Downtown Winston-Salem Developments

[sax184]

Greensboro's convention center is certainly not urban, but the city does benefit from having the largest arena in the state--which would seem to factor into why it has been able to snag a good bit of conventions, especially those needing more space than a typical convention center is able to afford.

How many conventions in Greensboro use both Koury and the Coliseum? I can't imagine there are many. If there is an actual market for this type of thing, Charlotte will soon steal all the business away because their convention center and arena will be a short walk or light-rail ride from each other.

[ncbrian]

How many conventions in Greensboro use both Koury and the Coliseum? I can't imagine there are many. If there is an actual market for this type of thing, Charlotte will soon steal all the business away because their convention center and arena will be a short walk or light-rail ride from each other.

I agree. I have spent two weekends now in the Charlotte area I am impressed with their downtown as a place of commerce and living. Plenty of restaurants and hotels, densely packed together, I can see the attraction of the city in drawing any sizeable conventions in this region. Once they have a better handle on retail in downtown ( more shops and business hours in the evenings and weekends), I can not see how any other city can compete really.

[krazeeboi]

How many conventions in Greensboro use both Koury and the Coliseum? I can't imagine there are many. If there is an actual market for this type of thing, Charlotte will soon steal all the business away because their convention center and arena will be a short walk or light-rail ride from each other.

I didn't mean to imply that most of the conventions in Greensboro utilize both the KCC and the Coliseum, but rather that many gatherings only use the Coliseum, and its size gives Greensboro an advantage in landing certain types of events, such as the NCAA tournament, national cheerleading competitions, and other such events. It is true that for conventions needing both a convention center and arena, Charlotte is about the best you'll get in NC.

[twincity]

back to the progress...

a few renderings of the first prebyterian church expansion. bye-bye surface lot.

[suburban george3]

Took a couple of pics of West End Village and Trader's Row today, here are the links...

Traders Row looking from 5th St.

Traders Row from 6th St.

Traders Row from 7th St.

West End Village

West End Village Townhomes

Hope you enjoy!

[twincity]

some highlights from the May 2006 DWSP newsletter...

BIOTECHNOLOGY Research Facility 1 will have its grand opening on May 16. The 5-story, 200 s.f. building will be the newest and largest in the Piedmont Triad Research Park.

THE GALLERY LOFTS, a 77-unit residential project in the Goler Heights neighborhood on the north end of downtown, has opened a furnished model unit. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1-5 p.m. For more information call Mary Sloan at 788-7663.

THE MARSHALL STREET TOWNHOMES is a new project that has been announced by Old Salem on 2.5 acres of former Coca-Cola property on South Marshall Street. Plans call for 23 bungalow-style townhouses facing Poplar Street and 22 federal-style brick townhouses facing Marshall Street. Sizes will range from 1,400 s.f.-28,000 s.f. The project will be marketed by Prudential Carolinas Realty.

FIVE & 40 will be the name of a new working space for artists, a gallery where visitors can buy art by emerging contemporary artists, and a meeting space for businesses and community organizations. It will also serve as home base for A.G. Garland, Inc., The Marketing Company, owned and operated by Amy Garland. Five & 40 will be in the building formerly occupied by ReAlis Gallery at 541 N. Trade Street in the Downtown Arts District. The anticipated opening date is July 1.

THE STROLLWAY IS BEING EXTENDED from Fourth Street to Northwest Boulevard, as called for in the Downtown Plan adopted by City Council in 2002. A public input meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, May 18, from 6:15

[yadkinv]

Where is the DWSP Newsletter - at their website the latest version is and has been December 2005 since that date???

[twincity]

I subscribed to the newsletter. They stopped updating that website since Lyons Gray left. Lazy.

[yadkinv]

Thanks

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Great pics TwinCity.

[twincity]

strollway expansion

click on proposed downtown strollway

Edited May 26, 2006 by twincity

[twincity]

Russell ad agency is moving downtown!

http://journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pa...d=1149188609862

[intcvlcphlga]

Russell ad agency is moving downtown!

http://journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pa...d=1149188609862

That's great news and it's a great re-use of an existing property. I hope some of their employees were wise enough to buy in West End Village.

