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Observation tower Uptown?


Charlotteman

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I third that motion, for any matter, Charlotte does have a little geographic diversity when viewed from 800+ft in the air: Lake Norman, Lake Wylie, Mt Island Lake, Catawba River, Crowders Mt, Kings Mt, and you can see the App Mtns on a clear day from BoA (my mom used to let me go up to the upper floors with her when I was younger.) Looking at any city is fascinating from up high. Who hasn't looked at satellite maps of their city on the internet once they discover that's available? It's just cool to see things from a different perspective than you normally would dub.

Let me use one example yet again from when I lived in Sydney and would go up into the needle there. Once you are up there, you aren't looking at the buildings around you because, as you said before, you can see them from nearly anywhere in the city. That's not the point, you stare at the landscape and the rest of the city which is especially gorgeous at night. One great thing is that you can watch the sunset over the true horizon which is much more brilliant from higher elevations. It may not seem like Charlotte has a lot to look at, but you have to think, from a certain height, you aren't just looking at Charlotte anymore.

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I third that motion, for any matter, Charlotte does have a little geographic diversity when viewed from 800+ft in the air: Lake Norman, Lake Wylie, Mt Island Lake, Catawba River, Crowders Mt, Kings Mt, and you can see the App Mtns on a clear day from BoA (my mom used to let me go up to the upper floors with her when I was younger.) Looking at any city is fascinating from up high. Who hasn't looked at satellite maps of their city on the internet once they discover that's available? It's just cool to see things from a different perspective than you normally would dub.

Let me use one example yet again from when I lived in Sydney and would go up into the needle there. Once you are up there, you aren't looking at the buildings around you because, as you said before, you can see them from nearly anywhere in the city. That's not the point, you stare at the landscape and the rest of the city which is especially gorgeous at night. One great thing is that you can watch the sunset over the true horizon which is much more brilliant from higher elevations. It may not seem like Charlotte has a lot to look at, but you have to think, from a certain height, you aren't just looking at Charlotte anymore.

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I don't think there is a comparison between a small mountain with trees and parkland that you can make a fun day of hiking and get the view of the city from a decent distance out as a reward. Also, a short observation tower that is a ride on a regional amusement park is also incomparable.

Talk about a monument to its own sake, with little potential for the ground level. At least office towers are full to the brim with people, supporting a human network and multiplying the economy. If this tower were to be located downtown, it would have to be in the 800' tall level to prevent people from having to look down on the skyline.

I don't see it happening, and I don't want a one. Just my opinion (and my time to be negative for a change, I guess :) ). That isn't to say I wouldn't be thrilled with Wachovia or Bank of America opening the tops of their towers for one. But I just don't really like the looks of these observation towers in the skyline or at the ground level (except for Eiffel). I have been at the base of and up inside KL Tower, (the 4th tallest observation/communications tower built), seen the base of Tianjin Tower (the 5th tallest observation/communications tower built), Beijing Central Central RTV tower (the 6th tallest), Berliner Fernsehturm (the 12th tallest), Eiffel Tower (the 23rd tallest), Seoul Tower.

And for all of you who say you want one, and people would flock to it, how many of you have already gone to our current observation tower, the restaurant at the top of the Charlotte Plaza building?

EDIT: After looking through all the towers out there to remember when ones I've seen in person, I must say there are a few that have very cool designs that could be decent at the ground level. If the private sector were able to create one like that in Charlotte, I'd be happy. But I'm still skeptical of the market for such a structure unless the telecoms pitched in a lot.

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Going up to the top of Charlotte Plaza to see the view sounds like fun....but what about kids, and people under 21? They can't go up there, can they?

Also what about people over 21 who are allergic to cigarette smoke? They certainly wouldn't want to go to the bar up there to see the view, then get sick from the smoke.

What about people who find bars intimidating, or don't really wanna dress up?

An Uptown observation tower wouldn't have any of these restrictions.

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Going up to the top of Charlotte Plaza to see the view sounds like fun....but what about kids, and people under 21? They can't go up there, can they?

Also what about people over 21 who are allergic to cigarette smoke? They certainly wouldn't want to go to the bar up there to see the view, then get sick from the smoke.

What about people who find bars intimidating, or don't really wanna dress up?

An Uptown observation tower wouldn't have any of these restrictions.

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There is no possibility for public funding of an observation deck this decade. If it is ever to be a possibitility, and gain consensus among civic leaders, it must start to show up on wishlists of those leaders.

