Learning from Other Places

[KJHburg]

Here is Houstons new 1000 room Marriott Marquis downtown set up for weekend visitors with huge TX shaped lazy river plus across from the convention center and great outdoor spaces on the pool deck for receptions etc.  Couple more intown housing projects in EaDo including some metal clad townhomes and close to one of my favorite restaurants Ninfas' on Navigation. Please help the charity of your choice in this unbelievable disaster in this our nations 4th largest city. 

[caterpillar2]

I suggest that we do not get any ideas for future accommodations from these condos across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. . I am sure that many will think that they are "unique."  And, they are. They may even be considered as "artsy" by some?

Edited August 29, 2017 by caterpillar2

[rancenc]

7 minutes ago, caterpillar2 said:

I suggest that we do not get any ideas for future accommodations from these condos across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. . I am sure that many will think that they are "unique."  And, they are. They may even be considered as "artsy" by some?

From a distance, it looks like a slum district from Mumbai!!

[Dale]

Yes, but it's cutting-edge (in 1967).

[tozmervo]

Habitat '67 is a really cool development once you get past how badly concrete ages. I got to tour it a couple of years ago - the interior and exterior spaces created by the structural system are quite lovely, and you can't beat the site. 

https://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/11/brutalist-buildings-habitat-67-montreal-moshe-safdie/

http://www.rslefebvre.com/Properties-for-sale-habitat-67.html

 

[videtur quam contuor]

I go to Montreal regularly and this is  an arresting sight, and an arresting site. I note that the realtor site has one photo in winter with the site surrounded by ice. It is a 50 minute walk to a metro station or a 20 minute walk to a bus stop (moovitapp.com). Imagine that in winter. Ships, cruise ships particularly, have horns that will awake anyone, and are nearby. It is not for everyone. Those who wish to live in architectural icons must deal with difficulties the rest of us barely imagine.

[caterpillar2]

1 hour ago, tarhoosier said:

I go to Montreal regularly and this is  an arresting sight, and an arresting site. I note that the realtor site has one photo in winter with the site surrounded by ice. It is a 50 minute walk to a metro station or a 20 minute walk to a bus stop (moovitapp.com). Imagine that in winter. Ships, cruise ships particularly, have horns that will awake anyone, and are nearby. It is not for everyone. Those who wish to live in architectural icons must deal with difficulties the rest of us barely imagine.

They look better close up. From where I was standing, I thought, "What the hell?" I am sure those cool winter breezes off of the river are refreshing. (:

[SouthEndCLT811]

2 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

I go to Montreal regularly and this is  an arresting sight, and an arresting site. I note that the realtor site has one photo in winter with the site surrounded by ice. It is a 50 minute walk to a metro station or a 20 minute walk to a bus stop (moovitapp.com). Imagine that in winter. Ships, cruise ships particularly, have horns that will awake anyone, and are nearby. It is not for everyone. Those who wish to live in architectural icons must deal with difficulties the rest of us barely imagine.

I have nothing to contribute to your overall comment outside of I went to Montreal for the first time this past weekend for a bachelor party and with perfect weather that place is something else.  Grid structure makes it so easy to navigate and it seemed like we'd walk up to a different street festival going on every 4-5 blocks.  Very vibrant and at least when it was 65 and sunny seemed very livable.  

I did think of this forum walking along the Promenade and all of the shipping containers re purposed into shops down by the St. Lawrence River.  Made me really wish we could make RDF's plan for the parking lot by Ink n Invy a reality.

[videtur quam contuor]

1 hour ago, SouthEndCLT811 said:

I have nothing to contribute to your overall comment outside of I went to Montreal for the first time this past weekend for a bachelor party and with perfect weather that place is something else.  Grid structure makes it so easy to navigate and it seemed like we'd walk up to a different street festival going on every 4-5 blocks.  Very vibrant and at least when it was 65 and sunny seemed very livable.  

I did think of this forum walking along the Promenade and all of the shipping containers re purposed into shops down by the St. Lawrence River.  Made me really wish we could make RDF's plan for the parking lot by Ink n Invy a reality.

I understand perfectly. My first visit was as a young single man for '76 Olympics and that city was aLIVE!

I was besotted and have returned 19 times, bought a condo in the Vieux Port and enjoyed myself immensely in all four seasons. At this point in my life Autumn is the best time to visit. Winter, not so much. Spring barely exists.

[caterpillar2]

48 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

I understand perfectly. My first visit was as a young single man for '76 Olympics and that city was aLIVE!

I was besotted and have returned 19 times, bought a condo in the Vieux Port and enjoyed myself immensely in all four seasons. At this point in my life Autumn is the best time to visit. Winter, not so much. Spring barely exists.