[twincity]

New sports bar coming to Burke Street!

from Smitty's notes on journalnow.com

A new establishment is coming to the Burke Street district. It's called Sports on Burke - a restaurant, grill and sports bar rolled into one. The proprietor is leasing about 2,300 square feet of space in a building partially occupied by Morning Dew Coffee Roasters. The restaurant will have a 10-foot projection-screen TV and nine 42-inch plasma-screen TVs throughout, including the bathroom, so you won't have to miss a minute of your favorite sporting event. However, the emphasis will be on the food. The menu will feature a mix of breakfast items, burgers, wraps, salads, fish, chicken and beef entrees. Brunch is planned on Sunday. There will be seating for 100 patrons and there are plans for live music and stand-up comedy a couple of times a month. The owner said he hopes to open within the next few weeks, pending final inspections. Sports on Burke is at 1049 Burke St. The hours will be 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. For more information, call 722-9986. As for Morning Dew Coffee Roasters, proprietor Jim Brady, who is also the building's owner, has seen a shift in his retail business over the past few years, with a decrease in sit-down coffee drinkers and more takeout customers. There has also been a large increase in Morning Dew's coffee-roasting business, which now accounts for most of his sales, so Brady decided the timing was right to lease the additional space to Sports on Burke. Morning Dew is still open for business next door at 1047 Burke St. There are just fewer places to sit down. For more information, call 723-5282.

[ncbrian]

Does anybody have a list of the bars, cafes, restaurants and similar places in the Burke St area?

I would probably define the area as including 4th street from Broad St to where 1st St meets up with Hawthorne, essentially most of the West End thus including places like the Filling Station and West Cafe but not places along West End Blvd.

Also, I see that I now have reached Whistle-Stop ranking. How many more posts before the next level?

Edited July 13, 2006 by ncbrian

[JerseyBoy]

Does anybody have a list of the bars, cafes, restaurants and similar places in the Burke St area?

I would probably define the area as including 4th street from Broad St to where 1st St meets up with Hawthorne, essentially most of the West End thus including places like the Filling Station and West Cafe but not places along West End Blvd.

Also, I see that I now have reached Whistle-Stop ranking. How many more posts before the next level?

Well for bars we have Fusion, Black Bear, Gatsby's, and Rubber Soul. For restaurants/cafes we have Burke Street Pizza, Morning Dew, The Lighthouse Restaurant, The Filling Station, West End Cafe, and a smoothie shop on Brookstown but just one storefront down from Burke Street.

[intcvlcphlga]

Well for bars we have Fusion, Black Bear, Gatsby's, and Rubber Soul. For restaurants/cafes we have Burke Street Pizza, Morning Dew, The Lighthouse Restaurant, The Filling Station, West End Cafe, and a smoothie shop on Brookstown but just one storefront down from Burke Street.

Don't forget Christopher's on Brookstown and Broad - they have a pretty big patio where you can drink (good martini menu) and/or eat. And, they have live music 3-4x per week.

[mikeyhy]

Well for bars we have Fusion, Black Bear, Gatsby's, and Rubber Soul. For restaurants/cafes we have Burke Street Pizza, Morning Dew, The Lighthouse Restaurant, The Filling Station, West End Cafe, and a smoothie shop on Brookstown but just one storefront down from Burke Street.

Fusion is closed, the building is for lease (again). The main draw as far as bars go is Burke Street Pub, and there is also First Street Draught House, on the corner of 1st and Hawthorne. I walked by the new sports bar yesterday (I work on Burke Street) and it's probably a month from opening. They have a menu taped up on the door, pretty large, but not a ton of variety - your standard sports bar fare, mostly grilled sandwiches. I think it will be a nice addition to the area though!

[mikeyhy]

The sports bar (Sports on Burke) may not happen...I talked to the building owner this morning who was on his way to court to evict "his tenant", meaning the sports bar. No details given on why, but what a shame to lose a new business from the area before it even gets off the ground

[ncbrian]

That is unusual for a prospective business to be booted out after all of the announcements and preliminary construction. My guess is that it is probably a personal dispute but we should find out soon enough what the cause is.

