Elizabeth Projects (7th St, Elizabeth Ave, etc)

[ah59396]

11 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

yeah we are definitely not alone. Asheville and Greenville have the benefit of being much much smaller. All the "it" cities have this issue. Look at this image of Austin. This is downtown. Right next door to a cool graffiti house restaurant we see a giant beige monster. Not excusing Charlotte from it, just saying it's a nationwide problem, not just a Charlotte one. 

That said, I am 90% sure Visulite and those buildings are safe. 

 

 

The problem is that Asheville, or Greenville or Austin are already cool.  Charlotte is not.  These cities can better absorb blandness because they weren't bland to begin with.  Charlotte has a very small counter-culture by comparison, so losing potentially 3 (possibly 4) music halls in a year is devastating.

 

 

edit:  Also, this is what the Hotel Indigo in Austin replaced:

Edited March 8, 2016 by ah59396

[49er]

Colleges, universities, churches and hospitals are all guilty of the same sins in my opinion. They have THEIR vision for a campus and their internal goals and needs and very often have little concern for the context around them. This is really no different than what CMC is doing to Dilworth.   

[UrbanGossip]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

^ This is a nationwide problem. Developers all over the country buy up prime lots and build cheap ugly apartments. Some developers do an ok job, but Southend stuff is pretty much the norm in most places. While Denver is better at revitalizing neighborhoods, they have this problem too to an extent (just not as bad) and complain about the current development cycle. This strip will be soon destroyed in Denver for stucco apartments:

"

We are witnessing the homogenization and blanding of Denver into another Pasadena, Scottsdale, Plano, Kingwood or name-another-bland-suburb.

It's disgusting.

"

http://www.westword.com/restaurants/readers-developers-are-destroying-what-made-neighborhood-special-7583702

http://www.westword.com/restaurants/readers-developers-do-not-care-about-the-buildings-and-neighborhoods-they-destroy-7568513

Yeah but Denver also get's these here and there too.  Charlotte doesn't.

http://www.udr.com/denver-apartments/cherry-creek/steele-creek/

And designed by one of our own too.  http://www.housingstudio.com/Project?id=66902bd6-b6a8-41f8-990b-6ad0f3aeb70d

 

[CLT2014]

10 minutes ago, UrbanGossip said:

Yeah but Denver also get's these here and there too.  Charlotte doesn't.

http://www.udr.com/denver-apartments/cherry-creek/steele-creek/

And designed by one of our own too.  http://www.housingstudio.com/Project?id=66902bd6-b6a8-41f8-990b-6ad0f3aeb70d

 

Beautiful! That is a pretty luxurious place! I wish I could afford $3,500 a month for a one bedroom apartment. I wonder if our apartments don't get that type of quality because most of our population won't pay that much in rent. It becomes pretty favorable to invest in a purchase at those rent prices in a market like Charlotte.

Edited March 8, 2016 by CLT2014

[CLTProductions]

I talked to the housing studio about this project. The economics of this would not work in Charlotte. We can't have it both ways. We either complain about rent prices or we complain about not having a complex like this. Sure there is a middle ground but Charlotte is not a market that could handle the rents here. Museum Tower will be the highest rents in the city and that's is a luxury high rise, not mid rise. This project would be WAY too expensive here and no developer would green light it.

[SgtCampsalot]

58 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Beautiful! That is a pretty luxurious place! I wish I could afford $3,500 a month for a one bedroom apartment. I wonder if our apartments don't get that type of quality because most of our population won't pay that much in rent. It becomes pretty favorable to invest in a purchase at those rent prices in a market like Charlotte.

"Won't" and "can't" are two very different things. That leads to the question: do we want that to be the direction of the city? "Should" we? That's a serious ethical issue that needs to be contemplated.

Edited March 8, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[Third Strike]

Why a parking deck at that location? They have plenty of room next to the existing parking deck on 7th.

[ajfunder]

I was told by a friend in the know that Novant dragging their feet has really hindered Grubb's master plan for Elizabeth and that Novant is hesitant to allow the development of anything other than hospital related structures on their  land. Is this a plausible reason for the lack of progress on Grubb's master plan on Elizabeth?

[CLTProductions]

1 minute ago, ajfunder said:

I was told by a friend in the know that Novant dragging their feet has really hindered Grubb's master plan for Elizabeth and that Novant is hesitant to allow the development of anything other than hospital related structures on their  land. Is this a plausible reason for the lack of progress on Grubb's master plan on Elizabeth?

Sounds like some bs. Grubb has his land, the hospital has theirs. Grubb has plenty he can develop on and still make it successful.

