Charlotte area "ring cities"

[rancenc]

Major new development proposed for Belmont!

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2021/05/25/belmont-approves-construction-809-homes-13-acre-commercial-center/7414751002/

[KJHburg]

I see a future UP meetup site up here in Kannapolis.  Food and beer side by side in a newly revitalized downtown.    The Vida apartments are opening up and the new townhomes on the south end of downtown are starting (land development now)  Plenty more small locally owned businesses filling in the shop space.  Fountains parks stages outdoor seating areas in abundance.  Oh yeah a new downtown minor league baseball park.   The Gem renovation is a well a gem.  NC Research Campus looks great as usual. 

and later this summer I predict an UP meetup in this ring city ride the Amtrak up if you like from CLT and spend the day downtown.  

[JRNYP2C]

On 5/25/2021 at 3:31 PM, rancenc said:

Major new development proposed for Belmont!

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2021/05/25/belmont-approves-construction-809-homes-13-acre-commercial-center/7414751002/

For those of us that live near this development, it is going to be hell on wheels.  Belmont City Council and Planning Department posted that they discussed this for four hours last night.  What a monumental waste of time.  They knew they were going to approve this - and did it anyway.  These people are responsible for making Eastern Gaston County look exactly like any paved over portion of Mecklenburg County.  If there is an open lot or plot of land, they are going to just OK whatever developer walks up to them with a proposal.  The infrastructure is not able to handle what is currently traveling on the roads, and dumping 800 homes (it doesn't matter if it is a 55+ age group), there are going to be even more traffic issues on roads that cannot handle it.

Not to mention, it is going to roll along the South Fork River to the east.  Based on what I have heard and seen from other developments going up along the South Fork and Catawba, these developers do little to no remediation when it comes to runoff.  They could care less about other people's property and the damage it does.

There are many of us in Gaston County that are understanding about growth and that it is inevitable.  However, Belmont is taking a stance that they don't care that it takes people from Gastonia, Cramerton, McAdenville and South Carolina a tremendous amount of time just to get through that town to get to 85 or Wilkinson Boulevard.  They just want the tax base.  I've said it before, but residential tax base will not sustain long term.  They are not looking for any business to set up shop.  At least Gastonia is trying to score new corporate business partners to establish a workforce.

It's all about smart growth, which IMHO, Belmont is lacking.  Unfortunately, I don't live there, so I don't have a say in their elections.  I would certainly be voting against every single one of them though.

[rancenc]

Development proposed for downtown Rock Hill, SC

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/05/26/white-point-partners-rock-hill-herald-project.html

[SpiritOf76]

I went to the outer ring today - Asheboro - to visit the antique mall.  Impressive mill presence in the area.  

[rancenc]

Great pictures of Asheboro, @SpiritOf76! I personally have not been in the downtown area of that city in probably 25 years or so! Of course, I've always considered Asheboro/Randolph County in the "sphere of influence" of the Greensboro-High Point area!

Edited May 29, 2021 by rancenc

[JacksonH]

3 hours ago, SpiritOf76 said:

I went to the outer ring today - Asheboro - to visit the antique mall.  Impressive mill presence in the area.  

All those pictures are quite familiar to me as I grew up there.  My parents are still there so I visit a couple times a year.  If it weren't for them I would never go there, though.  Suffice it to say you couldn't pay me enough to live in that town.  rancenc is correct, though.  Asheboro is definitely part of the Triad and about 20 or 25 minutes from Greensboro.  Folks there are closely tied to Greensboro and I would not be surprised at all if most have never even been to Charlotte.  I know people there my age (old) who have never been on a plane and think going to Myrtle Beach is a big deal.  It's not entirely like that as I also know a few well-traveled and interesting people there but they're the exception not the rule.

[rancenc]

Updates on the new Trenton Mill renovation in downtown Gastonia!

https://www.facebook.com/LiveTrentonMill/?ref=page_internal

 

[SpiritOf76]

Spent the afternoon at Gibson Mill in Concord. My friend works at high branch. New Gibson Market opening soon ...

