Villa Heights Projects

[KJHburg]

I am still not sure what the plan is for the HVAC units but I heard screening of some sort. 

anyway photos from today. 

[KJHburg]

New townhomes in Villa Height on Parkwood.  and close up of the renovation for the retail complex on Parkwood.  

[j-man]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

New townhomes in Villa Height on Parkwood.  and close up of the renovation for the retail complex on Parkwood.  

Grim reaper homes. Very depressing. Yikes 

[KJHburg]

I am not a fan of the dark grey either but I guess they are sold out. 

[Desert Power]

Townhomes are very hot in these neighborhoods right now, even these ugly monstrosities on Barry St. Why do you need to park 6+ cars in a freaking Villa Heights townhome?

 

 

[JacksonH]

This old store (gas station?) across from the church that's being restored (corner of Parkwood and Allen), I hope it's structurally strong enough that it could be restored as well and turned into a neighborhood convenience store, sandwich shop, anything.  It's a cool old building and there aren't many buildings like this left anywhere.

[RANYC]

11 hours ago, Desert Power said:

Townhomes are very hot in these neighborhoods right now, even these ugly monstrosities on Barry St. Why do you need to park 6+ cars in a freaking Villa Heights townhome?

 

 

These in-town neighborhoods have no design standards, huh.  I mean, the garages are so prominent, totally ruins any sort of urban curb appeal.

[sakami]

22 hours ago, Desert Power said:

Townhomes are very hot in these neighborhoods right now, even these ugly monstrosities on Barry St. Why do you need to park 6+ cars in a freaking Villa Heights townhome?

 

 

I agree the front facing garages are not great. If builders are hoping for long term owners of these townhomes they need to think about what families with children will ultimately want. And driveway space for kids to play in is one of those easy things that families like. 

[KJHburg]

One of the reasons for driveways is that they don't want to contribute to on street parking.  some streets intown are very narrow with so much on street parking it makes it hard for vehicles to pass include emergency vehicles.  

 

[tozmervo]

This is also a problem that alley plans solve. 

[RANYC]

3 hours ago, tozmervo said:

This is also a problem that alley plans solve. 

yes, my townhome community in wesley heights gave us rear-access garages and an interior network of small streets so that the sidewalk around the block is lined with small patches of lawn and landscaping.  I cannot imagine living on this block and ultimately having to walk around the backs of cars and SUVs, many of which will likely block parts of the sidewalk.

[archiham04]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

One of the reasons for driveways is that they don't want to contribute to on street parking.  some streets intown are very narrow with so much on street parking it makes it hard for vehicles to pass include emergency vehicles.  

 

My neighbors intentionally park on the street to slow cars down, so that our kids can play in the street.

16 hours ago, RANYC said:

These in-town neighborhoods have no design standards, huh.  I mean, the garages are so prominent, totally ruins any sort of urban curb appeal.

The worst part about these driveways is the width... a typical intown driveway (without a two car garage in front) is about 10-12 feet wide.  This allows for a 35-40 foot long planting strip to plant a tree or two and create a streetscape.  These things look like they are 20feet wide on 30 feet of frontage leaving a 10 foot long flavor saver.

Edited February 8, 2021 by archiham04

[tozmervo]

2 hours ago, archiham04 said:

My neighbors intentionally park on the street to slow cars down, so that our kids can play in the street.

The worst part about these driveways is the width... a typical intown driveway (without a two car garage in front) is about 10-12 feet wide.  This allows for a 35-40 foot long planting strip to plant a tree or two and create a streetscape.  These things look like they are 20feet wide on 30 feet of frontage leaving a 10 foot long flavor saver.

You make an interesting point - are tree canopy requirements not applicable to this zone density of residential construction? 

[Desert Power]

49 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

You make an interesting point - are tree canopy requirements not applicable to this zone density of residential construction? 

Looks like a bunch of trees on the ground ready to be planted today.

3 hours ago, archiham04 said:

My neighbors intentionally park on the street to slow cars down, so that our kids can play in the street.

I get really annoyed by people with a lot of parking space parking in the street 

[j-man]

20 hours ago, RANYC said:

These in-town neighborhoods have no design standards, huh.  I mean, the garages are so prominent, totally ruins any sort of urban curb appeal.

Agreed! And no offense to anyone who lives in one but these developers are just in it for the money because there is no way on earth they can’t use some type of creativity to make these look more attractive. I hate the single family homes that have those large garages and the front door is squeezed in the middle or on the front side of the house. And sadly these types of homes are popping up all over America. Ugh 

[KJHburg]

6 hours ago, archiham04 said:

My neighbors intentionally park on the street to slow cars down, so that our kids can play in the street.

 

this in itself can be very dangerous if children are playing between parked cars easy to lose a ball into the path of oncoming car.  Kids should play in yards or parks not on public streets unless it is a dead end or culdesac with very little traffic. 

[archiham04]

I am not going to go into the details or argue about parenting in a city... my point is that on-street parking is not bad for neighborhoods, families, safety or traffic.  Streets can be used everyday by everyone...  Not just cars getting from point A to point B.  I am trying to provide an alternate viewpoint to the Euclidean notion that uses should be separated and children protected with driveways and cul-de-sacs.   