Maybe if there is a 2020 vision plan for the next level of development, it can show up on that wishlist. Remember that all of the uptown amenities that have been designed to draw tourists (Nascar Museum, theater, uptown Mint museum, Bechtler museum, expanded Discovery Place, Imaginon, Bobcats arena, Knights stadium, improved urban parks system, etc.) were planned for years and years. They all pretty quickly gained consensus among uptown leaders, but all faced funding difficulties that political leaders had to push through. It's not like any one can have an idea for public funding, and the next month it is included in the designs of something that is about to start construction. With private funding, maybe, but public funding is not so easy.

I'm not even so sure such a project would get consensus from civic leaders. Unlike the other projects, it has questionable benefits to the people currently living or working uptown. It also has a questionable market for tourism that would require studies.

Most of these towers in the world are funded by telecommunications companies for broadcasting, and they simply put a deck on top to offset the costs. With satellite radio coming of age, cable and satellite TV already come of age, I don't see those generating a need for such a tower. I doubt cell phone service would benefit from the height, but I might be wrong on that.

I think this might be an interesting idea to pursue for a distant wishlist. Maybe if people determine there really is a tourist market for such a structure, and that it will bring pride and attention to the city, it would be worth pursuing, it could be added to the 2020 vision or something. But I wouldn't vote to be taxed for such a thing (and I'm a pretty easy vote on stuff uptown, if you haven't noticed).

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Any idea how they funded the one in Dallas? It's 50 stories and adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel. It has a rotating restaurant at the top. I ate at the restaurant and it takes about an hour for the entire rotation (just before Christmas). Other than a small river, skyline and the vast amount of development going on in Dallas, there was much to see but it was rather enjoyable. Maybe it was the Merlot?

Of course Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository store (area where JFK was assassinated) was visible and eventually visited afterwards.

It was interesting seeing Ft. Worth in the distance with the many mini-cities of high rises surrounding Dallas.

At least in Charlotte, you could see the skyline, mountain ranges in a distance, Lake Norman area (I'd imagine), etc. from an equivalent structure.

By the way, it was around 5:00 pm (free) with a glass elevator ride to the top.

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^You are referring to Reunion Tower which was built as a civic urban renewal project in that part of Dallas. It's purpose was to attract people to town which I think it does a good job. It also has a Hyatt-Regency hotels and a DART station. I've stayed in that hotel and it makes for a good jumping off point to anywhere served by their LRT. This tower is featured prominately in the TV show Dallas opening credits which has made the city recognizable around the world. Maybe one day they will wake up on CLT and quit building sports venues and put up something like this instead.

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^You are referring to Reunion Tower which was built as a civic urban renewal project in that part of Dallas. It's purpose was to attract people to town which I think it does a good job. It also has a Hyatt-Regency hotels and a DART station. I've stayed in that hotel and it makes for a good jumping off point to anywhere served by their LRT. This tower is featured prominately in the TV show Dallas opening credits which has made the city recognizable around the world. Maybe one day they will wake up on CLT and quit building sports venues and put up something like this instead.
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For the Nascar museum, they have an all glass circular section, which is like a spiral ramp inside. It will have a good skyline view.

I have a few questions on this subject:

- What would be the current cost roughly for an 800', a 1000' and a 1200' tower?

- Which mountains could you see from a hypothetical 1000' tower downtown, just the ones in adjacent counties, or the ones near Asheville?

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Is that with the naked eye? I suppose they could put those coin operated binoculars, but with the smog, I'd bet it won't be too many days where that would be much fun.

Can someone take a picture west out of an upper floor of Hearst or BofA Corporate? I'm curious what can be seen with the naked eye from up there. How about you guys that fly a lot?

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Is that with the naked eye? I suppose they could put those coin operated binoculars, but with the smog, I'd bet it won't be too many days where that would be much fun.

Can someone take a picture west out of an upper floor of Hearst or BofA Corporate? I'm curious what can be seen with the naked eye from up there. How about you guys that fly a lot?

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That's a really awesome photo although I think that with the naked eye, Charlotte would be nothing more than a speck on the horizon. I mean, with that telephoto shot those towers look pretty skinny, imagine how thin they'd be without the enormous lens on the camera. However, a mountain doesn't have gaps and is much larger than the inner loop itself, so I have no doubt in my mind that you would be able to see at least the summit of a few of the Blue Ridge along the horizon from a 900+ft tower.

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