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615 South College (Portman Office Tower near Westin)

CarolinaDaydreamin

By CarolinaDaydreamin
in Charlotte

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nonillogical Burg

nonillogical

Posted
Posted

I will find out what the plans are.....stand by, I HIGHLY doubt they will diet college right there to make room for a sidewalk. The far right lane is coming from the exit of 277, so I don't think they will even be able to have a sidewalk on that side.

Yeah I doubt they can do a sidewalk on that side at all, but the College overpass is never really very busy, so I would hope we could see a widened sidewalk on the other side and significant crossing of some kind at Hill St. 

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kermit Metropolitan Area

kermit

Posted
Posted

How important is the College st / 277 ramp? Is the extra couple of blocks savings over the South blvd ramp that critical to traffic flow uptown?

 

(its an honest question, I'm not throwing car grenades this time)

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archiham04 Burg

archiham04

Posted
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I would be interested in hearing the answer to that question^ too... I remember during the 277 "loop study" several interchanges were on the chopping block, but the ones around the hospitals were non-negotiable.  This one would not seem to fall in that category.

 

In fact eastbound 277 has 3 off- ramps and 2 on ramps while the west bound lane has 1 off ramp an 2 on ramps.  I would think that way-finding might be improved if this were simplified.  maybe make the South Blvd exit the one and only entry point for the southwest stretch of John Belk?

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I would be interested in hearing the answer to that question^ too... I remember during the 277 "loop study" several interchanges were on the chopping block, but the ones around the hospitals were non-negotiable.  This one would not seem to fall in that category.

 

In fact eastbound 277 has 3 off- ramps and 2 on ramps while the west bound lane has 1 off ramp an 2 on ramps.  I would think that way-finding might be improved if this were simplified.  maybe make the South Blvd exit the one and only entry point for the southwest stretch of John Belk?

Why not this. 

post-17104-0-56822100-1436296421_thumb.j

 

 

EDIT: Just realized College is one way... Crap.

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dcharlotte Whistle-Stop

dcharlotte

Posted
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I know this is off topic - I think all the auxiliary lanes could be eliminated on both sides of the freeway. That would certainly help with the cost of capping the freeway. I'm sure another use could be found for that land if not development. 

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

Posted
Posted

Simple(ish) fix:

 

1) Skyline site (Uptown Cab and Moonlight Diner) gets it's corners shaved a bit, by selling land to the city.  The City widens Carson and Morehead Square Dr..  The additional lane on Carson is a left-turn lane onto Morehead Square.

 

2) Eliminate off-ramp at College.

 

3) Realign College with Morehead Sq., and create 4-way signalized intersection there.

 

4) Diagonal section of college and current intersection with Morehead are eliminated.

 

5) Road-deit College St between Morehead and Uptown side of the 277 bridge, widening sidewalks and adding 6' bike-lanes.

 

6)  Extend rail-trail from Morehead to I-277, that then hooks west, and connects up to College St. (this idea might exist already as part or rail-trail vision).

 

7) Sell excess land created by removal on off-ramp to developer, using proceeds to pay for all of this.

 

I don't really see this causing many problems.  I think Carson St is over-built as is, and this would direct more traffic onto that exit/street.  It may adding 1-2 minutes travel time for people currently using the College St exit to access downtown.

 

The state could probably even remove the "exit-lanes" (or as dcharlotte called them, auxillary lanes) that exists between Carson and east of South, because without College, there are far fewer movements that need to be seperated.  This could open up another 40' or so of developable land, or make the cap cheaper.

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tozmervo Metropolis

tozmervo

Posted
Posted

I kind of like a hybrid between those two scenarios, keeping an off ramp at college but having it end with a signalized intersection at college. I would be a little bit anxious that eliminating the college st exit would concentrate far too much traffic onto Caldwell St, whereas now it's reasonably distributed.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

Posted
Posted

All of this was discussed in relation to the 277 Loop Study.

