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Plans for a Charlotte Zoo


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There's plans of getting a full-blown zoo to Charlotte. One group is very close to securing a land deal in Southwest Charlotte, and plans to open the zoo in about four years. The project is entirely privately funded.

http://charlotte.new...to-move-forward

And here's their website:

http://www.charlotte...ogicalpark.org/

What do you guys think of this? Sounds plausible, or do you think they're over-ambitious? According to their website, the completed zoo will be about 250 acres big; about the same size as the Bronx zoo in New York. Personally, I could see myself sending a lot of time at the zoo if done right, and could serve as another major attraction for Charlotte. I wonder where they'll place it? Hopefully close to the Blue-line, or at least a shuttle that will connect the two.

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Pointless if not downtown or on blueline...

lol.....its not pointless. Chicago has one of the best zoos in the nation, the Brookfield Zoo, and it is not in Downtown Chicago. In fact, it is better for a zoo to be further form the city so that more land can be acquired for expansion. The NC zoo in Asheboro is 2,000 acres I believe, which is HUGE. The more land, the less that animals need to be cramped up.

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lol.....its not pointless. Chicago has one of the best zoos in the nation, the Brookfield Zoo, and it is not in Downtown Chicago. In fact, it is better for a zoo to be further form the city so that more land can be acquired for expansion. The NC zoo in Asheboro is 2,000 acres I believe, which is HUGE. The more land, the less that animals need to be cramped up.

And I have never been to the Brookfield zoo (nor even heard of it), but I am a fan of the Lincoln Park zoo due to its accessibility.

Asheboro is a great zoo and I enjoy it when I am there. However, its existence 90 minutes away is exactly why Charlotte does not need a giant (and auto oriented) zoo when a more thoughtful, urban scale, zoo could have its own market niche. This is not to suggest that the animals should be cramped, merely that they should be thoughtfully selected and appropriately housed.

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There is a ton of land at corner of nations ford and 51. And a ton of land straddling Westinghouse BLVD behind the restaurants by the terminus of the BLE. Both are very near public transit

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It certainly makes sense for Charlotte to have a zoo - considering the nearest options are Asheboro and Columbia: both 90 mins away. That being said, my experiences at the Asheboro zoo have always been great, but Columbia seems cramped and crowded like going to Walmart. There are city zoos that don't feel quite to so cramped, and I hope Charlotte's city zoo can find a way to seem as natural as Asheboro without the availability of abundant acreage.

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I would much rather see the funds go into the Asheboro zoo. Not sure how the environmentalists feel about it, but the NC Zoo is great because most of the animals have large environments. It isn't great from a visitors standpoint because you can't always see the animals.

They are talking about having dolphins and whales in Charlotte. Keeping those animals in a 200,000 tank is borderline cruel.

I was surprised that they were able to raise the money.

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For another comparison, the Atlanta Zoo in Grant Park is only 40 acres and still manages to have a TON of animals. I went there recently and had a great time, especially because we were able to see more than in Asheboro without as much of a hike and fewer bottlenecks. However, they shouldn't have had some of the bigger animals like elephants or rhinos, because they had nowhere near enough space in their habitats. Some animals, like the gorillas, actually had larger habitats than in Asheboro. Anyway 250 acres sounds like a good middle ground.

Edited by nonillogical
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There's plans of getting a full-blown zoo to Charlotte. One group is very close to securing a land deal in Southwest Charlotte, and plans to open the zoo in about four years. The project is entirely privately funded.

http://charlotte.new...to-move-forward

And here's their website:

http://www.charlotte...ogicalpark.org/

What do you guys think of this? Sounds plausible, or do you think they're over-ambitious? According to their website, the completed zoo will be about 250 acres big; about the same size as the Bronx zoo in New York. Personally, I could see myself sending a lot of time at the zoo if done right, and could serve as another major attraction for Charlotte. I wonder where they'll place it? Hopefully close to the Blue-line, or at least a shuttle that will connect the two.

It's NOT going to happen - at least with these guys.

When I was writing my blog I interviewed several people about this and the everyone at the project was gung-ho, but then suddenly and then suddenly silent when I questioned if the man behind the project whose Linkedin profile mentioned Ettolrahc Holdings (BTW It's Charlotte spelt backwards) was the same person who had a blog of the same name and posted rather questionable comments (ranging from gay bashing to racist) on the Charlotte Observer

I can also say they lost some of their celebrity ambassadors and the guy behind the whole project was a profile of a local TV news/Observer investigation http://www.charlotte...ves-little.html

So my guess is don't count on it from these guys

Edited by Urbanity
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  • 1 month later...

At some point in the past (not sure how long ago this was). The land where Phillip Morris's enormous factory sat or still sits was in consideration for the NC ZOO that went to Asheboro. Is that building still there? I know it's in Concord and not really close to downtown, but would seem an easy drive from the city. I like Asheboro's zoo, simply because of it's size and I don't feel as bad about the animals. Some or most zoo's want to be everthing to everybody. A smaller zoo that can concentrate on a continent or even area like the Amazon might be a good fit for an urban setting. When I lived in Charlotte, I went to the Raptor Center a lot. You got to see some magnificent birds up close (most from unfortunate accidents or idiots shooting at them). Some thing along those lines would be great for an area that can not offer a large parcel of land.

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I have an idea for a themed zoo. The Underground Zoo. It sounds creepy, but I think it would be pretty cool. It could easily fit in a city block, dig as deep as you need to increase the size. A park on top, with exhibits for animals that do surface and the underground world below. I can picture a hot July day with 100's of people escaping the heat to wonder past all the creatures who live there lives underground. I have been to other zoo's that have a small underground exhibit. But nothing dedicated completely to the world beneath us. I guess I would like to see something, maybe not this, that you really cannot see in just about every city around. Make it unique.

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It would be suicide for a private or City run Charlotte zoo to try and compete with a state backed entity. Not to mention the fact that we are sandwiched between two great established facilities. I think the smaller themed stuff like Lazy 5 or the underground idea above would do ok. And really folks, a 90 minute or so day trip isn't bad for something that most families only visit a few times a year.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think a smaller zoo like the Animal Discovery Zoo at the Natural Science Center in Greensboro which is going to include a 23,000 square foot aquarium is more appropriate. A 250 acre full scale zoo would mean less visitors at the NC Zoo in Asheboro. The NC Zoo was suppose to be built between Greensboro and WInston-Salem but Randolph County, south of Greensboro was chosen because of the abundance of land. So if they do move forward with a larger zoo, it needs to be outside Charlotte where there is less development. I would prefer a much smaller zoo like Animal Discovery Zoo being in uptown. Maybe an uptown Charlotte zoo/park/aquarium.

An example of what can go in uptown Charlotte

Animal Discovery Zoo & Carolina Sciquarium (Greensboro)

http://www.natsci.or...map/index.shtml

http://www.natsci.or...ium/index.shtml

Edited by cityboi
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