Jump to content

Alamance Crossing

NCgfx

By NCgfx
in The NC Triad

Recommended Posts


  • Replies 207
  • Created
  • Last Reply
triadcat Whistle-Stop

triadcat

Posted
Posted

Thanks, that's a nice looking rendering.

As for it being big boxed, I've seen some nationwide stores fit quite nicely in the intimacy of a mall setting. A Dillards or a Belk or a JC Penney could be considered "big boxed" if you just looked at the square footage that they take up in any given mall. A mall itself is a huge pile of concrete and steel same as a walmart or a target. What makes the difference is the atmosphere developed that takes it from just steel and concrete to being a place you want to spend your time and money and meet with your friends.

When we moved out here 14 years ago to the Eastern edge of Guilford County, I never imagined the area growing as it has. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Funny how things change.

Yeah, eastern Guilford County and western Alamance County are growing like crazy!! I remember when most of those parts were just country farmland. West Burlington and Elon in Alamance County and the towns of Whitsett, Sedalia, etc in Guilford County along US 70 are growing and sprawling so fast. I think the Burlington city limits actually cross over into Guilford County now. Crazy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

Posted
Posted

I think the Burlington city limits actually cross over into Guilford County now. Crazy!
Yes, they do....it's been like that for a while-though no one really cared or noticed since most of the land in question was "just farmland". Here recently we've been following stories about how Guilford County and Alamance County had some questions about the county lines and if they were drawn right. They didnt think that they were and that Alamance County had some things counted in their County that should have belonged to Guilford and Vice versa. When there was talk that they may try to right the lines, folks here in Gibsonville (which sits in both counties btw) spoke up that they wanted things to remain as it was. The whole thing eventually was dropped (as to probably avoid a major citizen revolt ;) )

I am excited about some of the new construction, I just hope that the county and town planners keep their heads and do not get glazed over by it all where they make bad choices in what they allow.

This is nice a countryside area...and Gibsonville in particular has always had that small town appeal while still being close to Greensboro and Burlington. I would hope for it to keep a certain bit of that appeal as growth explodes around us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NCgfx Unincorporated Area

NCgfx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Construction on Alamance Crossing should start in the next 30 days. Here are my predictions for some of the stores: Dillards, Khols, Barnes and Nable, Talbots, Circuit City, Chicos, GAP?, at least one hotel in an outparcel, Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sax184 Hamlet

sax184

Posted
Posted

Thanks, that's a nice looking rendering.

As for it being big boxed, I've seen some nationwide stores fit quite nicely in the intimacy of a mall setting. A Dillards or a Belk or a JC Penney could be considered "big boxed" if you just looked at the square footage that they take up in any given mall. A mall itself is a huge pile of concrete and steel same as a walmart or a target. What makes the difference is the atmosphere developed that takes it from just steel and concrete to being a place you want to spend your time and money and meet with your friends.

When we moved out here 14 years ago to the Eastern edge of Guilford County, I never imagined the area growing as it has. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Funny how things change.

I'm sorry, but Alamance crossing is a cheap strip mall with nice facades. Southpoint in Durham is not a model worth emulating because it too, is simply a fantasy interpretation of a city for those who fear the real thing.

Placemaking does not produce shopping malls surrounded by 2400 parking spaces. It produces places like this:

http://www.pps.org/info/projectexp/campus_martius

http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/art...4250557,00.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

Posted
Posted

Southpoint in Durham is not a model worth emulating because it too, is simply a fantasy interpretation of a city for those who fear the real thing.

Actually I enjoy The Streets of Southpoint...a lot. If I am going to spend time shopping at a mall, The Streets of Southpoint is my mall of choice currently. Alamance Crossing is a mall that will impact the area I live, and very possibly where I may choose to spend some of my money. It would be my hope that given how appealing I find The Streets of Southpoint, that Alamance Crossing would be somewhat similar.

Williams-Sonoma in Burlington? We'll see...

I could see it. Many reasons why-but I could see it. This area is changing and changing fast. There are some pretty nice subdivisions being built in this area....many many.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sax184 Hamlet

sax184

Posted
Posted

West Burlington already looks so different along I-40/85 than it looked just two years ago. With the new street lights, it is looking quite urban now. I heard that another development was proposed Monday night behind the University Commons shopping center.

There is nothing "urban" about strip development along I-40/85. This area has become suburban or exurban. Urbanity does not mean that stores and shopping have moved in.

Urbanity has to do with design, and there is no design in Burlington along I-40.

Does the development honor the pedestrian?

Do the buildings relate to one another?

Are uses mixed vertically?

Are there multi-story buildings?

Is there parking management that promotes walking?

Are the parking lots behind the buildings?

If you can't answer yes to these questions, then you have a suburban/exurban environment and not an urban environment. For better illustration, look up david Sucher's City Comforts blog and view this image.

Urbanity Starts With the Location of the Parking Lot

Link to comment
Share on other sites
triadcat Whistle-Stop

triadcat

Posted
Posted

There is nothing "urban" about strip development along I-40/85. This area has become suburban or exurban. Urbanity does not mean that stores and shopping have moved in.

Urbanity has to do with design, and there is no design in Burlington along I-40.

Does the development honor the pedestrian?

Do the buildings relate to one another?

Are uses mixed vertically?

Are there multi-story buildings?

Is there parking management that promotes walking?

Are the parking lots behind the buildings?

If you can't answer yes to these questions, then you have a suburban/exurban environment and not an urban environment. For better illustration, look up david Sucher's City Comforts blog and view this image.

Urbanity Starts With the Location of the Parking Lot

Well, you don't need to be so negative about it.........

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

Posted
Posted

Urban can mean that it is realating or belonging to a city..

