NcSc74

That awesome that city center is enjoying some growth. Keep filling the gaps and densifying. The city has changed tremendously since I left in 95. Back then most growth was west and northwest. Next time I'm home visiting I will swing by and travel up Battleground to my old stomping grounds; Lawndale Apartments. I hear Battleground area has grown a bit as well. Greensboro is a possible landing spot for me if I ever moved back to NC. I think its in a good geographic location plus its a nice sized city. Just wish the metro had a pro team. Whether folks realize it or not having a pro team is a definite factor for a lot of my co-workers when they are looking to relocate for their second career. NC is often mentioned but unfortunately a lot of people do not know the Triad exist. I think a pro team changes the perception of a place. Look at OKC for instance. Decent city but a person's perception would not be much different between it and other peer cities if did not have the pro team.

Wonder why no project like this has sprung up around 485 in Charlotte? I know about Ballentyne but I'm talking about massed height like North Hills.

EDIT: Norfolk Southern is not affected by these problems but they can't provide fast service to/form Wilmington, Florida or much of the Gulf Coast. The CSX meltdown is a particularly bad time for the state since Toyota and Mazda are shopping NC megasites for a new car factory and two of the four sites are only served by CSX IIRC. Please don't mention auto factory. We have seen this story before and somehow state GA or whomever chokes at the last minute and NC looses out. So when I see mentions like this I just keep scrolling, "nothing to see here". The Volvo and MB scenarios really frustrated me. How NC is the only SE state without a major automaker factory is beyond me and make me think it is a conspiracy. No other way to explain it. Speaking of intermodal, I just saw a train with double stack containers rolling south through northern Oklahoma; wonder where it originated and where it is going?

Bank, financial services or something in the energy sector? Any guesses.

I have done a ton of travelling and from what I can see NC cities do not need to lament what is lost or what they do not posses. I happened to be in Tulsa a couple of weeks ago and I found the architecture quite good with a mix of art deco and modern. Why bring up Tulsa? Because at first glance I thought "Wow, if I could take 2 of these buildings and place it smack dab in the middle of uptown". Then I thought ok enough with the hyperbole, lets do some walking around on the streets. Granted it was on a Sunday but my impression, Greensboro with taller buildings. No disrespect but why do Charlotteans hand wring about of the lack of a "brick and mortar" uptown. You may wonder what this has to do with Charlotte and these are not even peer cities? Tulsa has a great collection of early late 19th-ealry 20th century buildings, spurred by oil money, but the city itself had to deal with all the problems Charlotte dealt with in the mid 20th century. Urban renewal and city to suburb migration took it toll and what remained was a downtown core devoid of organic urban atmosphere. In Tulsa's case, in just so happened to have a stock of "tall brick buildings". My point is that Charlotte does not need to look back and make apologies for buildings she no longer has. Buildings don't make a city, people and their attitudes make the city. IMO, Charlotte has an attitude unlike any in the SE. Capitalize on it and make no apologies.

Hay Street, Fayetteville. Just walk around and you will be pleasantly surprised at some of the building saved from the great "rebranding".

Not excited about the name. Can we please get over the fact that Raleigh and Charlotte don't like each other or one part of the state will not support the other because of a name. I would think we are far more sophisticated than that by now. Anyone who does watch Italian sere A or Europa league or any futbol knows the names are either tied to the city, have some historical significance or are to the point. My suggestions: Raleigh Resolve Old Hickory-my fav, the name sticks The Red Birds I guess you could add FC, united or any other descriptor to it but I just think we should not sell ourselves short and actually buy in to the fact that no one will support the team without NC attached to it. IMO.

For a good read check out the link. It shows just how neglected NC transportation planning had been in the past. This mostly geared toward ports and rail but can be tied to economic development. After reading this I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It will make you think what in the heck were our politicians thinking. It always seems the state is decades behind when it comes to infrastructure. Had NC been proactive and attacked geographical problems with a comprehensive plan along with other southern states then there would not be a mad scramble to play catch up. As I said many times before in forums; yes NC ports are not in the best locations but they are not in impossible locations. Or better yet, had there been better decisions made way back when about the locations then maybe the situation wouldn't be so dire. At any rate I hope that investment in infrastructure will be a priority. Although I feel that it is a pipe dream wit all the in-fighting and back and forth in the GA. And while that is happening GA, SC and VA all improve their already competitive infrastructure to take our exports. Sad. https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/Statewide-Freight-Plan/Documents/Maritime_Profile_Draft.pdf

Umm, has the final route for 73/74 been approved? Las t I saw it headed east then takes a dog leg to the south to SC line totally ignoring Wilmington. Is it me or does SC still influence NC politics? i don't understand NC thinking. If there is an opportunity to increase connectivity to your port why turn the interstate away? Never happen. Do you really think SC would introduce competition to its port by adding another interstate connection to Wilmington. ne thing I will say about SC, they know how to stick together for the good of the whole state. That and its easy to do so when the state is small and doest have as many mouths to feed.

Get with your mates and vote the farmers out. That is the only way to change the political dynamic in NC. I have said for years NC is 20+ years behind when it comes to infrastructure. Example, interstate access didn't connect to the states major port until the 80's, urban loop around the largest city when many cities had finished loops and began improving inter-metro connections, many interchanges are still under-built and some are still hanging around since the 60's. Want to effect change, vote the farmers out and vote more cosmopolitan candidates in. No need to sell out political beliefs to be cosmopolitan. What NC has going against is a spread out population each node believes they deserve the same scraps from the table. This is a holdover from the agricultural past. IMO, Down East projects should be concentrated around wilmington and Greenville thats it. Develop strong metros with plenty of jobs that way infrastructure money can be spent more efficiently. As far as Raleigh, I would not finish 540 until 440 is completely overhauled which includes updated interchanges. I will say that with Charlotte as well. Finally, I Would be jumping up and down trying to stop NCDOT from trying to build a loop around WS. Makes zero sense. Why not build one complete loop around Gboro and WS sort of DFW setup. Oh and why not complete a middle parkway across the state to Charlotte. Wait that makes too much sense....

Hotel Prince Charles still survives in Fayetteville.

Wish they could add a building on top of it. Looks to be in a prime location.

Wish Asheville had an arena so the city could host tournaments. IMO this is the one of the most under rated cities on the eastern seaboard. Wilmington is the other.

Wow I was waiting for the blow up. I think most of us on this forum know that all of NC cities were small in population and prominence wise from 17th to mid 20th century . Which explains the lack of urban design as compared to other peer cities. Not too mention what urban renewal did to the urban core of the top 3 cities in the state. So that is why i say Charlotte needs to embrace its "newness" and go all out. She doesn't have old bones so there is nothing to hold her back from going vertical on every corner. Dubai of the south. Back on topic, yes this building is underwhelming and yes I think a this cities deserves ultra modern building designs.

Good luck with that. Probably no TIGER funds for the foreseeable future.