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Ballantyne Village


StevenRocks

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I know nothing about the cinema business, although I'd love to see a theatre truly cultivating intellectual and art films here in Charlotte. I remember seeing Alexandr Sokurov's "Russian Ark" a couple years back at Birkdale Village (thanks to the Charlotte Film Society, I think) and I can still say that it is one of the best pictures I've seen in my life. I guess you might be right, Appatone, about there being support for small films, because often when i've been to the Manor the theatre is definitely not empty. I've actually seen a website for an organization called the Light Factory, I think it might be in Spirit Square, that does filmmaking classes and screens the work of local, non-gloss, films that might be of interest. I actually lived in France a couple years back and the one thing that I absolutely adore about the city that I was in was the intellectual atmosphere. There was always some philosopher holding a lecture at a museum, a filmmaker speaking after his documentary, the ubiquitous sidewalk cafes whose one requirement was that you be elegant and discuss the meaning of human existence, constant conferences, etc... If I could transplant a little of that intellectual engagement to Charlotte, I would be a happy man.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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A2

B-town is getting ready to more than double in size. Look for some taller bldgs in the mix too.

Can you say Atlanta??? (since Charlotte is content on sucking the life out of Uptown to ring the city)

A2

I could not understand why they did not go taller buildings to begin with and not take up so much land.

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A2

B-town is getting ready to more than double in size. Look for some taller bldgs in the mix too.

Can you say Atlanta??? (since Charlotte is content on sucking the life out of Uptown to ring the city)

A2

I could not understand why they did not go taller buildings to begin with and not take up so much land.

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It's not likely you will see any mass transit going to that area by 2025-2030. However I am not sure that it will matter much since this area is developing into it's own city and there won't really be any reason for anyone living there to commute into Charlotte unless they just make that choice. This is the same lot that is responsible for South Park, the Saks fiasco, and the mess you see out there today. It was all made possible by selling off inherited land.

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I don't see Ballantyne ever becoming its own "city" as such. Perhaps a hub of activity a la SouthPark, but with even less of an ability to develop as a functional town center. There's too much space between buildings -- not just residences, but offices and other service buildings -- to establish a sense of connectivity, and I have a very hard time imagining growth being directed toward infill rather than simply continuing to sprawl outward. In the case that infill does occur, it will undoubtedly be the same kind of development that preceded it: huge setbacks, broad parking lots, and plenty of remaining space still existing between buildings. The basic functions will always be suburban in nature, even projecting into the distant future, barring draconic measures by local government to force unnatural density (this is not totally out of the question, depending on how we resolve our energy issues). In the end, it will undoubtedly spawn plenty of office and residential projects, but I don't think we'll ever see the day when people there are not moving there with the intention of driving elsewhere in the city to work.

This is a real shame, considering how recent of a development this is. The creative minds behind Ballantyne had 50 years of evidence against creating this kind of development, and they did it anyway. As time passes, this will hamper the growth of that area more and more.

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Charlotte wouldn't be a mini-Atlanta without them. ;)

Without commenting on the architecture....I wonder how this would relate to the "urban" environment. Looking at the website, it's possible this thing is just stuck in the middle of a forest.....sigh.

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Yep, but I don't think you can write Ballantyne in the address, and expect the USPS to deliver it.

Essentially, it is a mega-neighborhood, with all the land originally controlled by one owner, and sold-off, with the caveat that only projects within the original acreage can use the name Ballantyne. Projects on land that were never controlled by the land developer, can't use the world Ballantyne in their name, and are subject to be sued if they do.

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I know that from an anti-sprawl point of view what I'm about to say is bad...

But I'm kind of excited with this news of towers (though not that tall) being built in Bal. Add to that the one announced in UC, and the ones at SP. I just feel like I'm in a bigger city when I see highrise buildings away from the downtown core as well.

Houston for example is really impressive. From the Observation Deck of the Citicorp Building (I think that's the one) you can look out and see tens of skyscrapers dotting the horizon. It's really pretty cool. As several get built together, it gives you several mini-clusters. Atlanta has this same look to a smaller degree.

I know it's bad...but I like it.

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What I meant by odd, is that there's no bus that takes people *into* Ballantyne.

For what it's worth, I work in a department that is mulling over exiting uptown and using office space in Ballantyne. At first, I thought this would create a split opinion among my co-workers... some might like this, some not... depending on commuting patterns.

But so far, most of them say they'd rather stay in uptown. Even the ones that live in south Charlotte. People have built their routines around social centers like friends, after school care, public transportation, etc. The appeal of free parking in Ballantyne isn't trumping those considerations.

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