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Downtown Greensboro is getting a Westin Hotel


cityboi

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4 hours ago, cityboi said:

Looks like the deck will be stuck at floor six for a while. The Westin will be built on top of the deck after the entire parking deck is complete which will be in the spring of 2023. Not sure why construction is dragging so much. Once construction starts on the Westin on top, add another 8 or 9 months or so which would put the construction time around two years starting with the rise of the crane back in January to completion. That crane is going to be up there for a while. This has got to be the slowest downtown project in Greensboro's history. It was first proposed a decade ago.

The new Moses Cone Day Hospital near Battleground Ave. and the N.C.A.T. Building on E. Market St & Dudley went up quick, what is it about Downtown GBO that is different? This city with downtown is special in a sad way when it comes to pace on projects. Slow, Slow, Slow!!! While other peer cities march right ahead.

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8 hours ago, P.SAUNDERS said:

The new Moses Cone Day Hospital near Battleground Ave. and the N.C.A.T. Building on E. Market St & Dudley went up quick, what is it about Downtown GBO that is different? This city with downtown is special in a sad way when it comes to pace on projects. Slow, Slow, Slow!!! While other peer cities march right ahead.

The Hampton Inn took 2 to 3 years to build and its only 6 stories. You are right, everywhere else in the city construction goes up fast, even during the so called worker shortage era. I don't know why downtown projects are so slow.

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14 hours ago, P.SAUNDERS said:

The new Moses Cone Day Hospital near Battleground Ave. and the N.C.A.T. Building on E. Market St & Dudley went up quick, what is it about Downtown GBO that is different? This city with downtown is special in a sad way when it comes to pace on projects. Slow, Slow, Slow!!! While other peer cities march right ahead.

It's like, they understand the importance of properly utilizing space downtown... which is good.... but then they engage in complete paralysis by analysis.

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1 hour ago, P.SAUNDERS said:

I just wish the Greensboro Westin could be as creative like this one in Cleveland, at least make the parking deck not be so boring and bland. 

Westin-Cleveland-Hotel.jpg

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My guess is that there were cost overruns due to a number of issues including lawsuits, unforeseen property issues that led to the uninspiring design. That explains why the design went from pretty good to plain.

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15 hours ago, drawscape said:

I hate to say it, but this is quite possibly the most low effort design I have ever seen for any building ever.

Thank the city. They cut back on the spending of a better designed deck which led to the hotel developers changing the design of the hotel. While I'm not pleased with the design, this will still be great for downtown and help add more density to the skyline. I've actually seen Westin hotels with a worse design.

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Few years back I was discussing this job with a person closely involved in it.  They were mentioning their distaste for what the deck had become design wise.  Greensboro had a chance to rebuild some of the street facade that was lost in the 1985 fire and squandered it.  Sadly that's typical of projects the City is involved in.  The property line debacle that delayed this was astonishing.

I'm happy this is happening, but it's such a lower bar than what could have been achieved.

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17 hours ago, Poo Diddy said:

Few years back I was discussing this job with a person closely involved in it.  They were mentioning their distaste for what the deck had become design wise.  Greensboro had a chance to rebuild some of the street facade that was lost in the 1985 fire and squandered it.  Sadly that's typical of projects the City is involved in.  The property line debacle that delayed this was astonishing.

I'm happy this is happening, but it's such a lower bar than what could have been achieved.

Especially compared to Roy Carroll's AC Hotel which is a georgious design and the best urban design downtown has seen in recent memory. The Westin looks like something quickly put together on some cheap CAD program by a kid.  It is a block of glass...no character whatsoever.  What a wasted design opportunity for a flag such as Westin.

Edited by cityboi
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21 hours ago, DCB said:

After the issues with this project and the whole South Elm redevelopment debacle I've lost all faith in the city government's ability to do just about anything downtown.

Not to mention the greenway.  How that project is still under construction bewilders me.  Greensboro's government is incompetent, yet we keep voting the same people in time after time.

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On 8/25/2022 at 1:09 AM, P.SAUNDERS said:

The new Moses Cone Day Hospital near Battleground Ave. and the N.C.A.T. Building on E. Market St & Dudley went up quick, what is it about Downtown GBO that is different? This city with downtown is special in a sad way when it comes to pace on projects. Slow, Slow, Slow!!! While other peer cities march right ahead.

I don't know why construction is so slow downtown compared to everywhere else in the city. I think the six story Hampton Inn downtown took about 3 years to build. Ridiculous. But until the city gets its act together, no more public/private partnerships.

Edited by cityboi
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Like Poo Diddy said we need new leadership in this city. Apparently  the City  Leadership is set in their ways and are stubborn in having a urgent need to get things up and running. The same folks for about 20 years doing the same thing, which is moving with baby steps when it comes to moving this city forward. It's like they love bland and no upscale vision on creating something exciting downtown to marvel at. When I see not only Charlotte & Raleigh, but Winston-Salem, Durham and Norfolk, VA, Knoxville, Tenn and Columbia, SC I see a Vision and Flavor!!! This aging City Council and Mayor needs to retire and allow some New Faces and Vision, people around 35-50 to have a chance. Greensboro to me is a Old Museum with Buildings that have been emptied and run down that needs to be torn down. I understand History, but keep some history, with the modern and mix it with the future. Build that Downtown up and stop being set in your ways. Durham and Raleigh, even Winston has areas that are that is really modern and has flavor. 

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Not a whole lot of change on the exterior. Just decorative fencing on the top and windows being installed in the retail shops on the ground level. They did just erect another crane.

Good news is that construction will begin on the hotel about the deck by the end of the summer.

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6 hours ago, gman430 said:

That sounds like to me that the planned hotel has stalled. Yikes. 

More than likely they are using another crane or relocating it. The crane was sitting in the center of the deck where the hotel is going so it would be in the way. They probably put it there in the first place to build the long deck.

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Those flat bed trucks you see in the second pic are for the crane pieces so it’s definitely not being relocated. It’s being hauled off instead back to its holding yard home. I can tell just from looking at the height of the tower crane that it was supposed to be for the garage and hotel not just the garage. It also looks like they started on the first floor of the hotel (notice the exposed rebar) but then stopped. Not good. 

Edited by gman430
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9 hours ago, gman430 said:

Those flat bed trucks you see in the second pic are for the crane pieces so it’s definitely not being relocated. It’s being hauled off instead back to its holding yard home. I can tell just from looking at the height of the tower crane that it was supposed to be for the garage and hotel not just the garage. It also looks like they started on the first floor of the hotel (notice the exposed rebar) but then stopped. Not good. 

If it were being canceled they would have completed the top and then removed the crane. DGI president Zack Matheny stated just a few days ago that construction would begin on the hotel at the end of summer and he stays in communication with these developers. It makes sense to remove the crane from the elevator shaft in the center of the deck because if they tried to remove it after the hotel is constructed the hotel would be in the way of the smaller crane to remove it. My guess is that they will use another crane for the hotel itself. As for the big crane they removed, it had to be big because of the size and length of the deck. I've seen tower cranes construct low-rise development in a number of cities. Another key indicator of the status of the project is the website. The Westin Greensboro website is still up and running with an opening date in 2024.

Edited by cityboi
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