[videtur quam contuor]

Children were valuable to mill spinning operations as a thread break meant stopping machinery and finding the break and tying the thread (yarn) and restarting. A small person could crawl quickly into the machinery and small fingers make quick work. It was a different kind of misery for poor whites from subsistence agriculture and occasional famine. Also they would never compete with blacks for these jobs. It was whites only. The owners would likely have used blacks at lower wage but the whites would have none of it. 

Lewis Hine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hine

[Nick2]

@SpiritOf76 @rancenc

Asheboro has come a long way. They have a brewery downtown and multiple new restaurants and bars. The evolution of that city since the recession is stunning.

They are currently converting the remaining abandoned mill downtown into low income housing. And the previous section they completed will be full price after ten years being low rent. Hundreds of apartments within walking distance to the main strip of downtown, schools, and like four parks.

I recommend a day or weekend trip to asheboro. You can hit up the zoo one day and hang around downtown in the evening.

[videtur quam contuor]

L-o-o–o-o-o-ng ago when the route to Chapel Hill and Raleigh from Charlotte was through Asheboro, the Blue Mist restaurant was the stopping place for Bar b que. Blue Mist=hickory smoke (get it?).  Great name. I have not been there in 40 years. It closed a few years ago but a sister restaurant in Randleman persists. 

I take this discussion off track for the historic features of Asheboro. MANY people will recall the Blue Mist..

[JacksonH]

4 hours ago, Nick2 said:

@SpiritOf76 @rancenc

Asheboro has come a long way. They have a brewery downtown and multiple new restaurants and bars. The evolution of that city since the recession is stunning.

Thanks mainly to finally passing a law in 2008  that made sales of alcoholic beverages legal.   I can remember people fighting to pass that law as far back as the '70s but the citizens of Asheboro were predominantly people who wanted to keep Asheboro in the stone age, and the ballot measure kept failing year after year until the city was in such dire straits that it finally passed it in 2008.  And just as the pro-alcohol people had always predicted, allowing for alcoholic beverages would make it possible to have some nice restaurants in town.  Prior to 2008 there were none, just fast food and fried food and soda and a dead downtown.  And Asheboro had the dubious distinction of being the largest dry city in North Carolina.  But now people can come to Asheboro, visit the zoo or the Seagrove potteries, then have a nice, relaxing meal at a nice establishment like Positano or Hamilton's, or enjoy a glass of wine at Lumina.  That's Asheboro now.  This was Asheboro before:  

 

4 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

I take this discussion off track for the historic features of Asheboro. MANY people will recall the Blue Mist..

I went there quite  a few times growing up!

Edited June 1, 2021 by JacksonH

[Nick2]

@JacksonH It was a strange thing growing up in this area and watching it evolve out of the prohibition era almost a hundred years late. Multiple small towns within 20 miles of Asheboro followed suit in the next few years after Asheboro joined the 21st century including seagrove.

Btw those mill lofts are seriously nice. It's like something straight out of noda or south end.

 

[rancenc]

Great things are happening in Hickory!

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/06/01/hickory-north-carolina-blazes-a-new-trail.html

 

[KJHburg]

Kannapolis city newsletter has news about a new greenway in town as well as the new parking garage downtown (free but overnight parking prohibited unless resident of the apartments or with a pass from Amtrak station nearby)

June 2021 Kannapolis Matters.pdf (kannapolisnc.gov)

Edited June 7, 2021 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

$235M new Caromont Hospital in Belmont breaks ground today. 

CaroMont Health breaks ground on medical campus in Belmont - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

CaroMont Health Kick-Off Construction for New Hospital, Medical Campus in Belmont

[rancenc]

The Alexander Farm development in Cornelius should break ground in the 4th Quarter of 2021.

https://www.corneliustoday.com/alexander-farm-will-break-ground-in-4th-quarter/

[QCxpat]

Today's CBJ "Gallo Winery announces plans for $423 M East Coast Hub in Chester County" by Collin Huguley

