Charlotte area "ring cities"

[15895]

29 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Eastfield Village is actually largely in Charlotte city limits, with some unincorporated. You hit the Cabarrus County border about 1.5 miles north on Eastfield by the aquatics center.

Still, it looks like dozens of places here

[CLT2014]

Indeed, the developers there went for the LKN style of communities.

[js4life]

East field Village was originally apart of a larger plan to create a urban village from the 485 interchange to east field rd. The explosive growth around Highland Creek/Concord Mills altered the plan somewhat

[rancenc]

Exciting proposal for downtown Kannapolis....hopefully a prelude of things to come for the area.

http://www.salisburypost.com/2016/03/29/kannapolis/

[SgtCampsalot]

48 minutes ago, rancenc said:

Exciting proposal for downtown Kannapolis....hopefully a prelude of things to come for the area.

http://www.salisburypost.com/2016/03/29/kannapolis/

While that's exciting, are they seriously demolishing a whole block of the old downtown buildings??

[caterpillar2]

Can one commute from Kannapolis to Charlotte daily by rail if one works in Charlotte?

[SgtCampsalot]

^probably after the rail upgrades are finished. It would just be a little more strict in the scheduling than a typical commuter line.

Edited March 30, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[hambone931]

21 hours ago, caterpillar2 said:

Can one commute from Kannapolis to Charlotte daily by rail if one works in Charlotte?

I worked with a lady who commuted from Kannapolis to Fort Mill everyday for years.

[SgtCampsalot]

This Fourplex in downtown Huntersville, on Old Statesville Rd, at Greenway St.

I didn't get a shot of the rear upstairs entrances.

 

This old strip in downtown Huntersville, on Main St, at Huntersville-Concord Rd. (Front and back)

Directly facing the NS rail line. This is the kind of dual-paralleled part of the rail corridor that would make a Red Line tricky...

 

Edited April 27, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[SgtCampsalot]

Matthews continuing to expand their little North End extension of downtown off of N Trade St (continues to N John St), the part when their old downtown "ends." It's a pretty cool area for what it is: small, but gridded, well proportioned buildings. But this new addition gripes me.

I love the architecture, but I'm pretty sure they're making the main entrances facing the parking lot. It made sense for the original portion of North End because it was self-contained, and the storefronts WERE NOT facing a parking lot. But it seems this new lot doesn't want to make efforts to encourage activity on Trade St. It's just a shame...

[rancenc]

New housing development in Kannapolis

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/kannapolis-approves-home-development/article_d0017e76-0d80-11e6-b85d-8b1ccbc57a5d.html

Also the downtown of the city is inching towards a major revitalization.  More concrete information this summer

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/kannapolis-moving-forward-with-million-downtown-complex/article_5d08a6b6-0bc2-11e6-9bbb-97f707beb0c8.html

[rancenc]

Proposed new minor league baseball stadium and performing arts center in downtown Kannapolis

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/stadium-at-old-k-town-site-performing-arts-on-south/article_3408bb58-3547-11e6-8c6e-8731e782bf07.html

[SgtCampsalot]

57 minutes ago, rancenc said:

Proposed new minor league baseball stadium and performing arts center in downtown Kannapolis

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/stadium-at-old-k-town-site-performing-arts-on-south/article_3408bb58-3547-11e6-8c6e-8731e782bf07.html

Hmm, I don't know what to think of that. I guess I understand the ballpark; it's a smaller town than many, that could be a good people-bringer with baseball's chill vibe (or beer-intake vibe, depending on who you are). But who knows.

A performing arts center could be nice, though the idea seems a little played out in so many other cities and towns.

This whole thing will be interesting to watch. I'm curious of its real effect on the "life" of downtown.

Edited June 18, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[KJHburg]

Had business in Salisbury and walked around a bit downtown. A brewery opening up. The scale and architectural style of downtown is what Charlotte looked like in the 1950s as my mom described to me (and through photos I have seen).  It is becoming more lively there as a local told me. Check it out. Their Mission style train station is really nice and we had one even larger in Charlotte on West Trade St now demolished. 

