Jump to content

Metro10West


atlrvr

Recommended Posts

^It's rather interesting in that Charlotte is one of the older cities in the USA and actually predates it since it was incorporated in 1768. The reason that it appears to have no history is that Charlotte has almost always had the money to tear everything down and rebuild it every 1/2 century or so. Every other generation thinks they have finally gotten the last say in what is proper development and moves to remove their grandparent's building decisions. This generation in CLT is no different and I have no reason to believe that in another 40 years downtown and surrounding area will get torn down again. My Mom and Dad lived in Plaza Midwood in the late 50s early 60s when they first got married. When they were here over Christmas we went downtown and they said it was completely different and unrecognizable from the days when they were a young couple. So I wouldn't call Charlotte a "new city" because it isn't, but it is one where the inhabitants seem to always be dissatisfied with what they have.

In comparison Charleston, SC and Asheville, NC were extremely poor places throughout most of the 20th century. I believe one of them actually paid all the Cival War reparations demanded of them and that kept the city in debt for a long time and hence they did not have the money for urban renewal. So that is why today both places have huge historical significance with Charleston having some of the oldest continually inhabited buildings in the NA. (a few were built in the late 1600s). In some aspects, being such poor places saved them from the decisions that pretty much destroyed all of Charlotte's history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 43
  • Created
  • Last Reply
^It's rather interesting in that Charlotte is one of the older cities in the USA and actually predates it since it was incorporated in 1768. The reason that it appears to have no history is that Charlotte has almost always had the money to tear everything down and rebuild it every 1/2 century or so. Every other generation thinks they have finally gotten the last say in what is proper development and moves to remove their grandparent's building decisions. This generation in CLT is no different and I have no reason to believe that in another 40 years downtown and surrounding area will get torn down again. My Mom and Dad lived in Plaza Midwood in the late 50s early 60s when they first got married. When they were here over Christmas we went downtown and they said it was completely different and unrecognizable from the days when they were a young couple. So I wouldn't call Charlotte a "new city" because it isn't, but it is one where the inhabitants seem to always be dissatisfied with what they have.

In comparison Charleston, SC and Asheville, NC were extremely poor places throughout most of the 20th century. I believe one of them actually paid all the Cival War reparations demanded of them and that kept the city in debt for a long time and hence they did not have the money for urban renewal. So that is why today both places have huge historical significance with Charleston having some of the oldest continually inhabited buildings in the NA. (a few were built in the late 1600s). In some aspects, being such poor places saved them from the decisions that pretty much destroyed all of Charlotte's history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to Metro 10... not all ten have been built, so it may be more like "Metro 6". The neighbors and visitors I have spoken to are shocked at how out of context the project is, and it hasn't sold well (if at all). The developer should scrap the remainder of the Metro units and infill a transistional single-family home to help bridge the gap. I am a Third Ward resident, pro-development, and not opposed to modern architecture, but creating value as a developer means respecting the stakeholders of your neighborhood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^It's rather interesting in that Charlotte is one of the older cities in the USA and actually predates it since it was incorporated in 1768. The reason that it appears to have no history is that Charlotte has almost always had the money to tear everything down and rebuild it every 1/2 century or so. Every other generation thinks they have finally gotten the last say in what is proper development and moves to remove their grandparent's building decisions. This generation in CLT is no different and I have no reason to believe that in another 40 years downtown and surrounding area will get torn down again. My Mom and Dad lived in Plaza Midwood in the late 50s early 60s when they first got married. When they were here over Christmas we went downtown and they said it was completely different and unrecognizable from the days when they were a young couple. So I wouldn't call Charlotte a "new city" because it isn't, but it is one where the inhabitants seem to always be dissatisfied with what they have.

In comparison Charleston, SC and Asheville, NC were extremely poor places throughout most of the 20th century. I believe one of them actually paid all the Cival War reparations demanded of them and that kept the city in debt for a long time and hence they did not have the money for urban renewal. So that is why today both places have huge historical significance with Charleston having some of the oldest continually inhabited buildings in the NA. (a few were built in the late 1600s). In some aspects, being such poor places saved them from the decisions that pretty much destroyed all of Charlotte's history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO, these units are nothing more than unremarkable boxes plopped down on those properties in order to put the largest amount of square footage possible on that limited space. Beyond the clever use of some wood trim and of course the paint job, they are no better than a double wide trailer IMO. This is not innovative urban design that one might find in Tokyo or London on very small spaces.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Charlotte may be an older city, but it was slow in obtaining a growing population. When Charlotte was incorporated in the late 1700s, there were less than one thousand inhabitants. On the other hand, Charleston and Savannah were pretty large. Unlike these other southern cities or northern cities like Philly, etc. charlotte did not have a viable city center with historic buildings to preserve. That is unfortunate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys forget there was a gold rush here that started in the late 1700s that brought unprecedented numbers of people to Charlotte. Enough gold was here the US government opened a mint here. That building is one of the many historic buildings that no longer exists and there were countless others lost to history. Though it's not surprising that many forget or don't realize there was such a thing here because there is absolutely nothing downtown now that would suggest that such a thing took place.

In any case in regards to this project I don't think that it is that much of a issue of being out of character for the neighborhood as most of third ward really doesn't have "a character" given that it is a hodge podge of different building styles. However as I noted above, these boxes are rather painful on the eyes and the developer should have gone with something with a bit more design to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO, these units are nothing more than unremarkable boxes plopped down on those properties in order to put the largest amount of square footage possible on that limited space. Beyond the clever use of some wood trim and of course the paint job, they are no better than a double wide trailer IMO. This is not innovative urban design that one might find in Tokyo or London on very small spaces.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.