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300 East Main Street


orulz

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

^ That really is a funky little building. If you look at the parking lot fronting Main, it's going to be SO nice to see some proper urban buildings facing the street. Pretty much, that will "urbanize" (form) in the entire corridor all the way to downtown Chapel Hill. If anyone has plans/renderings of phase II (the main lot in front of Cats Cradle), please post them.

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  • 7 months later...

According to the N&O, there's a public hearing on this project tomorrow.

The article makes it sound like the project has been reconfigured. The hotel will be a Hilton Garden Inn where Performance Bikes is now. The article also states that the project will include no residential, but I think they only mean the first phase. 2010 is mentioned as the start date.

Chapel Hill News has the same article, but it includes renderings:

300eastmain.jpg

300eastmain2.jpg

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^ I think longer construction/design lifespans may be here to stay given the economic climate. Everyone I've talked to from wholesalers to my own work is finding that clients are in no hurry to launch/spend, especially on major projects.

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3 or 4 years is how long it takes in Carrboro to get to this point. Once they get the special use permit, they will then have to complete and submit construction documents for permit which will take several months. The first phase, the previously approved building on the far right in the drawings, is now going through the building permit process. They may have to submit the construction documents 3, 4 or 5 times before they are approved. So, a 2010 start date for the rest of the project is probably right. Nothing happens fast in Carrboro or Chapel Hill, except for East 54.

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^ I'm not so crazy about Cats Cradle being upstairs, but what do I know. I hope they have a good loading area for band equipment. a second floor location can have it's obstacles for music clubs, Martin St in Raleigh being an example.

It seems that resident have a number of issues with the project... design not creative enough, too much parking, etc.

I'm not much of a design geek, but I can understand that concern. Carrboro wants something that will fit their personality... why not tweak the facade materials a bit and allow for some public arts to be placed along Main? That wouldn't cost much, and might freshen it up a bit.

On parking, there's usually too much, so a reduction might not be a bad idea, especially in that prime location.

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The only comparison to Cats Cradle with an upstairs stage I can think of is Black Cat in D.C. Its a funky old building (making me a fan of course) so has an atmosphere I am not sure a new building can simulate. The design does look a little like a Craig Davis upchuck but it could be the rendering and of course the cost of materials is sky high so its tough to get too creative, better climate for preserving where you can but this shopping center does not have anything much worth preserving.

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  • 1 month later...

Looks like it's gotten the approval: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1238724.html

Sounds like some folks are lamenting that this takes away the "small town" feel of Carrboro. But given it's location (and popular reputation) I just can't imagine Carrboro being a small town forever. Better to grow smart and dense than suburban sprawl like Cary, Apex, and all the other Wake County 'burbs, right?

Interesting note is that I think Carrboro is like one of the largest towns in NC that doesn't have a motel or hotel of any kind...so it's good that this will change that. From the article there seems to be disappointment that it'll be a Hampton Inn and not a Hilton Garden...but I don't mind a Hampton. (Not all of them are those ugly suburban/highway types...the one I stayed at last year in downtown Fernandina, FL was gorgeous.)

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Kudos to the Carrboro board of aldermen for putting nimbyist opposition and over-reaching concerns about scale and density aside (when the development complies 100% with their ordinances) and approving this project. This gives me the sense that Carrboro is really putting their money where their mouth is, and supporting dense, sustainable, urban development in their downtown.

All too often, cities and towns both large and small talk up how they want their tiny downtowns to grow, but when a development comes that proposes to do just that, they capitulate to the NIMBY cries of "Too tall, too dense, 4 story skyscrapers block the sun, parking, traffic, parking, traffic!!!! I like my tiny, quaint turn-of-the-century downtown to stay just like it is, tiny and quaint!" (FYI if any large development is ever proposed in downtown Cary, I expect that very thing to happen.)

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