SouthEnd Midrise Projects

[krazeeboi]

On 2/7/2021 at 7:08 PM, Phillydog said:

Absolutely.  Even Georgians will admit this.  Charlotte is setting an example for the US -- it hardly get any props though, which is partly a failing of North Carolina in general.  Unlike our neighbors we aren't bloviators.  A valley of humility between two mountains of conceit...  Charlotte rocks. 

Charlotte is cut from the same New South boosterism cloth as Atlanta, and it has paid off. Reputations and state mottos from the 18th century have become a bit outdated I'd say.

[videtur quam contuor]

I disagree about the North Carolina motto. Esse Quam Videri-To be rather than to seem. This is a moral statement as old as time and expressed by numerous men of serious thought, using other words in their epoch. The full quote is from Sallust, a Roman historian of the first century BCE and he was writing of Cato the Younger. In contrast to Julius Caesar who sought fame and power, Cato, his contemporary, was humble and detested corruption. Sallust wrote many memorable characterizations.

The full quote from Sallust is:  Esse quam videri bonus malebat; ita quo minus petabat gloriam eo magis illum sequabatur.

                                                                   He chose to be good rather than seem good. Thus the less he strove for fame the closer it followed him.

I believe the context and full quotation makes the motto even stronger. Latin is noted for its concision.  A thought usually uses fewer words than current Western written languages. Three words make an effective distillation. A moral guide for all and for all time.

Found here and many other places on the internet.:

https://eudict.com/?lang=lateng&word=esse quam videri bonus malebat; ita quo minus petebat gloriam, eo magis illum sequebatur

 

[CLTranspo]

You can see the Portman tower starting to be visible 

Edited February 25, 2021 by CLTranspo
Wrong name

[DownEast]

Here here. Our state motto has always been the shiz. When the Colbert Report ran on Comedy Central, the back of the set read, "Esse videri quam." Sly little flip-flop. I always felt I was the only person that noticed. Yeah, Colbert is genius. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by DownEast
Addition of shiz

[KJHburg]

The O.G. of the Southend towers aka the Pepto Bismol tower, the Pink tower, the Desert Rose tower,  the Arlington.  

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous Southend photos today.  Historic buildings to new buildings Southend is a great blend.  

1. I call this the Wall of Apartments along Dunnavant

Oh yeah and this they are clearing out at least one place in the Southend station where Cousins will develop a mixed use project.  Notice the U Haul. 

and where will these cows go?  

[krazeeboi]

On 2/25/2021 at 10:18 AM, tarhoosier said:

I disagree about the North Carolina motto. Esse Quam Videri-To be rather than to seem. This is a moral statement as old as time and expressed by numerous men of serious thought, using other words in their epoch. The full quote is from Sallust, a Roman historian of the first century BCE and he was writing of Cato the Younger. In contrast to Julius Caesar who sought fame and power, Cato, his contemporary, was humble and detested corruption. Sallust wrote many memorable characterizations.

The full quote from Sallust is:  Esse quam videri bonus malebat; ita quo minus petabat gloriam eo magis illum sequabatur.

                                                                   He chose to be good rather than seem good. Thus the less he strove for fame the closer it followed him.

I believe the context and full quotation makes the motto even stronger. Latin is noted for its concision.  A thought usually uses fewer words than current Western written languages. Three words make an effective distillation. A moral guide for all and for all time.

Found here and many other places on the internet.:

https://eudict.com/?lang=lateng&word=esse quam videri bonus malebat; ita quo minus petebat gloriam, eo magis illum sequebatur

 

I think you're actually making my case for me here as far as Charlotte is concerned. For as long as many of us can probably remember, Charlotte has been especially concerned with its image which goes hand in hand with its long-held big city aspirations. Charlotte's fundamental approach to urban development was initially established on a disregard for its architectural/structural heritage (i.e., out with the old, in with the new) and further advanced via Hugh McColl's desire to have Charlotte look the part of a cosmopolitan, cultured city fitting to be the home of some of the nation's biggest financial institutions beginning in  the 80s with the rapid ascent of NCNB (which bankrolled several of the first modern developments in Uptown) and First Union. From that point forward, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that, in large part, Charlotte's idea of progress revolved around getting items checked off its big city checklist primarily as a way of boosting its metropolitan bonafides (e.g., professional sports teams/venues, light rail, NASCAR HOF, coveted retailers,  political conventions, the latest additions to the skyline, Wake Forest medical school, etc.) and how frequently it was mentioned on various "best cities" lists (which is why its exclusion from the Amazon HQ2 finalist list really stung).  This is how a city with a reputation for being relatively progressive on matters of racial equality and inclusion as well as an economic juggernaut also becomes known for highly segregated public schools, riots that occurred in the wake of a police shooting of a newly-transplanted Black husband and father in 2016,  and, as of a few years ago, very low economic mobility. 

