Learning from Other Places

[KJHburg]

Sometimes mixed used residential buildings don't work out the way people think they will.   From Manhattan https://therealdeal.com/2018/02/05/condo-board-sues-over-soulcycles-earsplitting-music-positivity/     (I don't know why I am laughing reading this I guess I am imagining it) 

[KJHburg]

I like this idea and a smaller version would work uptown can you say Legacy?  From Miami's new Brickell City Centre their new 3 level Italian food hall https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2018/02/07/la-centrale-to-open-feb-16-at-brickell-city-centre.html?ana=e_sflo_bn_breakingnews&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1518028339&j=79875161   Unfortunately this was not opened when I was there last month. 

[KJHburg]

Look how the facades are saved in this new high rise 27 stories in downtown Durham One City Center.  Apartments and condos top floors office space at the bottom but notice how some of the facades are saved.   Hmmm wonder why this could not have been done at Tryon Place hotel site or the Northwood Ravin apartment complex on W Trade.

This is a great new building 

 

[KJHburg]

Too much glass can be a problem. Ask the workers in the new Apple HQ in Cupertino where they are running into glass walls continuously.  http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article200581119.html  Talk about hitting a glass ceiling! 

another story about it from Time http://time.com/5162419/apple-new-headquarters-glass/

Edited February 17, 2018 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

This goes under what NOT to do.  Why is Wells Fargo still based there? https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Diseased-Streets-472430013.html?amp=y&__twitter_impression

Edited February 20, 2018 by KJHburg

[SgtCampsalot]

11 hours ago, KJHburg said:

This goes under what NOT to do.  Why is Wells Fargo still based there? https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Diseased-Streets-472430013.html?amp=y&__twitter_impression

I have to say, for the first 5 seconds I thought that said "fences and (pine) needles." (because Pine Trees in NC  ) and thought "why does landscaping cost that much?"

 

[CLT2014]

11 hours ago, KJHburg said:

This goes under what NOT to do.  Why is Wells Fargo still based there?

If Tim Sloan could, he would probably love to just have the company based in Los Angeles. He raised his family in the wealthy suburb of San Marino, his wife has deep connections and sits on a bunch of clubs/galas/fundraisers, etc..., and he just seems to really like living there. Now that he is CEO, he is regularly commuting to San Francisco as none of the exec officers sit in Los Angeles. Commuting back and forth is a lot easier with the 1 hour flight to San Francisco on a private jet vs. the 5 hour flight to Charlotte. The reality is corporate HQ's are often heavily influenced by the exec mgmt team's personal life, and with the current people running the ship, I don't think they'd want to move to Charlotte at the phase of life they are in. Charlotte, Minneapolis, Des Moines, etc... are all major offices for Wells Fargo and the company hasn't needed to call them "Headquarters" in order to attract talent. I'd guess Sloan's wife has 0% interest in giving up her social connections in San Marino to make new friends and I'd guess Sloan doesn't want to spend more time away from home (and a town he really likes), than he has to commuting 5 hours to Charlotte. 

https://sanmarinotribune.com/sloan-is-right-at-home-for-address-to-city-club/

“We have had an incredible experience living here in San Marino,” Sloan told the largest audience the group has had in years. “Relocating to San Marino is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. The first, of course, was asking my wife, Lisa, to marry me.” Sloan then introduced his bride, who was in attendance at the San Marino Center, amidst a sea of “aws” and applause.

“This has been an incredible community in which to raise our three children. Lisa has been involved in every activity possible, including co-chair of Grad Night. I was asked to serve as president of San Marino Little League. Got involved in the building of the new football field. Our sons played in different years but with the same number.”.....

“But my favorite place in the world is San Marino, California,” he declared.

