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kickazzz2000

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Posts posted by kickazzz2000

  1. Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    On 8/29/2020 at 10:57 AM, Third Strike said:

    Random question: how far away have some of you seen Charlotte show up on interstate/highway signage? The furthest I’ve seen a reference to Charlotte was on I-81 in Virginia near the I-77 interchange. 
     

    I’m also reminded how Atlanta was a control city on signage in Petersburg VA., near where I-85 begins, seven hours away from the actual city. 

    North Carolina's control cities were always a pet peeve of mine.  Some examples:   

    85 south to 485:  Rock Hill

    85 North to 485:  Says Huntersville/Matthews, then once you take the exit, it says Columbia/Statesville.  Totally confusing.

    74E to 485:  Greensboro/Columbia (makes sense, Atlanta style) but then switches to Pineville/Huntersville once you take the exit and encounter the split.

    Meanwhile, in the Midwest, St. Louis has control cities hundreds of miles away (Tulsa, Kansas City, Chicago, Memphis).  In Chicago, 57 south is labeled as Memphis.

    While this may be extreme, I think the middle ground of 285 in Atlanta is the best practice.  Any exit onto 285 is labeled as the next two interstates control cities in any given direction:  85S to 285 on the north side (spaghetti junction) is Augusta/Macon and Chattanooga/Birmingham.  Hitting it from I-20W you get Greenville/Chattanooga, and Macon/Montgomery.  For travelers unfamiliar with the area, it at least gives some sense of direction.  A whole lot more than if it said Alpharetta/Stone Mountain or some NCish nonsense like that.  As if anyone cares where Rock Hill and Statesville are

    On 8/30/2020 at 10:12 AM, cowboy_wilhelm said:

     

    I think North Carolina uses too many small, unknown towns as control "cities" on their signs. I was just checking U.S. 74 from Wilmington and west for any reference to Charlotte, and everything is Leland, Whiteville, Lumberton, Rockingham, and Wadesboro. 

    Super annoying.  Meanwhile all references to I-40 in the Wilmington area are Raleigh Raleigh Raleigh Raleigh (as they should be)

    • Like 4

  2. Learning from Other Places

    in Charlotte Coffee House

    Posted

    On 4/22/2020 at 4:29 PM, KJHburg said:

    sounds like this living wall on a Dallas tower will work a lot better than the Ascent in Charlotte which was supposed to have cascading plants as well.

    https://www.bdcnetwork.com/continent’s-tallest-living-wall-could-soon-sprout-dallas

    I am intimately familiar with this project.  They/(we?) were supposed to have a big hard hat n shovel groundbreaking in late June, but alas, Covid. 

    • Like 2

  3. The Good News Report

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    28 minutes ago, SoDoSoPa said:

    I think this would be a lot more accurate if they used cities instead of states.  For instance, Idaho is this 8th and New Jersey is 6th?  

    To be fair, if you're in NY, does it really matter if you move to Hacksensack, Flemington, Short Hills, or Morristown?  You really just move out to "Jersey."

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3

  5. Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    38 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

    Southwest has been known to do "trial" runs on routes before starting them on a more permanent basis. I recall they ran Albany-Tampa years ago for a month on Saturdays before announcing the route daily. The close-in booking window does seem illogical I do agree, then again because of COVID airlines have stated that the majority of bookings during this period appear to be last minute, so it may make sense.

    In any case, I would guess that the route will likely return on a permanent basis. I'd like to see CLT-ATL return for better North/South connectivity ex CLT, but I doubt it given the way Southwest has been moving away from shorter stage lengths. CLT-Florida would also be nice, but Orlando is a low-yielding blood bath from CLT with Spirit/Frontier/AA already on the route. 

    I can't really see Southwest adding anything else from CLT, however. Maybe New Orleans or Kansas City.