Understand, I'm not saying any of this to beat up on Charlotte which I will always regard as my beloved first home away from home, but I think lofty, aspirational mottos adopted by state politicians in a much different state and a much different era, much less characterizations of humility and conceit assigned to states in that same very different era, should be regarded as the obvious anachronisms they are. Otherwise, things begin to sound not unlike online comments sections under any politicized news article wherein the historic roots of our two main political parties are mentioned as a way of castigating one and vindicating the other--and just so it isn't left unsaid, this is highly disingenuous. Okay maybe they don't start to sound THAT bad, but anyone who describes NC as the humble, modest underdog uncomfortably stuck betwixt patronizing and high-falutin' SC and VA in the second decade of the 21st century isn't really being completely honest. And NC should be proud of the immense progress it has made over the past century and shouldn't be made to feel bad about blowing its own horn as sheer boosterism (with some actual substance to it) has been a tried-and-true way for places in the South in particular to counter stubborn negative regional stereotypes and accelerate their progress . Atlanta may have established the blueprint for this "New South" MO more than a century ago, but it didn't take Charlotte and NC very long to adopt that same strategy and replicate many of Atlanta's successes. 

 

[Nick2]

On 2/5/2021 at 11:36 AM, kermit said:

You guys have hit on my favorite plan for improving  NC's future prospects. Making the Charlotte-Greensboro (plus Winston)-Raleigh corridor into a single labor market using rail would make the urban crescent globally competitive for attracting talent and knowledge industries. It is also an opportunity to reduce carbon outputs and to create more sustainable cities.

The 2009 ARRA grant built the Charlotte-Greensboro tracks up to 110mph top speed specs (NCDOT has decided not to pay to maintain them at that speed level so 89mph is the best we get currently). This would make travel time between CLT-Gboro under an hour and Gboro-Raleigh less than 50 minutes (tracks east of Greensboro would still need substantial upgrades). These travel times would make daily commutes between Greensboro and the two endpoints totally doable (and a good bit shorter than many rail commuters accept in NYC, Boston, Chicago and DC)

In terms of Gross Metropolitan Product, a unified NC Crescent (all the metro areas between Charlotte and Raleigh) would produce $419 billion worth of stuff annually. This would rank us as the 12th largest metro economy, just behind Atlanta and just ahead of Miami. [Charlotte is currently the 21st largest metro economy ($178 billion per year)]

More importantly, yolking these metro's together with high-frequency passenger rail service would:

• Improve economies in the in between areas (including Greensboro) thanks to some workers in Charlotte and the Triangle seeking out smaller town living along the rail
• Lower the cost of living for many without increasing carbon outputs.
• Allow for more interaction between the arts and design communities in the Triad with the R&D and manufacturing communities of Charlotte and Raleigh.
• Create better connections between the Triangles R&D and Charlotte's finance
• Connect Charlotte's new medical school with medical research clusters in Winston and the Triangle (Winston rail connector would need improvements)

Without some type of improvement like this, NC's cities are going to choke on traffic, be shunned by the global talent pool (most won't know we exist), and get weighted down by low-wage manufacturing jobs.

Charlotte to Raleigh is a bit too far for robust daily commute flows (even by 110mph rail) but daily commuting from Greensboro to either endpoint is totally feasible. It would look a great deal like the urban system in Switzerland (lots of rail commuting from Zurich (finance) to Basel (R&D) and Basel to Geneva (Service / Global hub). This commuting is done at sub-110mph speeds (Switzerland does not have HSR).  Our equivalent rail network is already half built, all we gotta do is make a few remaining improvements to make it to happen.

/rant/

 

 

I'm really sorry for continuing this off topic discussion but it's something I love to think about. 

The entire Piedmont region from Charlotte, to the triad, to the triangle, even down to Fayetteville is growing together. They're expanding a lot of the more rural areas' infrastructure that have prime real estate to have good development among the more dense population centers. Widening roads, increasing rural public transit for moderately populated areas, adding bypasses. 

The new high speed rail will be great for the region and the improvements to the road infrastructure will help these communities as well as having THREE growing international airports as well as other growing regional hubs. 

I'm excited for the future of central NC. 

[KJHburg]

The variety of Southend.  1-2 story buildings,  mid rises 4-7 stories, now high rises.   Forgot there was some retail space at the ground floor corner of the Holiday Inn Express still the only hotel in Southend.   Retail spaces still vacant at Dimensional Funds 

[Urban Cowboy]

A Patagonia store would crush it there.

