NASCAR Plaza at the Hall of Fame

[orulz]

The article.

[dubone]

So now that this tower is confirmed, here is we get:

- 400ksq of office space on Caldwell, 4 blocks from Tryon

- Non-government Employment in 2nd Ward

- 1000 spaces in the underground deck of the Nascar Hall, which will be available to the convention center and to the public to support retail on Brevard, and to have even more convenience for tourists coming to the Hall of Fame.

- A 20 stories that will widen the skyline from our 2d Tryon skyline.

- Major divisions from Nascar that should have a multiplier with supporting organizations potentially adding office space or airport O&D.

While the design of the tower is controversial. This building will be a major boost to 2nd Ward.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

So now that this tower is confirmed, here is we get:

- 400ksq of office space on Caldwell, 4 blocks from Tryon

- Non-government Employment in 2nd Ward

- 1000 spaces in the underground deck of the Nascar Hall, which will be available to the convention center and to the public to support retail on Brevard, and to have even more convenience for tourists coming to the Hall of Fame.

- A 20 stories that will widen the skyline from our 2d Tryon skyline.

- Major divisions from Nascar that should have a multiplier with supporting organizations potentially adding office space or airport O&D.

While the design of the tower is controversial. This building will be a major boost to 2nd Ward.

Good points. I think it could maybe help with retail in 2ND ward also.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

So is NASCAR still going have its logo across the top? I hope not.

[rockhilljames]

I hope so. It will add some color to the skyline and solidify our brand as the home to stock car racing.

I think this is a great thing. I'd also love to see NASCAR's HQ moved here in a few years, but one thing at a time...

[AuLukey]

I hope so. It will add some color to the skyline and solidify our brand as the home to stock car racing.

I think this is a great thing. I'd also love to see NASCAR's HQ moved here in a few years, but one thing at a time...

I have to agree. Having a name on a building isn't so bad when it's all shiny and multicolored!!!

I also hope NASCAR moves its HQ here too so we'll have another Fortune 500 in our midst, if it even qualifies as one. Does anybody know?

[Charlotteman]

With the Uptown tower and adjacent museum, I feel it's inevitable that NASCAR's upper management will eventually ditch Daytona for Charlotte. And most likely by that time they will have outgrown the newly announced tower, and will probably need to build another tower Uptown. Charlotte just can't help but benefit from building the museum, even considering the expenditures necessary to build it. A win-win situation for sure.

Count me in with the folks that like NASCAR emblazened in bright lights on the tower. Normally I hate corporate signage at the rooflines of high rises, but Charlotte has so little of it. (The only example I can think of is the Grant Thornton signage at the top of Charlotte Plaza.) So I'm convinced some bright lights at the top of the tower would add some pizzaz, and this would be the best place Uptown to begin bringing in some fun lighting.

[dubone]

With the Uptown tower and adjacent museum, I feel it's inevitable that NASCAR's upper management will eventually ditch Daytona for Charlotte. And most likely by that time they will have outgrown the newly announced tower, and will probably need to build another tower Uptown.

Hmm. If only they had an option on nearby land to account for an eventual outgrowing of this newly announced tower.

Count me in for the Nascar logo. A logo on this building has the functional use of being the giant sign helping tourists find their way to the Hall of Fame. When you're new to visiting a downtown area, knowing which building up above that you're looking for helps considerably. Plus the color is kind of cool.

I still hope that the tower design could be something more interesting. Why not, with all the color going on in nascar, couldn't the glass facade by made up of dozens of different colors of glass, randomly organized? It is our one shot at really color in the skyline. The banks sure aren't going to do it, and this building is filled with Nascar's Images group, which would fit all the color.

Maybe like this:

or this:

[rockhilljames]

Hot diggidy-damn I like that!

[crispin]

I also hope NASCAR moves its HQ here too so we'll have another Fortune 500 in our midst, if it even qualifies as one. Does anybody know?

Afraid not. It's privately held; the Fortune 500 is a list of public companies.

Also, NASCAR just isn't that big in financial terms. Most of the money from, say, the television contract flows to the racetrack owners. The Frances own the largest one, International Speedway Corp -- that's where most of their money comes from. But ISC reported 2005 revenues of only $740 million. The company ranked last in the Fortune 1000 pulled in almost twice as much revenue -- about $1.4 billion.

[Mobuchu]

Maybe like this:

or this:

Oh dear lord please NO! Sorry D, cant agree with you on that one, lol......

[krazeeboi]

Looks like a big Rubik's cube.

[SmellyCat]

Afraid not. It's privately held; the Fortune 500 is a list of public companies.

Actually, that is not correct. The Fortune 500 includes private companies as well and the only reason that I know that is that my company is private and we made the list.