    FLL would be nice.  Caribbean is useless from CLT, almost everything has to go through BWI

    • Like 2

  9. Providence Road Development

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    On 5/12/2020 at 3:43 PM, southernnorthcarolina said:

     

    Surprisingly enough, it is within a few feet of the Marvin town limits.  Marvin sent out a long, twisting tendril of annexation.  The town limits of Marvin, Weddington, Wesley Chapel, and Waxhaw look like a Jackson Pollock painting when seen on a map.  The neighborhood adjacent to the Publix center, Weddington Chase, is, unintuitively,  mostly in Marvin.  The new retail development, the horse farm across New Town, and the AutoBell/CVS/storage center across Providence are on an unincorporated island.  

    Weddington (my home town) won't annex any land other than for single family residential with average lot sizes of 40,000 sf or more per house.  Marvin also doesn't want retail or commercial, though they have approved some patio homes.  Weddington and Marvin are classic "paper towns," with nominal property tax rates, providing no utilities, fire protection, or water/sewer; established for the purpose of preventing annexation by Charlotte, and (horrors) commercial development.  So you have the backwards situation of unincorporated Union County permitting denser development than these towns.  Union County hates these towns, which enforce less tax-producing development, but for which the County must provide public services.

    Unless there are unanticipated changes, Weddington will continue to be a large-lot single-family enclave, while multi-family, office, retail, and hotel development booms to its immediate north (Waverly) and south (Waxhaw).

    I heard this is about to change in Weddington.  

    • Like 1

  10. Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    On 5/1/2020 at 5:43 PM, JRNYP2C said:

    I had to go from Belmont to University City on Monday, and even though I was doing around 60-65 in the middle lane, there was one jack-hole who sped around me and people on my left to get past us and go over to the left.  He summarily put his arm out the window and gave us the finger point to the right.  Basically telling us that we were going too slow.  Since I was not expecting much traffic and more police presence, I was keeping it safe.  But there were people FLYING by as if we were sitting still.  That was first time I have been on any of the interstates since 3/17 and the longest trip I have made since that day too.  I'm not taking any chances with getting a ticket.

    Sorry that was rude of me.  

    • Haha 2
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    The Good News Report

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    On 5/18/2020 at 9:26 AM, CLT2014 said:

    There are 13 Fortune 500 HQ's in North Carolina with 8 in the Charlotte metro and Hickory part of the Charlotte CSA. That leaves only 4 Fortune 500 HQ's outside the Charlotte region. 

    Also, the Charlotte CSA's 9 Fortune 500 HQ's versus some other regions ranked similarly in population:

    • Cleveland-Akron: Population Rank #18; 8 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Progressive #86
    • Portland: Population Rank #19; 1 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Nike #85
    • St. Louis: Population Rank #20; 8 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Centene, #42
    • Charlotte: Population Rank #21; 9 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Bank of America, #25
    • Salt Lake City, Population Rank #22; 0 Fortune 500 HQ
    • Sacramento, Population Rank #23; 0 Fortune 500 HQ
    • Pittsburgh, Population Rank #24; 7 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, PNC Financial, #151
    • San Antonio, Population Rank #25; 3 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Valero Energy, #32
    • Columbus, Population Rank #26; 3 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Cardinal Health, #14

    Select CSA's:

    • Cincinnati: Population Rank #30; 8 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Kroger, #23
    • Raleigh-Durham: Population Rank #31; 2 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, IQVIA Holdings, #290
    • Nashville: Population Rank #32; 5 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, HCA Healthcare, #65
    • Austin; 1 Fortune 500 HQ; Largest company, Dell #34

    Charlotte has more Fortune 500 HQ's than the following metros that are a good amount larger: Phoenix (5), Miami/South Florida (7), Riverside/San Bernardino (0), San Diego (2)

    Other than Charlotte, a higher ratio of F500 to metro population is correlated with...having major league baseball.

    Just an observation...

    • Like 5
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    Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    On 5/12/2020 at 1:43 PM, norm21499 said:

    O'hare's 'L' station is a little bit of a hike to the terminal. The station is underground and you have to walk through the subterranean tunnels to get into the terminal. It's not bad if you're a fast walker, but if you don't walk fast or are ellderly, the distance might be a problem.

    The Heathrow 1/2/3 tube stop is god knows how far from T3.  It took me 20 minutes at least back in October.  