[CLT2014]

Are there any prospective retail tenants lined up for Dimensional Funds building? 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Are there any prospective retail tenants lined up for Dimensional Funds building? 

if this is up to date their brochure they have 2 new tenants they are negotiating with on the Camden side.    the brochure looks like it was dated 2/19/2021.

Dimensional Place | Foundry Commercial

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous Southend photos from this weekend. 

[j-man]

On 3/4/2021 at 8:25 PM, KJHburg said:

 

And this is why I hate gentrification! This neighborhood like all others have so much charm and character and people just move in and build these bland houses just for a quick buck that don’t fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. Among all of the other issues dealing with gentrification. It’s either these extremely modern homes or the same ole cookie cutter cheap material made homes. Ugh

[carolinaboy]

Will be in Charlotte in about a month visiting UNC-Charlotte with my daughter. Price's Chicken is on my "To Visit" list.

[nicholas]

1 hour ago, carolinaboy said:

Will be in Charlotte in about a month visiting UNC-Charlotte with my daughter. Price's Chicken is on my "To Visit" list.

I go to UNC Charlotte, feel free to send a pm if you have any questions about anything.

[InTheYear2000]

3 hours ago, j-man said:

On 3/4/2021 at 8:25 PM, KJHburg said:

 

And this is why I hate gentrification! This neighborhood like all others have so much charm and character and people just move in and build these bland houses just for a quick buck that don’t fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. Among all of the other issues dealing with gentrification. It’s either these extremely modern homes or the same ole cookie cutter cheap material made homes. Ugh

I have no problem with this house.  It's  not winning any architecture awards but I think homes can be representative of the contemporary even in the context of a mature neighborhood. I mean the home to the right is likely 1900-1920's and at that time it wasn't required to consider the aesthetic of 100 years prior when it was built. I say all this assuming that a historically significant and or contributing structure was not removed to make way for this house. 

[Mgelbach]

[j-man]

1 hour ago, InTheYear2000 said:

I have no problem with this house.  It's  not winning any architecture awards but I think homes can be representative of the contemporary even in the context of a mature neighborhood. I mean the home to the right is likely 1900-1920's and at that time it wasn't required to consider the aesthetic of 100 years prior when it was built. I say all this assuming that a historically significant and or contributing structure was not removed to make way for this house. 

I get that but gentrification nowadays is literally driven by money hungry and greedy developers and realtors who don’t care about architecture as you can see. I’m sure 100 years ago houses were built with more thought put  into it. Specifically how homes in certain cities have their own identity separate from others. A house in Manhattan looked different from a house in Miami, or different in a San Francisco vs a Charleston, or a home in D.C. looked different from a Savannah. That’s my point. And now every singe city is building the same exact homes. I’ve seen this exact design in New Orleans, to Orlando, to Houston, and I’m like....wow every city is losing a big part of what separates them from the each other. And that’s their architecture. Tbh this picture at fist glance looks like the photo from an article I read about gentrification in Austin. And don’t even get me started on these apartments. 

[JacksonH]

9 minutes ago, j-man said:

I get that but gentrification nowadays is literally driven by money hungry and greedy developers and realtors who don’t care about architecture as you can see. I’m sure 100 years ago houses were built with more thought put  into it. Specifically how homes in certain cities have their own identity separate from others. A house in Manhattan looked different from a house in Miami, or different in a San Francisco vs a Charleston, or a home in D.C. looked different from a Savannah. That’s my point. And now every singe city is building the same exact homes. I’ve seen this exact design in New Orleans, to Orlando, to Houston, and I’m like....wow every city is losing a big part of what separates them from the each other. And that’s their architecture. 

It the sameness doesn't stop at Houston.  Sometimes I do a double take looking at pictures posted in this forum because I see new buildings going up in Charlotte that look nearly identical to buildings going up here in San Diego, or new buildings I see when I'm in the D.C. area.  It used to be more interesting traveling this country because each city and region had its own architectural character.  But now we're losing that.  The whole country is starting to look the same, which is all the more reason Charlotte needs to preserve those old brick mills and warehouses and homes, and have new construction designed along the lines of the Rail Yard and Lowes, which convey that same feeling and aesthetics.  Those buildings look like Charlotte.  All those five-story apartment buildings look like Anywhere U.S.A.

[atlrvr]

I blame Pinterest.   Greedy Developers will build whatever Instagram Posting Millennials want.

Edit for slight elaboration: We live in a far more "global" society than 100 years ago, where we are now curated styles we are expected to appreciate by algorithms examining our social network and viewing history (as opposed to walking around town and seeing what the neighbors did)   We've been accelerating towards this for 20 years and the era individualized homogeneity is here in housing and every other aspect of life.

