMetroRaleigh, on Jul 7 2005, 12:41 AM, said:

Don't shoot me, but I too think Winston feels more urban. In fact, it feels more Northern or Mid-Atlantic than Greensboro by far to me. Just my opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i'm sorry towerrooster, i meant to quote DCMetroRaleigh in my last post.

[twincity]

the difference between dowtown W-S and downtown Greensboro is the size. Greensboro's activity is concentrated along one corridor  while Winston's is in 3 main areas.  If the foot activity from trade st. and the bars/restaurants from Burke st. were along 4th, then W-S would be comparable with Greensboro.  So, its hard to really since the vibrancy downtown when activity centers are so far apart.

W-S focuses on bringing jobs downtown and greensboro focuses on entertainment.  both are doing a good job with residential.  Also Greensboro has a more of a college town downtown.  Most cities large or small that are surrounded by a high student population, have an abundance of clubs/bars/restaurants.

Come to downtown W-S at the end of the year.  those abandoned builidngs on 4th will be demolished while 5 mixed-use buildings and 1 residential will be rising.  The Nissen, Marriott and Embassy Suites projects will also be complete.

Edited by twincity, 07 July 2005 - 06:55 PM.

[dromulus]

twincity, on Jul 7 2005, 08:52 PM, said:

the difference between dowtown W-S and downtown Greensboro is the size. Greensboro's activity is concentrated along one corridor  while Winston's is in 3 main areas.  If the foot activity from trade st. and the bars/restaurants from Burke st. were along 4th, then W-S would be comparable with Greensboro.  So, its hard to really since the vibrancy downtown when activity centers are so far apart.

W-S focuses on bringing jobs downtown and greensboro focuses on entertainment.  both are doing a good job with residential.  Also Greensboro has a more of a college town downtown.  Most cities large or small that are surrounded by a high student population, have an abundance of clubs/bars/restaurants.

Come to downtown W-S at the end of the year.  those abandoned builidngs on 4th will be demolished while 5 mixed-use buildings and 1 residential will be rising.  The Nissen, Marriott and Embassy Suites projects will also be complete.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i have a friend who is working in the nissen project, but have not heard about the marriot or embassy.  what is happening with those projects?

[triadcat]

DCMetroRaleigh, on Jul 6 2005, 10:41 PM, said:

Don't shoot me, but I too think Winston feels more urban. In fact, it feels more Northern or Mid-Atlantic than Greensboro by far to me. Just my opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can see why you would say that.  I attended and finished at NCSA 2 years ago, so I knew the town pretty well.  I am now in Greensboro at the moment.  I think that Greensboro actually has a more urban feel downtown, while Winston-Salem feels more urban outside of downtown.  My dad said that when he was in college his friend from Delaware would comment on how Greensboro's downtown reminded him of Philadelphia.......just a much smaller version.  That said, I think Greensboro feels more like a city downtown, while W-S looks more like a city downtown.

[gangstadisciple6]

monsoon, on Feb 23 2005, 09:07 PM, said:

Our state tax dollars are used for a number of things but one are projections of what NC will look like in the future.   Here is some data for the year 2030 for what the state might look like.
Counties Ranked by Density
First  we have density ranked by people/sq mile.  Mecklenburg easily wins this one since it is a relatively small county geographically and one of the fastes growing.  One of the surprises is New Hanover county (Wilmington) will surpass Forsyth and Durham to become the 3rd most dense county in the state. 

• Mecklenburg - 2,536.81
  
  
• Wake - 1,640.50
  
  
• New Hanover - 1,321.18
  
  
• Durham - 1,159.76
  
  
• Forsyth - 1,066.37
  
  
• Guilford - 996.56
  
  
• Cabarrus - 699.39
  
  
• Gaston - 628.17

Counties Ranked by Population
They have been predicting for more than 30 years that Wake county would one day surpass Mecklenburg as the most populous county.  If the projections are correct that will be the case in 2030.  Wake & Mecklenburg will have no peers in the rest of the state for number of people as this ranking shows.

