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Crescent City Boulevard Development (IKEA)


dubone

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IKEA doesn't need a connection to 29/49. It will have unimpeded access to the most heavily traveled Interstate in North Carolina via its own interchange the vast majority of the day and all day on weekends (no Wachovia rush hour).

Further, Retailers are all looking at this area. Wal-Mart wants to move from Unversity Place to a site adjacent to this on N Tryon (in front of University Volvo) so it can build a SuperCenter. Target officials are looking to turn their UC location into a Super Target by enlarging their building on the pad between it and the existing PetSmart.

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Actually, City Blvd does go far enough east to be used by the IKEA development. It just doesn't go to anything now, so they have it blocked off. But with the development going up next to it, the City Blvd that currently exists would give the IKEA access to the current interchange with no city money necessary (unless they work out a deal for other infrastructure).

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&amp...0&alt=-1000

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I am pretty sure this is a NCDOT project and not one being handled by the city of Charlotte. In any case, it's my guess they are not going to allow connections that are very close to the freeway exchange as it causes a lot of traffic issues. One only has to look at Harris Blvd next door to see that.

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I really don't see what all the fuss is about concerning City Boulevard and it's future extensions. IKEA is used to having to build their own roads off of major roads sometimes to their stores. It looks pretty easy to me for a store to be built on this location without having to worry about IKEA or the state/city connecting City Boulevard to North Tryon or University City.

All IKEA would have to do is just build an access road off of City Boulevard. (Maybe extend City Blvd. a couple tenths of a mile possibly)

IKEASite.jpg

It also looks like the State/City intended for future development on City Blvd by adding turn lanes judging by this zoomed in photo of the road.

CityBlvd.jpg

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I really don't see what all the fuss is about concerning City Boulevard and it's future extensions. IKEA is used to having to build their own roads off of major roads sometimes to their stores. It looks pretty easy to me for a store to be built on this location without having to worry about IKEA or the state/city connecting City Boulevard to North Tryon or University City.

All IKEA would have to do is just build an access road off of City Boulevard. (Maybe extend City Blvd. a couple tenths of a mile possibly)

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The plans to fix the weave by creating an intersection of 29 and UCity Blvd that would turn into City Blvd should remain no matter if IKEA or the developer pitch in to do it. If they did this, the 85 connector could stay as there would be ample room still for it. The idea of an access road is what I hope happens. I'd rather not see the parking lot for IKEA lining City Blvd once the road is extended, that would just be a waste of road (much like a lot of N Tryon.)

Moving Walmart to this location would be a good and bad idea. The Walmart in UCity generates a lot of crime for University Place and moving one to a location across from a tourism generator (in all reality) would not give Charlotte a very good appearance. I also don't believe the UC Walmart will move to Concord Mills. There is already a Super Walmart on 29 about two miles from that area that serves most of south-western Concord. Moving it to City Blvd would make it a much further drive for a lot of UCity residents including most of the college population because there isn't a connector to 29/49 yet. I imagine it would move to another area of N Tryon before City Blvd. Heck, the strip of N Tryon with nothing on it seems suitable for a Walmart even though it goes against the master plan for that area.

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Well in the U-City Clean up thread, I spouted off on the need for more grid connections. Of course, my idea would never actually happen, and wasn't even that popular on UP. ( http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...st&p=347642 )

But Crescent is now planning a development on the land at the northeast corner of City Blvd and 85. It will be a large office building or commercial building (it wasn't clear). But the big thing is that they are actually making a massive improvement to connectivity in the area. They will a parallel road to Tryon between City Blvd and McCullough Dr. That will create a significant alternative to Tryon, as well as create a viable alterative between all the shopping at JW Clay to 85. But also, they are creating a new bridge across 85 to IBM drive to which will connect URP to the shopping centers of University City Blvd, providing a major alternative to Harris Blvd.

But here is the mysterious thing. The other day, the aerial image was posted on the city's agenda for all to see. But now, um, it's gone and says "The attachment is not available for posting". http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/ey3c5...eforposting.pdf

So, for the benefit of my fellow UPeers, I mocked up how the streets would look, and what I remember of the building orientation.

225656569_a943a5d424_o.jpg

The real thing also had some designs in the parking lot that would start a bit more of a grid outside of the 2 thoroughfare additions shown above.

Overall, I am extremely excited about this for the sake of University City. A MAJOR problem in the area is that the only roads that go anywhere are massive, yet still congested, thoroughfares. Having alternatives to Tryon and Harris, including an additional crossing of I85 will be a major salve to the area's lack of connectivity.

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The problem with that proposal above is the new road, the one just under the 85 shield, and that crosses 85 and connects to IBM Drive (the circular road) won't work as shown. That is not an existing road off of IBM Drive, but instead is the driveway for Vance Highschool and the middle schools stuck back there. Traffic over there is already rockem sockem on school mornings as there are long backups for students trying to park their cars at that highschool. I don't see how they might be able to convert this driveway to a road. CMS would have to agree to give up the land too.

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This is such an odd conversation. As with all new developments, some minor roadway changes are obviously going to happen. The proposal that was given to the city council when this thread was started was that basically an anchor retailer (which all of us know is IKEA) would go there, and then housing and other development would be built on that massive greenfield. The city would then use a synthetic TIF in order to build out the street network, including the extra bridge over 85 (although it wasn't clear if some of it were a phase II). If all that money were going in to this, it would take a 2 minute phone call for CMS to agree to cede that driveway for the new street.

It is still possible that IKEA abandonned this project in reality and chose Concord Mills or Pineville or Gastonia or whereever instead. But in reality, this was a real proposal at the time, very obviously including an IKEA, so this deal was considered at least viable and had at least tentative support from IKEA.

It's not like the city is going to keep City Boulevard closed just for the heck of it when a major revenue generator is asking to go on that spot.

Also, keep in mind that there is already money in the bank for the City Boulevard section (and U/L is right that this is a city project now). The issue is that there isn't enough for an interchange at 29/49 or for it to be limited access. That means, it will just be a regular street/boulevard with driveways and an at grade intersection with Tryon. If the city wanted, they could simply use part of that money in an instant to connect the current dead end to the Crescent project, and still save the rest of the project for later.

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Rest assured, the city is in talks with IKEA and Crescent. City Blvd will be a stub to the IKEA site until the state finishes the connector to 29/49. Crescent and IKEA will pay for the road improvements. Staging area will move to another site.
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Moving Walmart to this location would be a good and bad idea. The Walmart in UCity generates a lot of crime for University Place and moving one to a location across from a tourism generator (in all reality) would not give Charlotte a very good appearance. I also don't believe the UC Walmart will move to Concord Mills. There is already a Super Walmart on 29 about two miles from that area that serves most of south-western Concord. Moving it to City Blvd would make it a much further drive for a lot of UCity residents including most of the college population because there isn't a connector to 29/49 yet. I imagine it would move to another area of N Tryon before City Blvd. Heck, the strip of N Tryon with nothing on it seems suitable for a Walmart even though it goes against the master plan for that area.
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IKEA says "no way" to a Charlotte store according to the Observer article out this morning.

I can't imagine that Austin, TX, Salt Lake City, UT and Cincinnati, OH are "hotter", or have stronger demographics than some North Carolina sites, but who knows, from the way they're expanding, maybe they're in bed with Delta Airlines and only go to Delta-dominated cities? (I am NOT SERIOUS!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

To avoid any confusion: This thread will be for discussion of the larger development that IKEA will be a part of. Please keep all IKEA discussions on the IKEA thread here: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=34496 .

The mass of housing, grid network, and any other components that Crescent adds can be discussed here without clouding the IKEA discussion.

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