Edited February 20, 2018 by CLT2014

[EllAyyDub]

On 2/17/2018 at 8:40 AM, KJHburg said:

Too much glass can be a problem. Ask the workers in the new Apple HQ in Cupertino where they are running into glass walls continuously.  http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article200581119.html  Talk about hitting a glass ceiling! 

another story about it from Time http://time.com/5162419/apple-new-headquarters-glass/

This is true I have a few friends who just moved into their offices there, they have put tape on the glass so people will quit running into it.  There are also issues where people want to make private phonecalls will step into the hallway (goes around the outside circumference of the building), but due to the concave nature of the design their voices will travel and amplify into the interior.

[KJHburg]

Since I am known as the burger king, no pun intended, for my passionate defense and desire for a new McDonalds uptown, here is something else we need.   From downtown Wilmington. a brand new Waffle House and yes I think uptown Charlotte should have one it and its sales would be 2-3x this store on Front St in downtown Wilmington.   Plus notice how Wilmington has reused many of their smaller older buildings would be nice if we did not tear everything like this down in uptown Charlotte.   More photos under the Wilmington thread if you are interested. Notice the Beer Barrio good name in the 4th photo. 

[SgtCampsalot]

I literally had a dream last night where I was walking around Raleigh, and every street was block-after-block-after-block of old, brick, fine-grained urbanism buildings lining the streets. I was asking myself "why do I live in Charlotte?" and was aghast at how perfect it all was. Save for Raleigh's own "government district" (like 2nd ward), this dream didn't seem too far off from the truth.

I cried in the dream it was so beautiful, and I'm pretty sure I shed a tear in the real world while asleep, too.

^^However, looking at these pics from KJH, maybe I was dreaming about Wilmington!

[KJHburg]

I like Raleigh and for many years I didn't but after several visits in the last few years  I really like it.  (Just wish  they allowed more height)   Asheville and Wilmington are my 2 favorite downtowns outside of the Queen City.  I love shiny and new and tall and big but also love the scale of downtown Asheville and Wilmington. I will go up to downtown Ashevegas later this spring even if just for the day and they have the cheapest parking during weekdays LOL 

and downtown Greensboro is really hopping now too a good day trip go to south Elm Street and walk around.  Natty Greene's is there and they have a good bit going on with new apartments, a great new ballpark office tower that will soon rise. 

 

Edited February 23, 2018 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

News from NYC JP Morgan Chase will tear DOWN a 52 story building and rebuild a new 75 story in Manhattan.  https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/jpmorgan-chase-plans-new-hq-skyscraper-in-manhattan/?utm_source=whatcountsemail&utm_medium=cpe daily+all subscribers&utm_campaign=cpe daily newsletter

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

News from NYC JP Morgan Chase will tear DOWN a 52 story building and rebuild a new 75 story in Manhattan.  https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/jpmorgan-chase-plans-new-hq-skyscraper-in-manhattan/?utm_source=whatcountsemail&utm_medium=cpe daily+all subscribers&utm_campaign=cpe daily newsletter

JP Morgan has quite the Edifice Complex

[elrodvt]

51 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I like Raleigh and for many years I didn't but after several visits in the last few years  I really like it.  (Just wish  they allowed more height)   Asheville and Wilmington are my 2 favorite downtowns outside of the Queen City.  I love shiny and new and tall and big but also love the scale of downtown Asheville and Wilmington. I will go up to downtown Ashevegas later this spring even if just for the day and they have the cheapest parking during weekdays LOL 

and downtown Greensboro is really hopping now too a good day trip go to south Elm Street and walk around.  Natty Greene's is there and they have a good bit going on with new apartments, a great new ballpark office tower that will soon rise. 

 

What is your criteria? Fast food places? LOL.

Seriously though, How can you like CLT's downtown more than Asheville's??? You don't live downtown do you? 

This isn't meant to be insulting - just think that the people on here who live in the 'burbs have a lot different view of what makes a nice downtown.