• Wake - 1,343,283
  
  
• Mecklenburg - 1,316,126
  
  
• Guilford - 640,366
  
  
• Forsyth - 432,744
  
  
• Cumberland - 386,533
  
  
• Durham - 333,637
  
  
• Buncombe - 297,319
  
  
• Union - 274,475
  
  
• Johnston - 266,048
  
  
• New Hanover - 260,143

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I honestly dont think wake countys population will ever pass mecklengburgs. They do have more space but charlottes development uptown will add residential towers some 50 stories all the way down to twelve. While i see most of wake countys development is going into houses as i seen this past weekend. They may have more land but i sont see them useing it wisely. If you build upward which i see charlotte is doing now and probbaly will continue to do for at least 10 years can support more residents than what wake county is doing which is extending nieghborhoods and housing projects. I may be wrong.  

[cityboi]

yadkinv, on Feb 24 2005, 07:10 AM, said:

How can you possibly indicate Greensboro as urban and not Winston-Salem, which is more dense than Greensboro.  The basic difference between Winston-Salem and Greensboro is High Point.  I thought this was the Triad anyway.  Your comment is obviously bias, unfounded, and not supported by facts.

I agree, New Hanover will be very dense because it is a very small county in land area, and a retriement destination that is exploding.  In fact, I predict, Wilmington will become the State's sixth major city; actualy, it probably already is so.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I disagree. Greensboro is more dense than Winston-Salem.
The evidence lies within the geoegraphic size of the two cities versus their populations. Geographically Winston-Salem is larger than Greensboro, yet Greensboro has about 40,000 more people than Winston-Salem.

[cityboi]

kmurphy19662003, on Jul 6 2005, 05:58 PM, said:

Winston-Salem's downtown is a underacheiver.  Winston has more unique buildings than downtown Greensboro,  but what do they do with them?  I get frustrated with the downtown redevelopment progress in Winston-Salem.  After dark, South Elm in Greensboro has a vibe to it that Winston-Salem lacks.  I can see a world of change in downtown Greensboro over the last five years,  hopefully Winston-Salem will realize its potential.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

downtown vibrancy in Greensboro actually goes beyond Elm Street. Yes Elm is the heart of all the action but there are new clubs and restaurants opening up on streets parallel to Elm Street and we are seeing more foot traffic on Greene Street which has several night clubs and the Carolina Theatre. The baseball stadium will help extend that vibrancy further throughout downtown.

Edited by cityboi, 14 July 2005 - 05:39 PM.

[cityboi]

I also agree with the statement that downtown Greensboro "feels" more urban than downtown Winston-Salem and downtown Winston-Salem "looks" more urban than downtown Greensboro.

There is no contest as far as nightlife goes. downtown Greensboro wins hands down and it makes the center-city feel more urban especially now with the new downtown ballpark. But Winston-Salem's downtown looks more urban because obviously there are more and taller office towers. Winston-Salem's towers are more spread out giving the appearance of a larger downtown even though both downtowns are about the same size. In Greensboro, most the towers are just clustered in one section of downtown. Another thing that makes downtown Winston-Salem look more urban is the fact that two freeways intersect downtown with a clover leaf intersection. There are no freeways that run through downtown Greensboro. The topography in Winston-Salem also gives the appearance that the buildings are much taller than they really are. Downtown Greensboro sits on a plateau. Adjoining neighborhoods to downtown Winston-Salem such as Old Salem give the center-city area a northern urban feel as well.

Edited by cityboi, 14 July 2005 - 05:55 PM.

[teshadoh]

gangstadisciple6, on Jul 14 2005, 05:35 PM, said:

I honestly dont think wake countys population will ever pass mecklengburgs. They do have more space but charlottes development uptown will add residential towers some 50 stories all the way down to twelve. While i see most of wake countys development is going into houses as i seen this past weekend. They may have more land but i sont see them useing it wisely. If you build upward which i see charlotte is doing now and probbaly will continue to do for at least 10 years can support more residents than what wake county is doing which is extending nieghborhoods and housing projects. I may be wrong. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But what will be the household size for those units....

A 500 home subdivision will always have at least twice the population of a 500 story condo tower.  Based on that rule, Wake County will easily take over Mecklenburg.

[gangstadisciple6]

teshadoh, on Jul 14 2005, 09:27 PM, said:

But what will be the household size for those units....