Edited June 27, 2016 by KJHburg

[rancenc]

Thanks for the posts "KJHburg" of just a tiny percentage of Salisbury's gems of architectural styles.  Salisbury has a fantastic and historically varied downtown that is SLOWLY evolving with new shops and restaurants opening up.  The city in my opinion has the most unique downtown in the Piedmont section of the state (Winston-Salem might have a edge).  The city along with Charlotte and Salem (the older of the twins of Winston-Salem) were really the dominate towns in the Piedmont section of the state prior to the Revolutionary War.  The city still has quite a few residential and commercial buildings that pre-date the Civil War, since the city was not damaged by General Sherman's troops when it was captured from the Confederacy.

[KJHburg]

It was so hot I could not walk as much I as wanted to through the more residential historic district. I liked the scale and the number of buildings intact in downtown Salisbury. And remember George Washington on his southern tour in 1791 was much more impressed with Salisbury than Charlotte especially since Salisbury was bigger then. If Salisbury was about 20 miles closer to Charlotte it would be booming but that is what might have also saved it. Here is one more an old school Chinese restaurant on Council St a bit off Main Street. 

Edited June 27, 2016 by KJHburg

[videtur quam contuor]

That building has a Federal style look to it with the second floor stone window supports and lintels. Then the brick corbel (?) work near the top and the wood features just below the roofline. Some architect can identify the features by name but it looks much like Georgetown and other cities from 1790-1820. Then a brick sidewalk and stone curbing. I guess an iron vertical feature on each side of the first floor window. Lots of visual interest and worthy of respect.

[11 HouseBZ]

Another neat place is Go Burrito on Fisher st. It use to be my barber shop as a kid. Now it has a roof top patio and bar. Definitely a step up for downtown since I was a kid. Just went to New Sarem brewery, great space in a up and coming neighborhood. Talked to few of the bartenders and a new winery/ beer hall is going in to a spot just down the street. 

[11 HouseBZ]

While talking about buildings in Salisbury, I thought some would like to see what some of the new buildings look like in Salisbury. In downtown I think they are required to build to match the historic structures at least in form and materials. At least that's what I was told 8 years ago when I work for that city. Also note the new police headquarters a couple of blocks away. Is this what some have been calling form based codes? Or at least a version of said code? And could this be required in neighborhoods like NoDa, Plaza- Midwood, Wesley Heights, South End, etc? (The look and materials matching) 

141 E Council St

 

https://goo.gl/maps/9ARxxuBQZEq

Edited June 28, 2016 by 11 HouseBZ

[rancenc]

Glad to see continued growth in the smaller suburban towns in the metro area.

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/growth-continues-in-midland-with-new-housing-developments/article_47a69c5a-4778-11e6-9ac4-fbdf3b1e59cd.html

 

[Windsurfer]

1 hour ago, rancenc said:

Glad to see continued growth in the smaller suburban towns in the metro area.

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/growth-continues-in-midland-with-new-housing-developments/article_47a69c5a-4778-11e6-9ac4-fbdf3b1e59cd.html

 

Not me, bro. Keep things urban. 

[ah59396]

7 minutes ago, Windsurfer said:

Not me, bro. Keep things urban. 

 

Agreed.  I'm all for urban growth in the ring cities, specifically in relation to renewing the old downtowns, but I can't really find many positives in "Wyndham Forest" (aka, wipe out the forest and replace it with mcmansions).  All this means is more commuters, driving from farther out and clogging up the roadways.

NO:

Edited July 11, 2016 by ah59396

[Nick2]

Not sure if this is the right topic to post this under but here's an interesting article about urbanization of the intersection of south tryon and 485.

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/56830/ayrsley-gotten-cool-becoming-steele-creeks-new-downtown/

I think we're watching the birth of a new, walk-able, urban neighborhood that I could see being another very trendy area.

[SgtCampsalot]

13 minutes ago, Nick2 said:

Not sure if this is the right topic to post this under but here's an interesting article about urbanization of the intersection of south tryon and 485.

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/56830/ayrsley-gotten-cool-becoming-steele-creeks-new-downtown/

I think we're watching the birth of a new, walk-able, urban neighborhood that I could see being another very trendy area.

For the most part Ayrsley has good buildings with a good sidewalk network. Its biggest drawback, aside from the hell that is S Tryon St, is that it's still new. But it may be something with character one day.

[rancenc]

Don't remember seeing anything about the Anchor Mill development in downtown Huntersville.  Here is a article from May of this year concerning the progress of the project.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/community/lake-norman-mooresville/article76652137.html