I will take Montreal over Toronto any day. I used to love Toronto, but not so much these days. Montreal is great and has great underground retail for those ungodly winter days. 

[DMann]

Pass on both for Vancouver!

 

[Cadi40]

I am also very sad for Houston, It reminds me very much of Katrina, Hopefully the outcome isn't as bad though. I know I am late too, But I frankly don't care for the Charlotte / Nashville Discussion. They are two totally different cities, The only reason Nashville has a "Buzz" or a certain "Feel" Is because of it's rich music history. Charlotte has tons of Night Life and is rated one of the best 18 Hour cities. They are both Different, One is a city with lots of tourism and a good economy, The other is a booming Banking City with a great economy as well. One thing I like about Nashville that is quickly diminishing in Charlotte is that you can be in the middle of Nature within 15 Minutes form Downtown, In Charlotte, It's starting to feel like never ending sprawl. Nashville won't ever out grow Charlotte in my opinion (Please nobody come at me, It's just my opinion), It's just two different types of cities with two different economy's. However, I wouldn't be surprised if one day Nashville did! Two both very gorgeous and unique cities!

[KJHburg]

If any city and state in America can survive a flood of this magnitude it is Texas and Houston. Harris County home of Houston had a Trillion gallons of water fall on it over 4 days from 30-50 inches of rain depending where you were in this county 4x as big Mecklenburg. They need our help but they will rise up for sure this is no New Orleans. Last photos I will post of Houston a city I love for now. Their downtown park Discovery Green. By the way downtown flooded on the edges but not in the high rise district. 

[KJHburg]

If you want to see Google maps of the flooding with actual photos of recent Harvey flooding in Houston use Google lite maps. These are very recent. You can start in this small town suburb of Houston Rosenberg TX along the Brazos River and you can see the flooding. Then go up to west Houston south I-10 east of Hwy 6 and west of Beltway 8 and you can see the flooding coming from the 2 huge reservoirs that are flooding right now as they release water.  Near Addicks and Baker reservoirs big green spaces in west Houston easy to find.    It is amazing to me these Google maps are this up to date. 

 

[NCMike1990]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

If you want to see Google maps of the flooding with actual photos of recent Harvey flooding in Houston use Google lite maps. These are very recent. You can start in this small town suburb of Houston Rosenberg TX along the Brazos River and you can see the flooding. Then go up to west Houston south I-10 east of Hwy 6 and west of Beltway 8 and you can see the flooding coming from the 2 huge reservoirs that are flooding right now as they release water.  Near Addicks and Baker reservoirs big green spaces in west Houston easy to find.    It is amazing to me these Google maps are this up to date. 

 

The West Houston Airport is underwater!

[kermit]

A new planning vision for the city of Atlanta has been released. I am a sucker for slick marketing packages so I am pretty impressed by the book. Its quite comprehensive (although strangely free of gritty details):

http://www.atlcitydesign.com/acd_book.html  (its a book format, the planning stuff is near the back, most of the front half of the book is a very nice visioning / history / inventory / story).

I want one of these for CLT and I want it soon!

 

Edited September 8, 2017 by kermit

[nowensone]

Yeah its got that Tolkien-like fantasy look that distorts all narratives of reality into "I want that".

[KJHburg]

Check out this 300,000 sq ft office for Google in an Austin highrise. They put an old Airstream trailer inside! https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2017/09/19/a-dog-park-and-food-trailer-in-the-sky-inside.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2017-09-23&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1506172381&j=78871021

[nonillogical]

So I just moved to Denver a few weeks ago. While there are a lot of things here that Charlotte could take some lessons from, I think we've discussed them plenty, and I've noticed something that Charlotte already does well but flies under the radar.

Denver routinely makes lists for top dog-friendly cities in the country, but from my perspective so far, Charlotte is slightly more dog-friendly when it comes to businesses and general attitude, and simply does not promote it. In Charlotte, I could without thinking take my dog to any bar or restaurant's outdoor patio, and there are a number of places where leashed dogs are ok inside (Bulldog Beer & Wine) that are not quite a full-fledged "dog bar", though those exist too. Most breweries seem very interested in getting the health codes that ban dogs from inside their tap rooms relaxed (not sure how flexible those codes may actually be). Aside from the pitbull ban in Denver, there is also just a sense of strictness that permeates public interactions with dogs here, and there really aren't many dog parks, dog bars, or breweries that allow dogs in more than a limited part of their patio. I think if Charlotte built another dog park or two and added some more poop bag dispensers/trashcans it could easily be topping some of these lists.

[KJHburg]

Here is how Asheville is saving historic facades with some new condos downtown.  Plus the huge number almost all independent small businesses all over downtown is well known. We can't really do this uptown but we certainly can encourage it in the intown neighborhoods like Plaza Midwood, NoDa, Southend, etc. 3rd photo is Wall Street. 