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/Transportation/PlansProjects/Pages/Uptown%20Loop%20Study.aspx

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/topic/38067-cap-over-belk-freeway-277/page-11

 

It is not explicitly clear if they will remove the College off ramp, but the new 277 plan did retain the freeway cap plan, which seemingly would do some of atlrvr's suggestions.    That study pretty much favored replacing curves with 100mph bridges and removing as many interchanges as possible so that people can get from Mint Hill to Steele Creek ASAP without having to or being able to get to uptown.  So in the spirit of that document, why not also remove College St exit too.  

 

Any changes to the freeway will need to be cleared with the feds, and it is pretty clear that no one will be removing a freeway exit for a second sidewalk on a street. 

 

 

I will find out what the plans are.....stand by, I HIGHLY doubt they will diet college right there to make room for a sidewalk. The far right lane is coming from the exit of 277, so I don't think they will even be able to have a sidewalk on that side.

 

Funny enough when the city studied pedestrian/bike connectivity in this area 5y ago, the answer was the project for nice wide sidewalk and bike lanes on Tryon, paired with the then-new bike/ped path along South Blvd as the solution.   Church and College (and Mint) were left as is with no upgrade projects. 

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uptownliving Town

uptownliving

Posted
Posted

There really does need to be a pedestrian improvement either along College St or to put in the sidewalks that were originally proposed for the Lynx bridge over 277. One or the other will bring a big improvement to the connectivity to this area. Tryon St and South Blvd are not enough in my opinion.

 

I use the College St bridge the most to cross 277 and the sidewalk is barely wide enough for 2 people to pass each other without getting side swiped by a passing car.

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  • 2 weeks later...
15895 City

15895

Posted
Posted

2nd Submittal plans filed on 5/19, looking to start late June or early July. 

 

6-8 weeks before vertical, with opening of late 2016 (i think we knew this)

 

15 floors of office on a 2 floor lobby and 2 floors of garage. About same height as Westin (i think we knew this too)

 

Lobby will have a 2000 SF shell space, but will most likely be a bakery/coffeeshop or building amenity. The lobby does look awesome, 30 ft of floor to ceiling glass from the garage entrance on College to the Westin turnaround.

 

 

post-29263-0-74399700-1432213163_thumb.j

so has this thing started construction yet?

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

Posted
Posted

So, drove by last night, and it looks like the portion where the lobby will go has been fenced off inside the parking deck.  There are a bunch of jacks, with what I think is plywood not bracing the 2nd level of the parking deck.  My guess is this is to facilitate demoing that portion of the parking deck.  There also looks like some light construction vehicles parked in the deck (small back-hoe and a Bobcat maybe?).

Doesn't look like any work on the structure has begun, but unless this is to repair something, it does look like work on the deck is imminent.

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rancenc City

rancenc

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Posted

Governor McCrory and Mayor Clodfelter will be on hand for the official 'groundbreaking' next Friday, August 14th.


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article30101598.html

I find it somewhat unusual for the governor to be in Charlotte for an office building groundbreaking unless there is an announcement of a major tenant for that building.

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Eightane Whistle-Stop

Eightane

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Posted

I find it somewhat unusual for the governor to be in Charlotte for an office building groundbreaking unless there is an announcement of a major tenant for that building.

For a man like Patty, I would say it's a little less unusual. As a mayor he was always following cameras, I knew plenty who joked about that often and I don't see all of that gone from him; once a cheerleader, always at least got the uniform stashed somewhere. I'm glad though, more face-time means more press, so long as scandal doesn't sour the broth.

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

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Posted

I find it somewhat unusual for the governor to be in Charlotte for an office building groundbreaking unless there is an announcement of a major tenant for that building.

He was here for 300 S Tryon ground-breaking, though granted, Babson Capital reps were also there.  I had the same thought initally, but then I figured, nah, he just wants to get some good press from the Charlotte electorate base.

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