Triad Tower

[Jones_]

There is no urban appeal to the building because there is nothing urban about this building. When you walk outside of the tower, you will be in a parking lot. No cool restaurants or bars to go to. No attractive public plazas or squares. No local grocery. No indie video store. No gathering spaces for people, which might attract you as people seek to be around other people. No used bookstores, cafes, or other interesting places with local color. No walking environment.

The whole point of building a skyscraper in the city is to provide access to MANY, MANY people to the land around the skyscraper that has many activities and commerce opportunities. You make certain sacrifices in your living environment to live in a skyscraper. In return, you get the benefit of all the community amenities just outside your door below. The land Triad Tower will sit on has none of those things adjacent to it that necessitate such a building.

Even the most hardcore aquarium enthsiasts will visit one aquarium maybe 4 times a year. IMAX movies? Great, but again, they're not going to sustain your interest long. How many times can you eat at the same restaurant? How unnatural is it to experience all this stuff within one structure you never leave?

The bottom line is that residences in this building will be expensive, because skyscraper construction is expensive. If you're going to buy one of these places, you're going to have to be really rich and obsessed with aquariums and IMAX films, because otherwise, you don't get the urban amenity package in this building. The people developing Triad Tower don't know what they're selling, and they will be surprised when they have trouble pre-selling the residential, and they will convert it to office space.

This 2-story building is far more urban than the Triad Tower.

[Route]

I hate this tower and hope it never gets built. So dumb to put it on I40 in the first place. Cannot for the life of me, understand why they didn't put it down town. I don't agree that a tower is better than no tower at all. In it's proposed location, it just promotes sprawl and looks out of place. I'd rather have nothing there.

[luvdowntowngso]

I hate this tower and hope it never gets built. So dumb to put it on I40 in the first place. Cannot for the life of me, understand why they didn't put it down town. I don't agree that a tower is better than no tower at all. In it's proposed location, it just promotes sprawl and looks out of place. I'd rather have nothing there.

[triadguy37]

I strongly agree. While I realize the developer has the right to build what he wants, I hope this project never flies.

It is not a matter of a tower is better than no tower. It all has to do with the location! My concren is that this will take

away businesses that are considering locating downtown and keep them in the suburbs. I believe the building of this

tower would delay any new projects in DT Greensboro for many many years!

So, what can be done about it? Maybe nothing! However, I strongly suggest DT advocates band together and give this

guy one heck of a sales pitch to consider DT Greensboro!! What do they have to loose? Roll out the red carpet...Incentives from the city?....Maybe. My point is, if this project where to be announced for DT Greensboro, it

would greatly strengthen the momentum that has already begun....simular to the announcement of Center Pointe.

Has anyone heard if any tenants who have signed on to locate in Triad Tower?

[krazeeboi]

I agree as well. If Greensboro is ever going to progress as a city, it will have to drop the attitude that, "Well, it's better than nothing."

[goodbye]

I'm with you all who oppose this project in the suburbs. If the development is to be mixed-use, it can easily be designed and built downtown - utilizing even half the amount of space being wasted on surface parking lots. I personally would take a development like RiverPlace in downtown Greenville over a 22-story suburban "office park" anyday. The parking is all underground, and the entire surface is completely urban. Here is a photo:

[nowensone]

^ Hey, you get out of here with your great looking Greenville developments!

The real irony is that Greensboro was no different than numerous other American cities who sent their planning teams to Greenville for a lesson in what is working for them and why. I don't want to be too negative here as good projects are ongoing in GSO, but the Triad Tower is definitely a prominent and visible exception.

[cityboi]

I wonder how will all these new condos downtown and at Friendly Center affect sales at Triad Tower. Will the tower's airport location (being near jobs) be enough to attract alot of sales?

[JerseyBoy]

I can't imagine anyone in their right mind buying a unit in an office tower in the middle of an office park, unless they were literally a workaholic. I think we may see this plan shelved, especially since construction was supposed to have been completed this year.

[cityboi]

as for as location I think there are people that would live there. Believe it or not this is pretty common in places like Dallas and Atlanta to have isolated tall office towers or condo towers. But Im wondering if there could be too many condos on the market or if Triad Tower is kind of the exception because of its location near the airport and the jobs.

[twincity]

true but would you honestly consider G-boro to be on the same level as those two cities. people who desire such units are wanting to avoid traffic, and long commutes. i could be wrong, but i dont think the Triad is ready for high-density residential in primarily office submarkets quite yet. while Triad Tower is a good idea, the surroundings are very unattractive, even if you did work on 68/PTIA/etc.