And if you have not been to Ashevegas lately go on up and explore.  Their downtown is booming!  Here is the view from the new rooftop area of the AC by Marriott which of course we are getting one at the Epicenter. 

[Scribe]

On 9/30/2017 at 11:34 PM, KJHburg said:

Here is how Asheville is saving historic facades with some new condos downtown.  Plus the huge number almost all independent small businesses all over downtown is well known. We can't really do this uptown but we certainly can encourage it in the intown neighborhoods like Plaza Midwood, NoDa, Southend, etc.

I love a well preserved building. But I would also love for folks to start actually sharing pictures of what they think is worthy to be preserved.

For instance, the Common Market block off Summit (DFA HQ development)! There was little worth preserving from an architectural, aesthetic or historic point of view.

RDF - thinks there was something to preserve http://www.charlottefive.com/2017-state-charlotte-center-city/

Quote

Do a simple word search in the 2017 State of the Center City Report and the following terms aren’t mentioned a single time: “adaptive reuse,” “historic,” “preservation,” “rehabilitation” — and I could go on.

...

I cry “shame” that it hasn’t helped breed the type of culture that could have saved the buildings that housed the Common Market and the numerous Charlotte-born businesses that lived within them.

In that article he links to http://www.charlottefive.com/what-south-end-would-lose-by-losing-the-common-market/ there are a few pictures of the Common Market, but the only one of the building is from of a 2 story brick wall from the alley...

So, clearly I missed something on the Phat Burrito strip and the CM block that many of you see. (I am not talking about CM as a store/destination, they can thrive in just about any building in multiple neighborhoods in and around Uptown. I am talking about saving the buildings or at least the facade of the buildings as the blocks get re-developed)

So, maybe we should start a new thread, where we can discuss all structures that are worth preserving... since "worth" can be a contentious word in this context, so, probably need to find and agree on what makes up the criteria.

I have found good and bad reasons to preserve/restore/incorporate buildings in the following links:

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/physical-social-environment/historic-preservation/main

https://savingplaces.org/stories/six-reasons-save-old-buildings

https://www.preservationbuffaloniagara.org/buildings-and-sites/preservation-resources/why-preserve-buildings/

Here is an example of a bad reason from the second link:

Quote

6. Regret goes only one way.

The preservation of historic buildings is a one-way street. There is no chance to renovate or to save a historic site once it’s gone. And we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. This reality brings to light the importance of locating and saving buildings of historic significance―because once a piece of history is destroyed, it is lost forever.

In the context of Common Market block - with the quoted criteria when would you come to a decision? In 100 years a post WW2 strip mall might be considered a gem. How does it serve the community? How does it facilitate growth? Given enough time, everything is "historic" and that alone is not a good enough indicator that it "must be preserved".

Looking forward to a lively discussion

 

[KJHburg]

Exciting new projects proposed or finished in Texas's biggest 2 cities

New Dallas Smart District on some underused land and surface lots south of main downtown Dallas core. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2017/10/18/developers-unveil-plans-to-build-new-20-acre-urban.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=scroll&ed=2017-10-18&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1508357945&j=79016541

Urban Land Institute nominees in Houston I will have to check this Sawyer Yards out next time in H-town

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/10/18/photos-see-which-projects-were-named-finalists-for.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2017-10-18&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1508357601&j=79016561

[asthasr]

In the context of the in town homes you posted above, @KJHburg, I'd recommend looking at some things in Philadelphia as well. For example, this infill. They really built out their entire land area a long time ago, so you see a lot of modern replacement and creative reuse going on.

They also face questions of historicity, a lot more than us, and like a lot of other cities come down more on the "nobody is using it, so what is the point?" side of things. I prefer a good mixture of old and new, with the caveat that Charlotte has very little that's genuinely "old" or particularly interesting.

Edited October 19, 2017 by asthasr

[SgtCampsalot]

On 10/2/2017 at 11:16 AM, Scribe said:

I love a well preserved building. But I would also love for folks to start actually sharing pictures of what they think is worthy to be preserved.

For instance, the Common Market block off Summit (DFA HQ development)! There was little worth preserving from an architectural, aesthetic or historic point of view.

RDF - thinks there was something to preserve http://www.charlottefive.com/2017-state-charlotte-center-city/

Were we even looking at the same buildings (not the single story, but the two story buildings)?
But regardless...

 

Edited October 19, 2017 by SgtCampsalot

[Scribe]

@SgtCampsalot congratulations, you've convinced me. The loss of the common market block is a travesty! Now, get your pitchforks and go storm the DFA construction site.