Belk, one of the largest private retailers and of course HQ'd in Charlotte, is ranked #649 on the list.

[rooster8]

From Wikipedia:

The Fortune 500 is a ranking of the top 500 American public corporations as measured by gross revenue, although eligible companies are any for which revenues are publicly available (which is a larger universe than "public companies," as the term is commonly understood, meaning "companies having common stock that trades on a stock exchange"). Fortune magazine compiles and publishes the list annually.

[Miesian Corners]

Hmm. If only they had an option on nearby land to account for an eventual outgrowing of this newly announced tower.

Count me in for the Nascar logo. A logo on this building has the functional use of being the giant sign helping tourists find their way to the Hall of Fame. When you're new to visiting a downtown area, knowing which building up above that you're looking for helps considerably. Plus the color is kind of cool.

I still hope that the tower design could be something more interesting. Why not, with all the color going on in nascar, couldn't the glass facade by made up of dozens of different colors of glass, randomly organized? It is our one shot at really color in the skyline. The banks sure aren't going to do it, and this building is filled with Nascar's Images group, which would fit all the color.

Maybe like this:

or this:

Love the one on top, dub. Pei Cobb Freed--y'all listening (you know they are)?

[revitalize]

maybe the multicolored glass is a bit much....

but what about some cool fiber-optics for night time lights - what if they had some sort of lines in color that cruised around the building counterclockwise like some speeding cars?

could be cool.

ahhh, or it could be obnoxious i guess.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Hmm. If only they had an option on nearby land to account for an eventual outgrowing of this newly announced tower.

Count me in for the Nascar logo. A logo on this building has the functional use of being the giant sign helping tourists find their way to the Hall of Fame. When you're new to visiting a downtown area, knowing which building up above that you're looking for helps considerably. Plus the color is kind of cool.

I still hope that the tower design could be something more interesting. Why not, with all the color going on in nascar, couldn't the glass facade by made up of dozens of different colors of glass, randomly organized? It is our one shot at really color in the skyline. The banks sure aren't going to do it, and this building is filled with Nascar's Images group, which would fit all the color.

Maybe like this:

or this:

That would be criminal. Please tell me you're joking.

[Dale]

NASCAR fans would just conspire to blow it up in any case.

[AuLukey]

maybe the multicolored glass is a bit much....

but what about some cool fiber-optics for night time lights - what if they had some sort of lines in color that cruised around the building counterclockwise like some speeding cars?

could be cool.

ahhh, or it could be obnoxious i guess.

I agree completely. Although, the lights spinning around the tower would take a little away from the bit of skyline it occupies. If it just had solid fiber optics on the tower, it would look badass. The colored glass looks a little too Crayola to me. Cool, but not befitting a hall of fame.

[cltheel.sdl]

Lol if that happened dubone, then we'd have another Arlington on our hands, except mulitplied by 10000.

[rooster8]

If it were truly a NASCAR building, there would be ads plastered all over it.

[AuLukey]

If it were truly a NASCAR building, there would be ads plastered all over it.

Well of course, but they aren't going to show that in the rendering, then the city wouldn't have approved it. NASCAR will find a way after construction is finished. They always do.

[dubone]

HA! Well, I wasn't that serious at first, and I thought, 'oh kay, that could be awful or cool', so I decided to kind of draw it to see using the Nascar colors.

I definitely don't like the second one, but maybe with more granularity (smaller blocks of color), and more subtle colors, I can't say I hate the first one.

This is a banking town, and as much as the banks have given us, our skyline is filled purely with beige, blue, a little tarnish golden color, and a little bit of green. We have NASCAR coming to town, why not some seriously over the top color? At first, I was thinking very tiny specs, with the random coloration possibly having the effect of looking like the stands full of people next to the track.

But it did turn out a little bit gay looking, which I think would give Mayor McCheese a heart attack.

I'm certainly not lobbying for it, but I think as a concept, it is interesting, if executed well and refined by Szeto and her team.

You must admit, though, the current design for the tower is as forgetable as it gets, but my version is anything but .

[nowensone]

Maybe like this:

or this:

Hah! I like it, they should do something like this if they can manage to make it somewhat tasteful, but even if gaudy, it would still be one of those things that people recognize immediately, and make the city a household name. And not necessarily as the racing capital or anything like that, but just for the distinctive building. That said, I'd prefer tasteful over tacky, something like a much larger version of the graceful gradient of the NASCAR colors instead of the blocks, but whatever, as long as we can see it from space...

[dubone]

Okay, so if the colorful one turned out a little gawdy and would be very controversial. Would this one still meet the goals of being more memorable and tied to Nascar in some way, but be a little more classy?