[cityboi]

I think these condos in Triad Tower could work if they are not too expensive. Yes its a 22-story building but its basically a tall version of what seems to be going on across the city.

dont forget Raleigh has a 42-story tower planned near the outskirts of town thats condo, office and hotel. I think Falk, developer of Triad Tower should have included a hotel element in his tower though.

[krazeeboi]

as for as location I think there are people that would live there. Believe it or not this is pretty common in places like Dallas and Atlanta to have isolated tall office towers or condo towers.

[cityboi]

But Greensboro isn't Atlanta or Dallas. Furthermore, I'm not aware of any of those cities having isolated suburban towers; they are typically part of a cluster of towers, and the vast majority of them are office towers. As a matter of fact, if memory serves me correctly, the Cumberland area in Atlanta (which is metro Atlanta's second-largest commercial office district) is only just building its first condo tower. Also, even in those areas where suburban condo towers exist, there is already an existing built-up residential base with sufficient retail in the vicinity. Is any of this true for the area that's proposed for Triad Tower?

[ChiefJoJo]

I think these condos in Triad Tower could work if they are not too expensive. Yes its a 22-story building but its basically a tall version of what seems to be going on across the city.

dont forget Raleigh has a 42-story tower planned near the outskirts of town thats condo, office and hotel. I think Falk, developer of Triad Tower should have included a hotel element in his tower though.

[krazeeboi]

Right, and those clusters of suburban skyscrapers in Dallas or Atlanta began with one tower.

[cityboi]

And they were purely office towers. Furthermore, the urban cores of those cities were relatively well established by the time edge cities started popping up. I simply find it very telling that areas like Perimeter and Cumberland in Atlanta are only beginning to see a surge in high rise residential after several years of these areas being strong employment centers.

[coastalmindset]

A major reason for the conception of this project and the reason for it's probable success is it's location. As Greensboro continues to fill it's employment void with manufacturing jobs those jobs continue to locate in areas close to major highways (I-40) and transportation (PTI). If you look at the recent business growth in Greensboro, so much of it has occurred around the airport and Western Guilford County. FedEx, Dell, Honda Jet, RF Micro Devices (Expansion), and Volvo Trucks among others are all located near this project. Add to that the massive office parks such as the Piedmont Centre (home to a 1.3 million sq ft Polo warehouse and over 200 other businesses) and the many office parks around the airport and I think you have a fairly good base for future residents and business tenants.

And let's not forget that the furniture market is still in High Point. Corporate rentals for this type of event are solid investments for many people and companies.

[cityboi]

A major reason for the conception of this project and the reason for it's probable success is it's location. As Greensboro continues to fill it's employment void with manufacturing jobs those jobs continue to locate in areas close to major highways (I-40) and transportation (PTI). If you look at the recent business growth in Greensboro, so much of it has occurred around the airport and Western Guilford County. FedEx, Dell, Honda Jet, RF Micro Devices (Expansion), and Volvo Trucks among others are all located near this project. Add to that the massive office parks such as the Piedmont Centre (home to a 1.3 million sq ft Polo warehouse and over 200 other businesses) and the many office parks around the airport and I think you have a fairly good base for future residents and business tenants.

And let's not forget that the furniture market is still in High Point. Corporate rentals for this type of event are solid investments for many people and companies.

[JerseyBoy]

But, just because Dallas and Atlanta have similar towers like this, does that mean Greensboro should? You can't honestly tell me that this is a good idea (except for the density) and that residential units would be successful here

[cityboi]

But, just because Dallas and Atlanta have similar towers like this, does that mean Greensboro should? You can't honestly tell me that this is a good idea (except for the density) and that residential units would be successful here

[sax184]

Has there been any movement/progress/construction on this project recently?

[cityboi]

Has there been any movement/progress/construction on this project recently?

[JerseyBoy]

the target date for completion is 2009 which means it will be in 2008 or maybe even later this year before construction begins. The orginal completion date was 2007 but that was before Falk decided to add residential and retail components to this building. The changes put the target date off two years.

[cityboi]

I'm not holding my breath, but that's just me. This isn't a matter of Greensboro not being able to build a highrise and people criticizing it, it's a matter of the likelihood of people buying a condo in an area that has almost zero quality of life and is surrounded by parking lots. Unless they have a tenant in mind for the office space, this is really nothing but a dream.