    On 5/12/2020 at 1:04 PM, kermit said:

    I agree, I would also prefer a people mover to a 10-15 minute walk to the terminal from transit. A long walk is required to reach transit in Seattle, ORD and MDW and BOS (to the blue line) in addition to DFW.  Even the not yet opened IAD metro rail station will be more than 1,000 feet from the terminal entrance.

    The DART orange and green lines pass less than 2,000 feet from the Love Field terminal and its a 'you can't get here from there' situation. Its a similar no access situation in San Diego as well.

    ATL, SLC, BWI, PDX, MSP and DCA seem like the gold standards for terminal-transit access. The first four are at the end of their respective transit lines which makes terminal access much easier. MSP used LRT for transfers between terminals and Washington Metro was (close to) a 'cost is no issue' system (at a small airport). So now that I have typed this out it seems like direct terminal access really only happens where the airport is at the end of the transit line, and even then, its still not always close.

    In terms of transit I would bet  that better access to uptown for Gaston county commuters will have bigger benefits for Charlotte than one-seat ride airport access.

     

     

    CLT would be the inverse situation to ATL.  In ATL, you can ride straight to the airport, but the rental cars (and associated ballantynish district) are a quick people mover away.  I'm talking 2-3 minutes max.

    In CLT, the Transit Stop and pseudo-Ballantyne would be a people mover ride away while the rental cars are in the garage right next to the terminal.

     

    Either is better than DFW, which I suffer through twice a month...the bus ride to the rental car center way out in freaking Waco or Abilene.  No clue even how far the DART bus ride is.  

    • Haha 5

  15. Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations

    in Charlotte

    Posted

    19 hours ago, Ric0_0 said:

    Nashville does have a large healthcare presence which should continue to be strong.

    I think Atlanta will be interesting to watch. It has a lot of industries negatively affected such as the convention business, travel (Delta, Travelport, airport), automotive (Cox, Asburry, Porsche and Mercedes), retail (Carters, Aarons), and restaurants (ChikfilA, Inspire Brands) while some of its other industries like fintech, healthcare, and paper, and logistics should weather the storm.

    Good points re: Atlanta, however I’d posit that chick fila is doing just fine.  Lines are wild

  20. SouthPark Mall

    in Charlotte Coffee House

    Posted

    On 3/1/2020 at 4:49 PM, SydneyCarton said:

    I know that I'm in the minority, but I would love to see SouthPark razed and redeveloped as a smaller, higher-end, outdoor, walkable retail venue like the Streets of Buckhead (or whatever it's called now).  That place is gorgeous, and it's apropos for the Twenty-First Century.   

    The SouthPark Mall is dated, and all of those parking lots and garages are a waste of space in a very prime location.  I'd love to see several very high-end condo towers and townhomes, and a very fancy hotel (e.g., a Peninsula), together with restaurants, art galleries, public plazas, and parks, and better integration for Symphony Park.   Perhaps even some very high-end office space aimed at hedge funds, etc. would be appropriate.   With respect to retail per se, fifty high-end stores (e.g., Tiffany, Tourneau, Burberry, Thomas Pink, Jimmy Choo, Versace, Gucci, Cartier, etc.) and a much smaller Saks or Nordstrom would be great.  An arthouse cinema like Angelika in NY would be fantastic as well.

    The SouthPark Mall is successful because there are many wealthy people in Charlotte who fuel the demand, and the mall is their only option for supply.   That prime site screams 1970s, and it warrants more.  Charlotte is much richer than it was when the mall was built and even when it was expanded.  One only need drive through Red Fox Trail, Foxcraft Rd., etc. and note all of the modest ranches being razed and replaced with $2.5M, 6,000 s.f. palaces to appreciate the massive influx of wealth.

    SouthPark  could be and should be  the ultimate luxury retail venue of the Southeast.  But for Streets of Buckhead, Atlanta's shopping scene is lame although it offers very high-end brands.  

    C457E4A2-94A0-4E72-985F-099FFCFD62A5.jpeg

    It's now called BUCKHEAD ATLANTA, which is quite creative.

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