[J-Rob]

What do you consider the 'burbs?  Outside of 277?   I  live 2.5 miles from Uptown and I like it, but I understand I don't have to live/work/play in Uptown every day.  I agree there is definitely a lot of improvement that needs to be made before Uptown is self-sufficient (meaning you don't have to leave Uptown for you daily needs).  Admittedly I don't enjoy beer, but if you take away the breweries from  Asheville, it seems like Charlotte has more to offer in its downtown area than Asheville does (and the breweries are a short light rail ride away).   

Edited February 23, 2018 by J-Rob

[elrodvt]

19 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

What do you consider the 'burbs?  Outside of 277?   I  live 2.5 miles from Uptown and I like it, but I understand I don't have to live/work/play in Uptown every day.  I agree there is definitely a lot of improvement that needs to be made before Uptown is self-sufficient (meaning you don't have to leave Uptown for you daily needs).  Admittedly I don't enjoy beer, but if you take away the breweries from  Asheville, it seems like Charlotte has more to offer in its downtown area than Asheville does (and the breweries are a short light rail ride away).   

Yeah, I should have said I meant uptown. I don't even think it is close. Wandering around Asheville for hours is fun with all kinds of local small shops. Then there is the gastro scene. No comparison. What do you like about CLT uptown that you think is better than Asheville - other than sports some nights.

[J-Rob]

Sports is definitely a big part of it, and I don't think you can discount that because there are sports Uptown almost year round.   Baseball Uptown  during the summer is hard to beat.  it is a one of a kind experience, and I particularly love the fireworks flashing off of the skyline on Friday nights.  I genuinely enjoy all of the parks as well.  I meet friends in the parks Uptown all of the time to go for a run and then hang out.   For the most part, anything you would want to eat is available Uptown.   You also have the Belk Theater,  the Bechtler, Mint Museum, Harvey Gantt, and Discovery Place.  Those aren't places you are going to go every week, but there is definitely a well rounded culture scene than most UPers don't admit to.  It just happens to be more polished and less hipster than Asheville.   I am not saying polished is better (I don't hang out at those places often), but it still is available.    All this will just continue to improve with increased density.  I would love for there to be more "local shop"  flare Uptown, and hopefully that comes with time.  Church street (Rhino, JJs, etc.)  is a good example that it slowly changing, and I am hopeful that some new developments like Lennar's project will spur new opportunities like this.

Lastly and on a less serious note, I love the Carolina gold wings at Bisonte, but I am a simple person.  Give me baseball, football, basketball, parks, and Carolina gold wings and I am a happy guy.

[KJHburg]

^^^ I don't even put Asheville and Charlotte downtown areas in the same league.  Charlotte is 10x larger a city than Asheville. I was merely stating that outside of uptown Charlotte downtown Asheville and Wilmington were my favorite downtowns in the state.   But I really like Winston and Greensboro  and Raleigh and Durham too.  

Asheville's downtown has more in common with Savannah and Charleston but it is still much smaller than those cities.

I compare Charlotte's uptown to Austin (which is very vibrant) Houston and Dallas downtown (which uptown Charlotte is far superior even though we don't have the amount of office space they do) and Atlanta's downtown (which again is not as vibrant as uptown Charlotte)  Midtown Atlanta is another story though little more vibrant as a neighborhood.  Nashville very tourist oriented downtown and uptown Charlotte has far more residents.  So out of those cities I do think uptown Charlotte is superior.  However I would not compare or even put into the same category Asheville with a Charlotte.   I don't compare uptown Charlotte to Manhattan or downtown Chicago either. 

Uptown Charlotte was once a huge office park with a sprinkling of residential units now a much more vibrant residential neighborhood with a small grocery store now and huge one coming and another hopefully on N Tryon.  Downtown Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville have no such grocery store of any size. Of course the mothership Whole Foods is in downtown Austin. 

