The Gateway

[Danny 4 Peace]

[Myles Away]

I love the new river walk and steel pedestrian bridge over the waterway. This is big news for lower downtown.

[cityboi]

Wow! Sounds like a great project!

[Danny 4 Peace]

I grew up in Washington Park. That place is like home to me. I wish I still had that old house. It has already gone up in value and now it will go up even more.

[cityboi]

I think this is downtown Winston-Salem's boldest residential project yet. Over 150 condos! I love all the recrational facilities that are included as well. With the growth of Piedmont Triad Research Park, more residential is needed.

[Danny 4 Peace]

Its more than 200 condos!

100,000 square feet of offices for Novant Health.

Riverwalk and additional park space in a very historic area.

The addition of great neighborhood shopping in a pedestrain friendly development

[Myles Away]

It turned out to be twice as big as I thought it would be. Property in Washington Park is already going up from the renovation of other houses.

Yes 200 residential units will be built.

[yadkinv]

I hope the riverwalk is more than a greenway path. I hope it has shops and restaurants. Some work will have to be done on Salem Creek, I think; it's wide enough, but as I recall only 6-12 inches deep there?

[sean]

So, what's the latest news on this project?

[Matthew]

Welcome to the forum Sean!

The planning board approved it 4 days ago. Novant Health is also signed as the tennant for the 100,000 square feet of office space. It's going through the slow process of approvals and permits. Council meets twice a month, if I'm not mistaken? It could get final approval this week and break ground soon.

Regional Briefs

Board gives city Gateway project an OK

JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT

>> w e b t o o l s <<

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The City-County Planning Board unanimously recommended approval for the Southeast Gateway yesterday, a project that has been more than 10 years in the making.

East Coast Capital Inc. is developing the project, which would create a 40-acre village surrounded by historic neighborhoods, the N.C. School of the Arts, Winston-Salem State University and Salem College and Academy.

Plans include a neighborhood market, more than 200 condominiums and more than 100,000 square feet of space for offices, restaurants and other businesses.

The project is expected to have more than $30 million in private investment and lead to up to 200 new jobs for the area, according to a staff report prepared by planners who recommended the project.

The Winston-Salem City Council will consider final approval of the project at a future meeting.

[yadkinv]

Too bad that Barnes & Noble backed out - that wold have been a great anchor for "the village." Barnes & Noble was to have a three or four lervel store similar to the one in Georgertown in D.C., but also wanted the textbook concession for NCSA, WSSU, Salem, and Wake Forest (a bit strange since Wake is almost 10 miles north), but Wake said no, an B&N said adios.

[sean]

Yeah that stinks because it was in keeping with the idea of a village and would create crossroads of sorts for students of those institutions. I heard (second hand info here), that the WFU textbook concession was the deal breaker. Evidently, B&N would have operated WFU's on-campus facility in addition to the new facility. WFU didn't want to give up this operation because it is a profit center. Ho hum, I'll be supporting Borders instead, since its closer.

[sean]

Has DoT commented on when they project completing the round-a-bout?

[Matthew]

The round-a-bout will be completed this week!

December 6th, Winston-Salem City Council approved the Southeast Gateway. The gateway will break ground in spring 2005.

The 6-7 storey 1890 Brown Prizery on East 4th Street also officially became a historic landmark at the meeting. Two other big projects, I know nothing about, won approval.

[eddard]

Traffic circle nearing finish

Engineers blaming wet weather for latest delays

By Jim Sparks

JOURNAL REPORTER

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Traffic could soon be flowing through the new roundabout under construction just south of Old Salem if the weather cooperates, state transportation officials said.

"The rain has really screwed up our paving plans," Pat Ivey, a division engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation in Winston-Salem, said earlier this week. "If we can get a break weatherwise, we're going to try to have it finished by next week."

The roundabout is at the intersection of South Main Street, Salem Avenue and Old Salem Road and is part of a gateway for the area between Old Salem and the N.C. School of the Arts. It is part of a larger, $8.6 million project under way for the past two years to reorganize the roads south of Old Salem and unravel what has long been one of the city's most convoluted set of streets.

The new roundabout replaces a system of signal lights that once guided traffic through the confusing maze of intersections.

Traffic through the area was rerouted and shut down in the spring in order to cut a year off the time needed to complete the project, which included installing an underground culvert to carry a creek.

The roundabout was supposed to be opened by the beginning of November.

Construction was well ahead of schedule earlier this fall, until it was slowed by wet weather, Ivey said. The discovery of utility lines and an underground storage tank also slowed the project.

