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Asheville is abuzz with rumors of Whole Foods buying out their local Greenlife store. Admittedly the demo there is great for WF. If this does pan out we can add them to growing list of other NC metros with a Whole Foods while Charlotte the biggest city in the Carolinas still waits.

Just for argument's sake does anyone think the Reid's space would be a good fit?

To update....per Asheville Citizen Times WF is buying Greenlife. Interestingly, GL is keeping it's name no staff changes. Their offerings will obviously be expanded but that's it. I have not seen this approach taken by WF before.

Perhaps they do not want to mess with the local brand loyalty to Greenlife, which is a great store.

Edited by Forrest
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Asheville is abuzz with rumors of Whole Foods buying out their local Greenlife store. Admittedly the demo there is great for WF. If this does pan out we can add them to growing list of other NC metros with a Whole Foods while Charlotte the biggest city in the Carolinas still waits.

Expand that to say "other Carolina metros" because Greenville and Charleston also have Whole Foods.

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Do you guys think the same could happen in Charlotte? (a la Whole Foods take over Healthy Home Market or something)? And have the store keep its identity... although i think if WF did come to CLT they'd want to full on keep their identity and create a massive large scale store (that's probably the difference between CLT an Asheville)

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I think the rendering looks tacky, and the real thing looks okay. It's just as modern as some of the architecture in Uptown now - although it does point out the dichotomy between the new and the old cinderblock buildings just a block away on Morehead (which by the way I hope NEVER go away).

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Speaking of Public Art I am glad to see that NCDOT, Charlotte, and JC Smith Univ are going to collaborate on the Trade St underpass to select an artist to light up the I-77 bridge. This will make it more of an attraction and less of a barrier between Gateway Village and Wesley Heights/5 Points area.

Here is what they would like to copy:

light-channels1.jpg

And here is a video of how the lights change:

http://www.billfitzgibbons.com/work.php?type=public&proj=2&vid=1

This project is already funded for $200K...so expect something to happen in the next year or so.

Edited by uptownliving
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On a different uptown update. It was announced, or I just heard it, yesterday that the moving of the train tracks in uptown will be starting shortly. (No more night train whistles). And the ADM eyesore is being demolished and they are relocating elsewhere in Charlotte. The project will take a while but is using federal stimulus money to get some of this done.

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^If ADM is moving to Locust, that's on the AC&W RR line, which goes through NoDa here in Charlotte. I wonder how many more trains then would actually travel this fairly low-key railroad, as a result of ADM moving. That may make more sense then as to why AC&W is planned to be relocated through the heart NoDa to more NoDa's northern edge, closer to Sugar Creek Road. I had understood moving the AC&W as a way to get it out of the way of NCRR increasing its capacity for HSR to Raleigh/DC, but I suppose AC&W could use improved capacity as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The O has an article about the Uptown Wingdings (good nickname, Forrest).

I still dislike them. As it turns out, the artist is Fredrich St Florian, who also designed the WWII memorial on the Capital Mall. I suppose that's fitting. I think that memorial is, by far, the worst piece on the entire Mall.

As is often the case with bad design, Florian's description makes me want to dry heave.

The acrylic elements on the two structures symbolize curtains and are meant to evoke a feeling of the city opening up upon a stage, St. Florian said. The curved steel components on top of the structure are representative of a canopy.
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^^^I still don't know how I feel about them (I admit I'm hoping that they just bowl me over when lit at night) but even if I end up hating them I think we're pretty lucky as a city to have a group giving us these art installations as gifts. Particularly at a time when most cities are focusing on what services to cut.

On that note, while I don't think Charlotte is out of the woods yet I think the city (at least Uptown - which fits nicely with this thread title) did pretty damn ok in these last two years of the great recession. We've seen the Epicentre grow as a regional attraction that continues to land tenants, the birth of the NCMF which is has changed our music scene and has become a draw, the completion of new skyscrapers, the opening of three (soon to be four) new museums plus a NC Dance studios, more restaurants and in my opinion certainly more pedestrians on a weekend (day as well as night) in Uptown.

We're taking some hits too and saw a lot of potential growth (both skyscrapers and population) stunted but in the end I think Charlotte (at least Uptown) did not collapse in the sense that most people saw (and certainly a few media - yeah I'm looking at you Washington Post) implied. I think we are nicely poised for growth too.

just a morning coffee kicking in rant-chain of consciousness thought(s)...

Edited by Urbanity
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The O has an article about the Uptown Wingdings (good nickname, Forrest).

I still dislike them. As it turns out, the artist is Fredrich St Florian, who also designed the WWII memorial on the Capital Mall. I suppose that's fitting. I think that memorial is, by far, the worst piece on the entire Mall.

As is often the case with bad design, Florian's description makes me want to dry heave.

yeah i still think they smack of something that was designed by committee (too many disparate elements in something that looks like it was going for minimalism), so i'm actually surprised to hear an artist credit now. it's great that we're getting installations like this, but they just don't seem inviting, or elegant, or conceptually strong. just...perplexing (and thats coming from someone who really likes the Firebird). maybe they won't look so alien there if Tryon St. gets some pedestrian enhancements and further artistic treatment from the overpass in.

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:tough: How many times do I have to tell you Nonillogical, it's Disco Chicken!!! not Firebird:lol

The Wingdings do look a tad Orwellian to me. But in the end they grab attention and frame the entrance to our main drag well I think.

Hoping for a LOTR Return of the King beacon effect on Weds night.

Edited by Forrest
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The O has a pano of the wingdings lit up. My opinion is unchanged.

http://www.charlotte...dge-towers.html

I agree... however, if they were able to engineer a couple of laser light beam coming out of the tops of the two witches hats that could also be controlled over the internet... now that WOULD be cool...

Edited by Bikeguy
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At the risk of harping on them, the other thing that irks me about these things is really sloppy construction. Especially the metal on the underside of the canopy pieces, it just looks awful. I don't know if it was poor fabrication, poor assembly, or both.

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