[j-man]

2 hours ago, JacksonH said:

It the sameness doesn't stop at Houston.  Sometimes I do a double take looking at pictures posted in this forum because I see new buildings going up in Charlotte that look nearly identical to buildings going up here in San Diego, or new buildings I see when I'm in the D.C. area.  It used to be more interesting traveling this country because each city and region had its own architectural character.  But now we're losing that.  The whole country is starting to look the same, which is all the more reason Charlotte needs to preserve those old brick mills and warehouses and homes, and have new construction designed along the lines of the Rail Yard and Lowes, which convey that same feeling and aesthetics.  Those buildings look like Charlotte.  All those five-story apartment buildings look like Anywhere U.S.A.

OMG! Thank you! One thing I’d add is that most city’s  developments come from out of town/state development companies. Just look at Charlotte, most of these architects and developers are from elsewhere taking advantage of the market and building for the demand. It’s all about money, with little to no thought of lasting impressions or how these developments fit into the scheme of that city. You can literally be in the middle of any US city and open your eyes and couldn’t tell which one you’re in unless you know specific buildings. Glass towers in downtowns, 5 story stick built apartments on the outskirts of downtown, then the copy and paste neighborhoods with a lake and one tree in each yard! YUCK! I’m so sick of it! I often wonder why people flock to certain cities nowadays as if they all aren’t starting to look and feel the exact same. Yes weather, and cost of living but if the place has no character then is it worth the move.  And yes, Charlotte needs to preserve what’s left because the iconic old structures are being demolished left and right. 

[j-man]

1 hour ago, atlrvr said:

I blame Pinterest.   Greedy Developers will build whatever Instagram Posting Millennials want.

Edit for slight elaboration: We live in a far more "global" society than 100 years ago, where we are now curated styles we are expected to appreciate by algorithms examining our social network and viewing history (as opposed to walking around town and seeing what the neighbors did)   We've been accelerating towards this for 20 years and the era individualized homogeneity is here in housing and every other aspect of life.

I definitely agree with this! Globalization is seen now more than ever. It has some positives to it but many negatives. I say bring back the individualness of things. And chain restaurants are honestly out of control. I saw a list of fast food restaurants and how many locations they have nationwide and so many of them had between 1000 to 10,000 locations....literally there are over 8,000 Starbucks and 14,000 McDonald’s in the U.S. That’s insane! Ugh 

Edited March 10, 2021 by j-man

[Urban Cowboy]

We could have a new tallest if we stacked up all these soapboxes. 
 

To play devils advocate... NYC has over 300 Starbucks and PLENTY of other chains and I’d argue it has the most robust & unique coffee scene in the country. This discussion sounds an awful lot like the “another brewery?” crowd. Market forces drive everything and if consumers support an establishment or buy a new house that’s fine. Doesn’t mean you have to support that business or buy that modern house. End of the day I’ll take the chain and street activation over a vacancy in the same storefront.

And I can assure you that despite some homogenous stick built apartment buildings, Charlotte feels like Charlotte to most out of towners - and it feels especially unique and impressive to folks visiting from the mid-west to west. But yes - I think we should try to preserve historic mills and structures. Market forces drive the real estate market as a whole and there are plenty of ethical discussions around gentrification I won’t dive into. But let’s not forget that even being in a position to pontificate over trivial things like urban development means you’re privileged and already part of the problems you’re concerning yourself with. And if you don’t like the direction that SouthEnd is heading then there are PLENTY of neighborhoods in Charlotte with more local establishments, character, and authenticity. We are talking about SouthEnd after all. It has its place but it’s not representative of Charlotte as a whole.

[CLT Development]

4 hours ago, j-man said:

I get that but gentrification nowadays is literally driven by money hungry and greedy developers and realtors who don’t care about architecture as you can see. I’m sure 100 years ago houses were built with more thought put  into it. Specifically how homes in certain cities have their own identity separate from others. A house in Manhattan looked different from a house in Miami, or different in a San Francisco vs a Charleston, or a home in D.C. looked different from a Savannah. That’s my point. And now every singe city is building the same exact homes. I’ve seen this exact design in New Orleans, to Orlando, to Houston, and I’m like....wow every city is losing a big part of what separates them from the each other. And that’s their architecture. Tbh this picture at fist glance looks like the photo from an article I read about gentrification in Austin. And don’t even get me started on these apartments. 

Have you ever thought that the only reason houses were built with "so much thought" is because every single piece was milled, poured, baked, smelt, chopped, soldered with 10 fingers, two hands, and one brain? Now its done on an assembly line, by massive teams that figure out the "cheapest" and "most efficient" ways to do things? To recreate a brownstone or an east village row house from NYC in Charlotte would cost millions. Regionalism in architecture existed because we were a regionalistic society. Now we are worldly.

Edited March 10, 2021 by The Real Clayton