A 500 home subdivision will always have at least twice the population of a 500 story condo tower.  Based on that rule, Wake County will easily take over Mecklenburg.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I disagree raleigh already is proposing protection laws for undeveloped land. I think Charlotte will have lots of living space in center city and have great large nieghborhoods and if you look around charlotte has tons of apartment complexes. Theres also a lot of room to grow. Think about 50 residential towers could most likely hold 1000s more people than 50 nieghborhoods. just saying

[catdaddy]

gangstadisciple6, on Jul 14 2005, 08:57 PM, said:

I disagree raleigh already is proposing protection laws for undeveloped land. I think Charlotte will have lots of living space in center city and have great large nieghborhoods and if you look around charlotte has tons of apartment complexes. Theres also a lot of room to grow. Think about 50 residential towers could most likely hold 1000s more people than 50 nieghborhoods. just saying

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is true. Maybe raleigh will have a skyscrapper boom one day. but most of there land uptown is already taken up by government property.

[twincity]

cityboi, on Jul 14 2005, 05:52 PM, said:

I also agree with the statement that downtown Greensboro "feels" more urban than downtown Winston-Salem and downtown Winston-Salem "looks" more urban than downtown Greensboro.

There is no contest as far as nightlife goes. downtown Greensboro wins hands down and it makes the center-city feel more urban especially now with the new downtown ballpark. But Winston-Salem's downtown looks more urban because obviously there are more and taller office towers. Winston-Salem's towers are more spread out giving the appearance of a larger downtown even though both downtowns are about the same size. In Greensboro, most the towers are just clustered in one section of downtown. Another thing that makes downtown Winston-Salem look more urban is the fact that two freeways intersect downtown with a clover leaf intersection. There are no freeways that run through downtown Greensboro. The topography in Winston-Salem also gives the appearance that the buildings are much taller than they really are. Downtown Greensboro sits on a plateau. Adjoining neighborhoods to downtown Winston-Salem such as Old Salem give the center-city area a northern urban feel as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

lol @ the Winston-Salem skyline theory.  It doesnt matter how you arrange Winston's skyline, if its on a hill or in a ditch,  on an interstate or in the middle of no where,  its a big downtown for a city of 191,000.

Ballpark, Ballpark,Ballpark.  Greensboro is banking too much on that ballpark.  U cant measure the success of a downtown from 1 project.  First Horizon park is a great addition and any city would be lucky to have a facility like that in the center-city.  but aside from that,  what else is going to help revitalize downtown when the baseball stadium begins to age...physically and in popularity?  Where are the new office/mixed-use buildings?  What companies are moving downtown?  Is there a group working on job creation in the CBD?  Why arent any of the empty towers currently being restored? Isnt it strange that city leaders seem cool with the fact that Greensboro hasnt seen a new building of substantial height in 15+ years. As of right now, the city is spending millions to develop  a Greenway loop around downtown, a central park and extending the downtown borders.   these things should be lower on the to-do list, for right now.  IMO the city's priorities are mixed up.

DT Greensboro is vibrant...but not in a big city way.  Like I said before, its a "college towns" downtown...just like Charleston, Savannah, Greenville SC, Athens Ga, and Asheville.  The streets have heavy foot traffic at night,  the strores are trendy and restaurants/bars pop up every month.  During working hours, its a different story.

outside of downtown, Greensboro feels a lot more urban.  Wendover, High Point Rd., Guilford College Rd.,  Battleground and Summit  all have a "big city" feel.  the 10 lane I-40 also helps.

Edited by twincity, 19 July 2005 - 01:50 AM.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

What is the latest on the new ballpark proposal for downtown Winston?

[twincity]

Right now, W-S's milleneum fund is offering checks to the remaining people who reside on the site to relocate.  A church on the site also agreed to move...there was an article about it  a few weeks ago.

[CapeFearRiver10]

I think Cumberland county will reach 500,000 atleast by 2030 & New Hanover will reach 300,000. Also Brunswick county will reach 250,000. Because of the recent development & Southport (NC new mega port). Plus Harnett county 310,000 because of development in Raleigh & Fayetteville.

[Jerseyman4]

CapeFearRiver10, on Apr 24 2006, 05:11 AM, said:

Plus Harnett county 310,000 because of development in Raleigh & Fayetteville.

Not a lot of people are even aware of Harnett County's explosive growth from nearly all ends of the county. You really have to go to the extreme western end of the county near Cameron, Moore County to see nothing. Eastern Harnett (east of Campbell University) has some really nice countryside just before you start getting the eastern carolina feel of the state.