And no I don't live within the 277 loop and never have though I wanted to do earlier in my life and there were very few choices I could afford at the time. 

and since some think I am obsessed with burgers here is my favorite and I will see them soon when I go out west.  (that would be a Double Double animal style with extra crispy fries) LOL 

Edited February 24, 2018 by KJHburg

[QCxpat]

Links to  2 articles written by Dr. Thomas W. Hanchett, formerly staff historian at the Levine Museum of the New South,  concerning the development of Charlotte's 4 Wards:

(1)   http://www.cmhpf.org/educationneighhistcentercity.htm  (The Center City: The Business District and the Original Four Wards)

(2) http://www.cmhpf.org/educationneighhistcentercity.htm  (The Growth of Charlotte: A History)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Also, links to a 2-part series written by Clayton Sealey at CharlotteFive, re: what we can learn from Denver, Austin, and NYC.  

(1)  https://www.charlottefive.com/what-charlotte-could-learn-transit/   ("Charlotte is way behind on mass transit and walkability.  Here's what we can learn from Denver and other big cities.") 

The first part of the series appeared on 01/30/2018, and  focuses on transit, biking infrastructure and the pedestrian experience.

(2)  https://www.charlottefive.com/what-charlotte-can-learn-culture/   ("Charlotte may not have Austin's culture scene or NYC's urban landscape -- but shouldn't we aspire to? ")   

The second part of the series appeared on 01/31/2018, and focuses on the arts scene, urban landscaping and park land.

Edited February 24, 2018 by QCxpat

[videtur quam contuor]

 

Just returned from three days in Venice California. It is the Ultima Thule of Angeleno bourgeoisie. One interesting sight was the ubiquity of Bird, a dockless electric scooter. Similar to the bikes but less cumbersome on the streetscape. Scooters are less than half the width and length of a bike, and visually far less apparent. Painted black they nearly disappear. Several of them together are not a hindrance. There is a small kickstand.  They were all around and are convenient since this area is nearly flat so electricity caries one a decent distance. Riders are supposed to have a driver license, wear helmet, obey all laws of the road, use only on a street or bike lane, and if you think that happens you would be ready for my nutritional supplement promotion.

The company was started by a former COO of LYFT.

[elrodvt]

^Did you give one a ride and if so what was it like? Interesting concept!

[videtur quam contuor]

Nope, I was walking to all the places I wanted to go and preferred to see the houses, flowers, people and sights as I went. First evening one buzzed past me on the sidewalk (not allowed on sidewalks) and then the next day I noticed them all around and pairs of people gliding down the street. That was when I deduced the scheme and took photos.

[videtur quam contuor]

How many cranes do you find in this photo?

Downtown Los Angeles is awash in giant construction projects. There is an "inner Loop" made of freeways and this is the center of central LA construction. Staples Center and convention center also is here. In the foreground is Circa apartment towers and in the rearground just behind is Oceanwide Plaza, a China company with condos, Park Hyatt Hotel, retail and other uses. 

(The freeway ramp was tilted)

 

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/projects-to-watch-in/article_33b68048-ece5-11e7-99ba-6bef96d20da2.html

[NCMike1990]

23 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

How many cranes do you find in this photo?

Downtown Los Angeles is awash in giant construction projects. There is an "inner Loop" made of freeways and this is the center of central LA construction. Staples Center and convention center also is here. In the foreground is Circa apartment towers and in the rearground just behind is Oceanwide Plaza, a China company with condos, Park Hyatt Hotel, retail and other uses. 

(The freeway ramp was tilted)

 

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/projects-to-watch-in/article_33b68048-ece5-11e7-99ba-6bef96d20da2.html

I didn't even realize that was LA until you said it. Their skyline has changed a lot over the years.

[SgtCampsalot]

A friend is in Philadelphia and took this random pic. There are layers.

Beyond the beautiful old buildings... I love how the parking deck not only has retail, but also how it's railing on the top two floors resemble balcony railing, making the whole parking structure seem like a residential or commercial/office building.

It's the little things.

Edited February 25, 2018 by SgtCampsalot