It's Thesaurus equivalents include:

city

town

built-up

municpal

inner-city

metropolitan

I would say that in this case "built-up" would fit very nicely as it is a piece of land that was farmland and very rural that has been built-up with new roads, new subdivisions, and new places to shop and eat. For this part of the world-it has gone from being just land to being an area of commerce. For another part of the country it may look like just another strip mall area-but for around here it is significant development for a town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
intcvlcphlga Hamlet

intcvlcphlga

Posted
Posted

There is nothing "urban" about strip development along I-40/85. This area has become suburban or exurban. Urbanity does not mean that stores and shopping have moved in.

Urbanity has to do with design, and there is no design in Burlington along I-40.

Does the development honor the pedestrian?

Do the buildings relate to one another?

Are uses mixed vertically?

Are there multi-story buildings?

Is there parking management that promotes walking?

Are the parking lots behind the buildings?

If you can't answer yes to these questions, then you have a suburban/exurban environment and not an urban environment. For better illustration, look up david Sucher's City Comforts blog and view this image.

Urbanity Starts With the Location of the Parking Lot

Nice, illustrative diagram. I completely agree that this topic has nothing to do with urbanity because it is devoid of design, density, pedestrian activity, mixture of uses, etc. Furthermore, it is development, but it's not exactly a boon economically because it's going to house national chain stores so that the only benefit to the local economy are low-wage retail jobs and property taxes.

There seems to be more interest in strip malls, chain restaurants, Wal Marts and McMansions than anything remotely urban and/or architectural. The most popular thread by far on the Triad subforum has to do with a Wal Mart at an obsolete mall. The most architecturally significant building in Greensboro, the headquarters of Burlington Industries, was razed to make way for yet another shopping center whose tenants will include PF Changs and Harris Teeter, and people couldn't be happier. Last time I looked, Harris Teeter was just another big grocery store selling the same products as the other chains. Perhaps there should be a "suburban planet" or "Wal Mart World."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
intcvlcphlga Hamlet

intcvlcphlga

Posted
Posted

Urban can mean that it is realating or belonging to a city..

It's Thesaurus equivalents include:

city

town

built-up

municpal

inner-city

metropolitan

I would say that in this case "built-up" would fit very nicely as it is a piece of land that was farmland and very rural that has been built-up with new roads, new subdivisions, and new places to shop and eat. For this part of the world-it has gone from being just land to being an area of commerce. For another part of the country it may look like just another strip mall area-but for around here it is significant development for a town.

Some people, even people in this part of the world, would argue that a piece of farmland is every bit as commercial and/or productive as a new shopping center. I've never understood the notion that destroying a piece of productive agricultural land to make way for a gated community is progress. If this was indeed an urban planet, would we not want to preserve the agricultural land and promote residential development and commercial in downtown Burlington?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

Posted
Posted

There seems to be more interest in strip malls, chain restaurants, Wal Marts and McMansions than anything remotely urban and/or architectural. The most popular thread by far on the Triad subforum has to do with a Wal Mart at an obsolete mall. The most architecturally significant building in Greensboro, the headquarters of Burlington Industries, was razed to make way for yet another shopping center whose tenants will include PF Changs and Harris Teeter, and people couldn't be happier. Last time I looked, Harris Teeter was just another big grocery store selling the same products as the other chains. Perhaps there should be a "suburban planet" or "Wal Mart World."

It seems to me that there is more than one type of urban development. Downtowns, malls, shopping centers and grocery stores are all valid parts of urban development.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NCgfx Unincorporated Area

NCgfx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The area around University Drive, as long as I have lived in Burlington, has never been farmland. Obviously these new developments are not "urban" like we might like to see, but over 1.5 million square feet of new retail in less than 3 years is big for a city the size of Burlington. I have been to city council metings relating to the Alamance Crossing development. I have actually seen renderings. I am going to grab bite to eat and then try to replicate the plans for you. It might actually be a little more "urban" than you think. (there is no parking in front of the storefronts)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

Posted
Posted

The area around University Drive, as long as I have lived in Burlington, has never been farmland. Obviously these new developments are not "urban" like we might like to see, but over 1.5 million square feet of new retail in less than 3 years is big for a city the size of Burlington. I have been to city council metings relating to the Alamance Crossing development. I have actually seen renderings. I am going to grab bite to eat and then try to replicate the plans for you. It might actually be a little more "urban" than you think. (there is no parking in front of the storefronts)

I am the one that brought up that it was farmland. I've lived out here over 14 years-and some of it was and some was just unused wooded rural land. University drive cut right through quite a large area between Westbrook Rd, hwy70/S Church St to Kirkpatrick Rd.

It is indeed a big deal for a town the size of Burlington. I am glad someone understands my point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NCgfx Unincorporated Area

NCgfx

Posted
  • Author
Posted

21750624608_0_ALB.jpg

I dont know how long this will stay up, so look now. The sections around the lake will be constructed first, starting within 30 days. Red is retail and green is for restaurants. There is a ped bridge that crosses the lake from the south end across to the theatre. The section near University will be developed later. I think this area will include a Sam's Club and a relocated Wal-Mart. 840,000 square feet total...24 restaurant/hotel pads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

Posted
Posted

I am the one that brought up that it was farmland. I've lived out here over 14 years-and some of it was and some was just unused wooded rural land. University drive cut right through quite a large area between Westbrook Rd, hwy70/S Church St to Kirkpatrick Rd.

It is indeed a big deal for a town the size of Burlington. I am glad someone understands my point.

I dig what you're saying too, ILoveCallingNCHome. Burlington needs beter shopping options than it had previously, and this mall will do the trick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.