Excerpt:  "On Tuesday, the state made official E. & J. Gallo Winery's plans to establish an East Coast hub in Fort Lawn, South Carolina.  The project calls for an initial investment of $423 million and the creation of 496 jobs over the next eight years. The operation will include a production facility, bottling, canning, warehousing, a distribution center and an import and export hub."  "It will be at a more than 650-acre site in Fort Lawn, county documents show.  Construction on the facility will begin "almost immediately," with the first piece of the project targeted for completion in October 2022.  Robert Long, director of Chester County Economic Development, said the buildings will total around 1.5 million square feet."  "Gallo is headquartered in Modesto, California, and is the nation's largest winemaker.  Its only other manufacturing operation is in California, Long said."  "Rob Donoho, vice president for Gallo, said in April that the pledged investment was only for the first phase of the project.   Donoho said it could include five phases over the next three decades.  He estimated, upon full buildout, the project would include over $1 billion in investment, with more than 1,000 jobs created."  "The S.C. House passed a bill last month that would allow Gallo to open three satellite tasting rooms throughout the state.  The tasting rooms can only be open between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.  The closing time was set early to avoid competition between the tasting rooms and local restaurants.  The bill would also allow Gallo to sell up to six bottles of wine to each person who visits a tasting room."

                                       

LInk:  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/06/15/gallo-winery-announces-chester-county-plans.html

Edited June 15, 2021 by QCxpat

[rancenc]

City of Albemarle begins infrastructure on a new business park in Stanly County!

https://www.thesnaponline.com/2021/06/15/albemarle-selects-njr-group-to-build-infrastructure-for-new-business-center/

[Skyybutter]

On 5/29/2021 at 8:48 PM, JacksonH said:

All those pictures are quite familiar to me as I grew up there.  My parents are still there so I visit a couple times a year.  If it weren't for them I would never go there, though.  Suffice it to say you couldn't pay me enough to live in that town.  rancenc is correct, though.  Asheboro is definitely part of the Triad and about 20 or 25 minutes from Greensboro.  Folks there are closely tied to Greensboro and I would not be surprised at all if most have never even been to Charlotte.  I know people there my age (old) who have never been on a plane and think going to Myrtle Beach is a big deal.  It's not entirely like that as I also know a few well-traveled and interesting people there but they're the exception not the rule.

What a depressed city Asheboro looks to be. Wow. Asheboro and Randolph County are well known as very racist with rumors of active KKK. Let it rot.

[Nick2]

9 minutes ago, Skyybutter said:

What a depressed city Asheboro looks to be. Wow. Asheboro and Randolph County are well known as very racist with rumors of active KKK. Let it rot.

Actually the NC home of the KKK is in Davison county in the town of Denton.

Asheboro used to be extremely depressed after much of the textiles and manufacturing left for overseas. But since the recession the city has gone through a renaissance.

To be fair, if Charlotte is the Applebee's of cities, Asheboro is the dollar general.

 

[JacksonH]

51 minutes ago, Skyybutter said:

What a depressed city Asheboro looks to be. Wow. Asheboro and Randolph County are well known as very racist with rumors of active KKK. Let it rot.

I have to say that Facebook was an eye-opener for me.  I joined in 2008 and reconnected with a number of people I was with in high school, that I had been completely out of touch with for decades.  It was shocking.  It was if the world had been turning for 35 years,  except for A'boro. I've had some very uncomfortable exchanges with some of those folks.  I mostly have to ignore them in order to prevent my blood  from  boiling  over.  Not ironically, the few that grew into cool, open-minded adults also (with only a couple  exceptions) moved away from there long ago and have never looked back.  The ones that stayed behind tend to be, well, different.

[JacksonH]

Last week in Asheboro.

[Nick2]

@JacksonH Redneck culture is still alive and well but if you stay away from certain parts of town, you wouldn't notice it much. Hang out downtown in the coffee shops, restaurants, bars/brewery, farmers market, parks, theater, etc and the group of people you'll see are similar to what you'd find in a more "sophisticated" city. 

There's also a thriving Mexican American culture. I've been to a few amazing quinceaneras and block parties with people I've worked with or went to school with. It's a lot of fun interacting with different people groups. Asheboro is 30% Hispanic.

You'll do yourself a favor if you delete any Qanon/magahat wearing wackadoodles from your life. They're much louder in media than in real life.