Edited February 9, 2021 by archiham04

[CLT2014]

This neighborhood is a perfect example of the "last mile" problem with our light rail. While in theory this portion of the Villa Heights neighborhood is "in town" and not that far from the light rail... it is still a ~20 minute walk to the Blue Line.  The only bus route that  is walking distance to this street is #4, which operates on 30 minute frequencies. The bus line doesn't connect the neighborhood to Parkwood Station or NoDa. Hence most people buying here will be just as car dependent for nearly anything they do as people living in Ballantyne and the developer responds with suburban style housing. Despite the car dependency of this neighborhood though, the developer could definitely deploy other solutions for "hiding" the cars to help the area transform over time. Even Waverly in South CLT got more "urban" friendly housing. 

I really wish CATS would invest in a much more robust bus network to efficiently connect people to the light rail with frequencies that aren't every 30 minute or an hour. Otherwise unless you live within a few blocks of the rail, you are largely car dependent in this town and that isn't changing by adding one more light rail. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by CLT2014

[RANYC]

7 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

This neighborhood is a perfect example of the "last mile" problem with our light rail. While in theory this portion of the Villa Heights neighborhood is "in town" and not that far from the light rail... it is still a ~20 minute walk to the Blue Line.  The only bus route that  is walking distance to this street is #4, which operates on 30 minute frequencies. The bus line doesn't connect the neighborhood to Parkwood Station or NoDa. Hence most people buying here will be just as car dependent for nearly anything they do as people living in Ballantyne and the developer responds with suburban style housing. Despite the car dependency of this neighborhood though, the developer could definitely deploy other solutions for "hiding" the cars to help the area transform over time. Even Waverly in South CLT got more "urban" friendly housing. 

I really wish CATS would invest in a much more robust bus network to efficiently connect people to the light rail with frequencies that aren't every 30 minute or an hour. Otherwise unless you live within a few blocks of the rail, you are largely car dependent in this town and that isn't changing by adding one more light rail. 

I agree with this so much.  I just don't see enough reach and convenience with the current transit devices existing close in to the city center. 

Yet, now we're being asked to finance 8-12  billion in transit projects for people living in Matthews and Pineville who most likely love car-dependent living and are in communities natively designed for car-centricity.  I suppose we need suburbia's dollars to fund transit in-town and are throwing them a bone?

Not saying train lines might not eventually be needed for Matthews residents or that train lines might not spur new TOD projects, but it feels like so much of what's already in place needs to be better managed and designed before taking on pricey capital improvement projects.  

While I don't like the townhomes above and passed on them during my house hunt, I'm torn on how much to regulate this.  I've seen design overlay ordinances in neighborhoods for older cities, and I've wondered by how much they slow down urban infill and population growth.

Edited February 9, 2021 by RANYC

[Desert Power]

10 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

This neighborhood is a perfect example of the "last mile" problem with our light rail. While in theory this portion of the Villa Heights neighborhood is "in town" and not that far from the light rail... it is still a ~20 minute walk to the Blue Line.  The only bus route that  is walking distance to this street is #4, which operates on 30 minute frequencies. The bus line doesn't connect the neighborhood to Parkwood Station or NoDa. Hence most people buying here will be just as car dependent for nearly anything they do as people living in Ballantyne and the developer responds with suburban style housing. Despite the car dependency of this neighborhood though, the developer could definitely deploy other solutions for "hiding" the cars to help the area transform over time. Even Waverly in South CLT got more "urban" friendly housing. 

I really wish CATS would invest in a much more robust bus network to efficiently connect people to the light rail with frequencies that aren't every 30 minute or an hour. Otherwise unless you live within a few blocks of the rail, you are largely car dependent in this town and that isn't changing by adding one more light rail. 

Agree with this all. Being Car Dependent shouldn't translate into: each house needs space for 6 vehicles though. The bus frequencies are abysmal in this city.

[InTheYear2000]

23 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

This neighborhood is a perfect example of the "last mile" problem with our light rail. While in theory this portion of the Villa Heights neighborhood is "in town" and not that far from the light rail... it is still a ~20 minute walk to the Blue Line.  The only bus route that  is walking distance to this street is #4, which operates on 30 minute frequencies. The bus line doesn't connect the neighborhood to Parkwood Station or NoDa. Hence most people buying here will be just as car dependent for nearly anything they do as people living in Ballantyne and the developer responds with suburban style housing. Despite the car dependency of this neighborhood though, the developer could definitely deploy other solutions for "hiding" the cars to help the area transform over time. Even Waverly in South CLT got more "urban" friendly housing. 

I really wish CATS would invest in a much more robust bus network to efficiently connect people to the light rail with frequencies that aren't every 30 minute or an hour. Otherwise unless you live within a few blocks of the rail, you are largely car dependent in this town and that isn't changing by adding one more light rail. 

I agree that we need to do better with the "last mile" problem and buses can be a solution. These Garages are highly valued amenities and have been included in almost every new town home community in the North Charlotte neighborhoods. We can improve the bus systems but the only way we are going to move people of means to use them is to figure out how to make car dependence less attractive. Maybe Zoning, Garage taxes or road diets?

The high cost of parking uptown is a big reason why I depend upon public transit.

[DMann]

Elon Musk's RoboTaxi's

[KJHburg]

Lots of new infill housing both single family and townhomes going up in this neighborhood.  New apartments along N Brevard too. 

first couple of photos David Weekley Central Living paired homes aka duplexes and some townhomes. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

The new bridge to Brevard. taken last week. 

[Urban Cowboy]

Exciting to see the 25th Street Bridge and future greenway/rail trail here through Optimist Park!