Workers even found a small cache of old, rusted horseshoes buried in a spot where it is thought that a stable once stood.

"Anytime you dig in an area that's been lived in and built over as long as this one has, you're going to find stuff you don't expect," Ivey said. "We didn't run into a cemetery. But we hit about everything else."

Ivey said that although he hopes to get the road opened as soon as possible, detours around the area have been working well. Neither he nor his staff has fielded many complaints about the project.

Even if the area is reopened to traffic soon, work there is still not finished.

The old concrete bridge on Waughtown Street near the roundabout is scheduled for demolition in January. Public-works officials for the city of Winston-Salem decided two years ago that maintaining and insuring the old bridge would be too expensive.

However, Winston-Salem City Council Member Dan Besse has asked public-works officials to take another look at saving the old structure as a pedestrian and bicycle crossing.

Members of the city council's public-works committee are expected to discuss the bridge at their regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

Plans also call for some type of artwork to be placed inside the roundabout.

Ivey said that DOT officials would meet with the Southeast Gateway Council in January about safety requirements for such artwork as a sculpture or a fountain that would go inside the roundabout.

The gateway council is a group of officials, community leaders and area residents that has been working for years to pump new life in the area southeast of downtown.

"The biggest thing is to make sure it doesn't cause any safety problems," Ivey said of the roundabout's artwork.

"But we feel like we'll be able to work with the gateway council to see something put in there that's both impressive and safe."

[cityboi]

cool! They are in th process of developing a roundabout in downtown Greensboro as well. Hopefully they will put something in the middle like a water fountain.

I think its great that Winston is building a downtown multi-plex. I think one reason why that idea has been kinda slow in Greensboro is because a major multi-plex is located barely a mile away from the boundaries of the central business district. The od thing about it is that less than a mile away from that theater is another major multi-plex theater. So I dont know when or if Greensboro will ever get a multi-plex downtown. I do know they are trying to get the IMAX downtown.

But the theater should be a big boost for downtown Winston-Salem And I hope its built near the restaurants, bars, night clubs, all with in walking distance.

[eddard]

I found this website today:

http://www.gatewaywinstonsalem.com/

It's obviously in an early stage of development but it hints at interesting things to come. (Hope this isn't old news to everyone here!)

[monsoon]

What is going on with this development?

[twincity]

scroll down to the "Gateway in Winston-Salem" thread. all updates are there.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Anyone know when construction will begin on the other components of the Southeast Gateway?

[twincity]

^Chad Davis used to visit this site with updates but he hasnt in a while. I think The Summit is supposed to breakground sometime this spring/summer.

[twincity]

^Thanks!

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Construction in the 'Gateway' area...

I apologize for the poor quality of these shots. im not sure why this set came out so blurry, but at least u get an idea of the impressive redevelopment this area is experiencing.

Happy Hill Gardens...what a difference!

room for future phases

this neighborhood will have the best skyline view in the city.

Site ready for the S. Marshall St. Townhomes.

YWCA

[twincity]

Since the last topic was closed, I thought it would be good to restart the discussion since construction is finally taking off. here is an article on the latest addition to the Gateway. I remember Chad Davis talking about this project a while ago. It would be nice if he returned to the boards with some updates.

the Triad's first Green building

graphic from journalnow.com

article

[kevinhiggins]

I'd love to get any measure of update on the Gatway...I'm hopefully soon to be a nearby resident. There was a rumor going around that Trader Joe's might be interested...

[kevinhiggins]

Coming from downtown Orlando, and having seen a good area there develop, several types of locations come to mind that would do well in that environment. I think a Whole Foods, Earth Fare, or even a new branch of the Deep Roots Market co-op in the retail space would be a no-brainer because there are not any nearby groceries (the closest is a pretty run down Food Lion close to I-40). An organic foods grocery would especially be welcome to a diverse group of students and downtown/Washington Park residents.

A bookstore is another desperate need in that area. The closest now is Borders off Statford.

A gelato restaurant would be nice. A saki bar/sushi restaurant would be great. A burrito place, the new fast food alternative, would definitely be popular. A very different alternative would also be a place like Maoz vegetarian that currently only has a US location on South Street in Philly (man, they have great falafel). How about a great independent music store like Schoolkids Records? A second-hand vintage thrift store (here's one named Dechoes in Orl) seems like a new concept in our area.

An organic grocery store is definitely a #1 need though. And I say that as a Washington Park resident who is looking forward to walking down the hill and shopping in the Gateway.

Kevin