Charlotte Photo of the Day

[bigeasy]

First time to North Carolina this past weekend, as I was visiting friends at Lake Norman. We spent one afternoon around town. Love your city!! Hoping the next time I visit I can have some better weather. Born and raised in Nashville, and your downtown blew me away. Very jealous of the height of some of your buildings.

 

Edited August 11, 2016 by bigeasy

[GeauxCLT]

1 hour ago, bigeasy said:

First time to North Carolina this past weekend, as I was visiting friends at Lake Norman. We spent one afternoon around town. Love your city!! Hoping the next time I visit I can have some better weather. Born and raised in Nashville, and your downtown blew me away. Very jealous of the height of some of your buildings.

 

I'm a NOLA native and Charlotte transplant. Glad you enjoyed the visit and come back soon! 

[SgtCampsalot]

Glad you liked it! I envy Nashville's older buildings that Charlotte lacks. But we're pulling our weight with the new stuff.

Edited August 12, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[NikolaTesla]

[Synopsis101]

That parking lot needs to go.

[SgtCampsalot]

1 hour ago, Synopsis101 said:

That parking lot needs to go.

Yep. And that Hall of Fame needs to go.

Edit: not necessarily the institution, but the building. Big building that could be housing in an important location.

Edited August 12, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

.

Edited August 12, 2016 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[videtur quam contuor]

15 hours ago, bigeasy said:

First time to North Carolina this past weekend, as I was visiting friends at Lake Norman. We spent one afternoon around town. Love your city!! Hoping the next time I visit I can have some better weather. Born and raised in Nashville, and your downtown blew me away. Very jealous of the height of some of your buildings.

 

If one walks to the north end of the 3rd street station and looks into this parking lot on a weekend when the cars are not there the original rails for the Charlotte cotton receiving station can be seen. 4th street was lowered to go under the rails in the 20th century to move motor vehicles smoothly and the rails other than this main line were left without a destination. The asphalt obscures some of these older rails but one or two can still be seen as they head for the slope facing the Transit Center.

[Windsurfer]

4 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

If one walks to the north end of the 3rd street station and looks into this parking lot on a weekend when the cars are not there the original rails for the Charlotte cotton receiving station can be seen. 4th street was lowered to go under the rails in the 20th century to move motor vehicles smoothly and the rails other than this main line were left without a destination. The asphalt obscures some of these older rails but one or two can still be seen as they head for the slope facing the Transit Center.

Interesting!

I vaguely remember walking that stretch up College Street with my dad in the early 70's, and I might be confusing the area where the merchandise mart is now, but seems like he pointed out the old Navy shipping yard in that area too. 

[videtur quam contuor]

Oh yes, I believe the Epicenter is where the Navy yard was. Any history experts please correct.

Navy yard refers to manufacture of chain, anchor, cannon balls, hooks, cleats and rigging stouts and all other metal parts necessary for marine function. Repair and manufacture of elements for the last of the wooden ship wars.

[deleted]

8 hours ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Yep. And that Hall of Fame needs to go.

Edit: not necessarily the institution, but the building. Big building that could be housing in an important location.

I have never watched a race and don't care about the sport.  I find HOF's for any sport boring.  That said, I love the building.  There will be plenty of housing on Stonewall in 5 years.  In addition to the architecture, I like the large public plaza that hosts (among other things) the holiday skating rink.  I do wish the front of the building faced Stonewall (that would be MUCH better).   

Edited August 12, 2016 by JBS

[ah59396]

On 8/12/2016 at 9:25 AM, SgtCampsalot said:

Yep. And that Hall of Fame needs to go.

Edit: not necessarily the institution, but the building. Big building that could be housing in an important location.

I don't think I could disagree any more with this sentiment.  It's not like Uptown is aching for space to develop.  Are you an advocate for removing the HOF for potential future "housing"?  I'm perplexed.

[SgtCampsalot]

1 hour ago, ah59396 said:

I don't think I could disagree any more with this sentiment.  It's not like Uptown is aching for space to develop.  Are you an advocate for removing the HOF for potential future "housing"?  I'm perplexed.