[kermit]

anyone else get the sense that the form-based code revision will be about 4 years too late to do any good for urban Charlotte? (even if it gets released tomorrow).

[SgtCampsalot]

5 minutes ago, kermit said:

anyone else get the sense that the form-based code revision will be about 4 years too late to do any good for urban Charlotte? (even if it gets released tomorrow).

A thousand times yes. 

Serious question: Is it really unreasonable to expect City Council to be assertive on pushing developers to build things better in the meantime? I've witnessed council members sit through lectures about FBC, I know the whole gov't center talks about it. Why does council continue to be so meek in terms of requiring certain things? They ask questions, the developers give a technical reason why they "can't" change the design of their site plan in any meaningful way, and council accepts whatever token changes are made in lieu of what really matters. Is it a liability thing? Do local politicians need something to point to on the books in order to be bold? Are they afraid?

No offense to any council members who may be reading this.

[kermit]

council can only hold developers to the current standard, they can't force them to do more.

The current standard sucks. 

[Prodev]

38 minutes ago, ajfunder said:

I was told by a friend in the know that Novant dragging their feet has really hindered Grubb's master plan for Elizabeth and that Novant is hesitant to allow the development of anything other than hospital related structures on their  land. Is this a plausible reason for the lack of progress on Grubb's master plan on Elizabeth?

This is 100% accurate. Novant recently said they want to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate the land before allowing Grubb to move forward on anything. The only parcels Grubb owns independent of Novant is the Carpe Diem building and the 3-story retail office building next door with Passion8 in it. 

[SgtCampsalot]

That's my question, though: Council votes on whether to approve a rezoning. Why would they not vote to oppose if they disagree with what is being done? I've seen them vote to approve despite those feelings many times. Would the lobbyists kill them next election cycle if they did otherwise?  I understand that builders will build to whatever the minimums are, so they may be frustrated.

Edited March 8, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[kermit]

^ Council is clearly not willing for force developers to exceed the current standard for whatever new designation they are requesting. Once they set the precident of 'just do the minimum and you will get rezoned' it was all over.

RE Novant and Grubb: If only we had a land value tax...

[AP3]

Showmars got a new facade 

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, AP3 said:

Showmars got a new facade 

They also added every trendy thing you can imagine. Edison Bulbs, Wood Panelling and uncomfortable metal seating. The apocalypse has come.

[tozmervo]

And the apocalypse includes tasty calabash shrimp specials

[Crown]

1 hour ago, AP3 said:

Showmars got a new facade 

14 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

And the apocalypse includes tasty calabash shrimp specials

 

I pass this Showmars every day and it baffles me how busy they are for breakfast

[ah59396]

40 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

And the apocalypse includes tasty calabash shrimp specials

They also STACK their gyro's with a pile of meat.  Guilty pleasure...I like Showmars 

[Guest]

Just now, ah59396 said:

They also STACK their gyro's with a pile of meat.  Guilty pleasure...I like Showmars 

I miss Showmars, but I don't want to balance myself on a tall metal stool while I chow down on 2.5 pounds of Shawarma goodness, I want to sit in a cushy booth.

[Temeteron]

8 hours ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I miss Showmars, but I don't want to balance myself on a tall metal stool while I chow down on 2.5 pounds of Shawarma goodness, I want to sit in a cushy booth.

Shawarma is what Arabs call it (and doesn't taste the same because hey use tahini). Gyros are Greek. By the way, if you guys want to try a really authentic gyro in Charlotte, try Mad Greek or The Little Village Grill

[ah59396]

7 hours ago, Temeteron said:

Shawarma is what Arabs call it (and doesn't taste the same because hey use tahini). Gyros are Greek. By the way, if you guys want to try a really authentic gyro in Charlotte, try Mad Greek or The Little Village Grill

Agree on the mad greek.  love the food there.  Showmars is just something i'll do if i'm lazy and want to grab something fast.  Side note and slightly off topic, there's also a really solid Greek Cafe on S Blvd now called Mocco Bistro.  It's right next to Scaleybark and their feta pie is so good I want to die thinking about it.

[CLTNative]

Shomars is definitely a guilty pleasure, but does anyone else think it's silly to put the outdoor lighting over the awning? They point directly into it. Seems odd to me, as if they should have one or the other.

[nonillogical]

14 minutes ago, CLTNative said:

Shomars is definitely a guilty pleasure, but does anyone else think it's silly to put the outdoor lighting over the awning? They point directly into it. Seems odd to me, as if they should have one or the other.

I didn't notice it at first, but yes that is hilarious. Can't say I've ever seen that mistake made before.