[twincity]

from journalnow.com

AllPoints buys $1 million building at First and Liberty

AllPoints Research Inc., a marketing-research company, has bought a building on First Street across from Corpening Plaza downtown for $1 million and plans to move there from leased space on North Point Boulevard in a few months.

Tara Olson, one of the owners of AllPoints, said yesterday that the company had been wanting to buy a building for several years and the building at First and Liberty streets fit its needs.

"We really believe in the downtown revitalization effort," Olson said.

AllPoints, which Olson owns with Sherrie Aycock, has 17 employees, including the owners. Olson said they plan to make improvements on the building and it would be a few months before the business moves in.

[intcvlcphlga]

from journalnow.com

AllPoints buys $1 million building at First and Liberty

AllPoints Research Inc., a marketing-research company, has bought a building on First Street across from Corpening Plaza downtown for $1 million and plans to move there from leased space on North Point Boulevard in a few months.

Tara Olson, one of the owners of AllPoints, said yesterday that the company had been wanting to buy a building for several years and the building at First and Liberty streets fit its needs.

"We really believe in the downtown revitalization effort," Olson said.

AllPoints, which Olson owns with Sherrie Aycock, has 17 employees, including the owners. Olson said they plan to make improvements on the building and it would be a few months before the business moves in.

Is this the 1 story building? It would be nice if they would tear it down and built something larger...but, I guess since they only have 17 employees, that's not going to happen.

[ncbrian]

Is this the 1 story building? It would be nice if they would tear it down and built something larger...but, I guess since they only have 17 employees, that's not going to happen.

It is a pretty much an unremarkable building indistinguishable from any building you would see in any industrial park. It is on the sunken side of 1st street and is pretty easy to miss if you drive past it.

I concur that it would be nice to tear down the building. There are some surface parking lots surrounding the building and then there is that hollow behind it that goes under Business 40 and stuck in the middle of the hollow is a steel column supporting a billboard. It is not a desireable location by any stretch. In fact, I am probably of the mind to contour the land, plant some trees there and make it an extension of the strollway. The office buildings on Cherry and 1st can be much better locations for the current building's tenants.

On a side note, walking past the One Vista Place development, I see that the work crews are gutting the interiors now. It probably will be a while before they start tearing down the buildings but at least there is progress.

[suburban george3]

It appears we may have some shoppes opening in the Nissen building downtown

Quizno's, Bruegger's Bagles, and Dilworth Coffee interested in Nissen Retail Space Journal Aritcle

While this would be more for the lunch crowd and I'm a bigger proponent of local business, it's great for downtown when national chains start to think it's a good area to have location in as well!

[ncbrian]

It appears we may have some shoppes opening in the Nissen building downtown

Quizno's, Bruegger's Bagels, and Dilworth Coffee interested in Nissen Retail Space Journal Aritcle

While this would be more for the lunch crowd and I'm a bigger proponent of local business, it's great for downtown when national chains start to think it's a good area to have location in as well!

So the Cheesecake cafe touted for the street level retail space is not going to happen?

The Quiznos shop will be a good addition when you consider that there is a lack of fast food retail downtown. Tokyo Sapphiro's takeout and some of the other sandwich shops cover part of the market but there is ample capacity for more and the location is far enough from the Subway on Main St so as not to take business away from there. If they are open late in the evenings, they could get a fair bit of trade from the hotels.

As for the coffee shop, we are not lacking for coffee downtown.

While I would prefer local indigenous retail stores downtown to foster a sense of community and identity, these franchises do provide a bit of stability for downtown.

Notice also that much of the latest announcements(Marshall McGreatys, Skippys, Downtown Billards renovations etc..) have been around the Marshall and Fourth St area which ties into the Twin City Quarter project around the hotels/convention center. Hopefully when the One Vista Place and the Civic Plaza projects are completed on the south side of Fourth St from Cherry to Liberty, then we will have a solid downtown core.