I mean I'm not going to join a picket line over it, but I suppose I'm not an advocate of civic institutional buildings creating any more massive dead spaces than necessary; which was my first big impression as a kid of Uptown during the Final Four. Then, I guess I conflated that issue with the other the issue I have with artificial housing scarcity caused by private operators, encouraged by public policy. So while I love and appreciate NASCAR, and even enjoy its HoF's architecture from my car, I wish it could have done more for the area around it.

There's also the degree of public expenditure that went into something that, culturally valuable as it is, I don't feel has as much inherent social or monetary return on investment.

FWIW, I'm coming at this from an ideological standpoint of how I feel cities should cultivate themselves. I haven't done hard research. Though the writing off of bad debt from the HoF's development doesn't help.

Edited August 13, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[15895]

I don't mind it. I mean. Lots of cities have much much worse dead space buildings. Literally cars behind (graffiti) bars. The difference is they have a middle class, lower class and poverty which adds to the activity. The problem with uptown is the lack of middle class. That's why uptown is so soulless and bland. But I mean. There's NO changing that. Thats not our culture. Our culture is culdesac suburbs where we go to our Publix anchored shopping centers. That's not a bad thing; just something I learned to accept. (If I sound bitter, I came back from Brazil and soooo jealous of their culture.)

Edited August 14, 2016 by AirNostrumMAD

[ah59396]

22 hours ago, SgtCampsalot said:

I mean I'm not going to join a picket line over it, but I suppose I'm not an advocate of civic institutional buildings creating any more massive dead spaces than necessary; which was my first big impression as a kid of Uptown during the Final Four. Then, I guess I conflated that issue with the other the issue I have with artificial housing scarcity caused by private operators, encouraged by public policy. So while I love and appreciate NASCAR, and even enjoy its HoF's architecture from my car, I wish it could have done more for the area around it.

There's also the degree of public expenditure that went into something that, culturally valuable as it is, I don't feel has as much inherent social or monetary return on investment.

FWIW, I'm coming at this from an ideological standpoint of how I feel cities should cultivate themselves. I haven't done hard research. Though the writing off of bad debt from the HoF's development doesn't help.

I got ya.  Thanks for the explanation.

[alb1no panther]

On August 13, 2016 at 9:53 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

I don't mind it. I mean. Lots of cities have much much worse dead space buildings. Literally cars behind (graffiti) bars. The difference is they have a middle class, lower class and poverty which adds to the activity. The problem with uptown is the lack of middle class. That's why uptown is so soulless and bland. But I mean. There's NO changing that. Thats not our culture. Our culture is culdesac suburbs where we go to our Publix anchored shopping centers. That's not a bad thing; just something I learned to accept. (If I sound bitter, I came back from Brazil and soooo jealous of their culture.)

I'll take suburban Charlotte culture over Brazilian culture everyday.

As for NASCAR HOF, it is what it is.  I don't think anyone in their right mind expected it to be a money maker.  But the city has to grow somehow.  Unique architecture, a niche sport, public space for events, and a lot of ceremonies are held there as well.  Either Charlotte was going to get it, or another city was going to get it.  Either way, it wasn't a good financial proposition at the outset, but trying ignite growth is almost always not a value proposition anyway. 

Just my 2 cents.  That parking lot adjacent to the HOF will be interesting.  Curious as to what could survive there given the residential going up and it's proximity to center city.  There is a hotel, ingress/egress, but it is still cut off from the business hubbub.  

[CarolinaCrown]

From UNCC this morning

[NY+SC=NC]

10 hours ago, alb1no panther said:

I'll take suburban Charlotte culture over Brazilian culture everyday.

As for NASCAR HOF, it is what it is.  I don't think anyone in their right mind expected it to be a money maker.  But the city has to grow somehow.  Unique architecture, a niche sport, public space for events, and a lot of ceremonies are held there as well.  Either Charlotte was going to get it, or another city was going to get it.  Either way, it wasn't a good financial proposition at the outset, but trying ignite growth is almost always not a value proposition anyway. 

Just my 2 cents.  That parking lot adjacent to the HOF will be interesting.  Curious as to what could survive there given the residential going up and it's proximity to center city.  There is a hotel, ingress/egress, but it is still cut off from the business hubbub.  

Hi! This is my 1st post, but I'll try to make it brief. Funny you mentioned that parking lot. To me, I think only one thing could go there. Or to be clearer only one group of things could go there. I see a row of street facing walk up type businesses. A couple of Fast food joints, convenience store, dry cleaner, electronics store, athletic apparel store, maybe even a boutique or barbershop. All two to three levels. Basically, a row of pedestrian oriented retail geared towards franchises and small businesses. That area will soon be ripe for walk up retail.

[alb1no panther]

2 hours ago, NY+SC=NC said:

Hi! This is my 1st post, but I'll try to make it brief. Funny you mentioned that parking lot. To me, I think only one thing could go there. Or to be clearer only one group of things could go there. I see a row of street facing walk up type businesses. A couple of Fast food joints, convenience store, dry cleaner, electronics store, athletic apparel store, maybe even a boutique or barbershop. All two to three levels. Basically, a row of pedestrian oriented retail geared towards franchises and small businesses. That area will soon be ripe for walk up retail.

Welcome!  Great first post.  You'll find out quickly who has the info and who the most sane are around here to have a convo with.

As for your idea, I don't think it's financially feasible.  That land is going to go for a premium.  Love the shops idea, though.  It could probably be squeezed in somewhere else down Stonewall.  Would start calming traffic and slowing down Stonewall.

[caterpillar2]

On 8/13/2016 at 9:53 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

I don't mind it. I mean. Lots of cities have much much worse dead space buildings. Literally cars behind (graffiti) bars. The difference is they have a middle class, lower class and poverty which adds to the activity. The problem with uptown is the lack of middle class. That's why uptown is so soulless and bland. But I mean. There's NO changing that. Thats not our culture. Our culture is culdesac suburbs where we go to our Publix anchored shopping centers. That's not a bad thing; just something I learned to accept. (If I sound bitter, I came back from Brazil and soooo jealous of their culture.)

Yep, Charlotte is like all other large American cities with suburbs. I know Brazil well. I used to travel between Asuncion, Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rio, Lima, Peru, and Quito, Equator, and Panama and on occasion, other spots in Central and South America. In my personal, worthless opinion,   I personally hate Rio but find the rest of the country fascinating. Just curious, what is it about their culture that your jealous of or what do you mean? There are basically three classes there mostly: poor, rich, and tourists. And you probably know the the poor, especially the homeless, have a way of disappearing. 

Edited August 17, 2016 by caterpillar2

[Nick2]

Charlotte is really starting to look dense. I love it!

Source

[NY+SC=NC]

On 8/16/2016 at 11:10 PM, alb1no panther said:

Welcome!  Great first post.  You'll find out quickly who has the info and who the most sane are around here to have a convo with.

As for your idea, I don't think it's financially feasible.  That land is going to go for a premium.  Love the shops idea, though.  It could probably be squeezed in somewhere else down Stonewall.  Would start calming traffic and slowing down Stonewall.

Gotcha. Yeah, I figured that plot would be pretty pricey. So, what would work there I wonder? Especially with that Hotel/Condo thingy right behind it. And thanks for taking it easy on the new guy and the heads up! 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, NY+SC=NC said:

Gotcha. Yeah, I figured that plot would be pretty pricey. So, what would work there I wonder? Especially with that Hotel/Condo thingy right behind it. And thanks for taking it easy on the new guy and the heads up! 

The 2020 Plan has it as an expansion to the Convention Center. 

[Nick2]

6 hours ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

The 2020 Plan has it as an expansion to the Convention Center. 

As in up or out?

-

Lots of rainbows visible over uptown recently with these summer showers. 

Source: Chris Austin

Edited August 18, 2016 by Nick2

[urbanite24]

View I took from the 45th floor of DEC today. Apologies for the snapchat filter. I only took a pic for my story while up there lol

Edited August 19, 2016 by urbanite24