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Charlotte area "ring cities"


krazeeboi

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Kannapolis City Council approves distribution project but still has to receive state approval because of the location.  Would be interesting to see if this is a single tenant or multiple.....stay tune I guess!

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/job-project-one-step-closer-to-reality/article_7cdda910-c1b0-11e6-9a6a-7b5e72a96f76.html

On 12/1/2016 at 1:56 PM, KJHburg said:

Had some time to kill in Salisbury on business drove/walked around historic West Square neighborhood near downtown Salisbury. Very nice and older homes many much bigger than in many intown Charlotte neighborhoods. I think Salisbury will grow faster than it is now once I-85 is completed with its widening to 8 lanes making easier access to Concord and Charlotte. The high rise in the group of photos will be redone I just read that somewhere. The last photo is the Mission style train station and believe it or not Charlotte had a huge version of this on West Trade that was torn down long ago. 

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Great pictures of my hometown of Salisbury!  I think of all the surrounding cities of Charlotte, Salisbury has the best inventory of unique downtown structures to create a very funky and exciting entertainment/destination area for the region.

Edited by rancenc
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On 1/18/2017 at 2:00 PM, SgtCampsalot said:

That's the newer (1990s?) subdivision of "Crestdale Crossing". It branches off from the Crestdale community, Matthews' original African-American neighborhood (formerly known in the slang as "Tank Town" because of the large wooden water tower they had, though others cited all the homes that had septic tanks...), segregated from Matthews proper and anexxed by Matthews in the 60s or 70s, I believe. Some of my friends as a kid at Matthews Elementary lived there. It was eye opening to my sheltered suburban self how such a disparity of economic situations could exist so close to each other in this age.

Crestdale Crossing has road stubs that will likely eventually connect into Matthews' future master planned "Entertainment District", the TOD district they want to make with the Silver Line.

Edit: Here's the entrance to that subdivision. Turn around and it goes toward the original Crestdale neighborhood.

 

So, I was visiting my parents and some friends in Matthews and took a drive through the Crestdale neighborhood (as cited in the quote above), the African-American community that segregated the black community away from the white from its founding in the 1860s through Jim Crow, that was later annexed by Matthews.

I took some shots of the Crestdale Community Center and its old bell. It is currently not being kept up. It used to be a chapel (I can't seem to find any info on it anymore, however), and was converted to a community center in the latter portion of last century.

It's disappointing to see something so small, that can't possibly be too complicated to upkeep, left in such shape. This very detailed report about Crestdale, its history, and its future, was compiled by the APA for the Town of Matthews in 2011, and it cites many plans the town has, such as creating a "hertiage trail" (multi-use path) connecting the neighborhood to downtown, and other things to acknowledge its history.

A brief excerpt from that APA study:
" Crestdale began as a post-Civil War settlement founded by free African Americans and freed plantation slaves in the 1860s. It is considered the oldest African American community in the state of North Carolina. The first settlers grew into a close-knit community near the railroad tracks along Tank Town Road, now East Charles Street. Tank Town was the original name of the settlement, which referred to the large wooden tank that supplied water to passing trains. According to sources, the name officially changed to Crestdale in 1963. However, the Team and long-time residents were unable to determine why the particular name “Crestdale” was chosen. "

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Edited by SgtCampsalot
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Gastonia news: first retail tenant moves into restored  Loray Mill http://www.gastongazette.com/news/20170126/first-retail-shop-at-redeveloped-loray-mill-to-open-friday

Kannapolis news: New 275 apartment complex in downtown first phase of mixed used project starts this fall. http://businesstodaync.com/construction-downtown-kannapolis-begin-fall/

 

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Downtown Mooresville and the Mooresville Cotton Mill complex home of Main Street Antique mall and  Alinos Pizzeria. The stand alone building is on the back side of the old Burlington textile mill and they are adding on to the front of the antique mall not sure for what possibly another restaurant. Saturday night in the M-ville. Love the vibrancy of their small downtown. Photos 1 and 2 at the Mooresville Cotton Mill complex including Main Street antique mall   Photos 3 and 4 downtown Mooresville.   This new company moved their offices into the Mooresville Cotton Mill complex which is on the south end of downtown  http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2016/12/16/power-tool-company-picks-mooresville-for.html

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Edited by KJHburg
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So it looks like there are more details on the site of the former Knights Stadium area land (off exit 88 in Fort Mill). The development called Southbridge will have 4.5 million sqft of office space, along with apartments, retail and at least 1 hotel. It will be spread out over 350 acres (keyword "spread"). Lincoln Harris and Cato will be partnered in this development. So this will add some a lot more traffic to an already increasingly crowded area. Hope that they really address the infrastructure and mass transit that will be needed to spread down that way.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/02/09/exclusive-lincoln-harris-cato-plan-350-acre-mixed.html#i1

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1 hour ago, HopHead said:

Hope that they really address the infrastructure and mass transit that will be needed to spread down that way.

Is there at least some ballpark projections on what it would cost to extend the Blue Line from where it ends now to say Nations Ford High School?

How in the hell, besides money, would Fort Mill and South Carolina be against this.  Even still, the amount of development that would happen around the line would surely cover a lot of the cost.  Right?  

 

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12 minutes ago, cjd5050 said:

Is there at least some ballpark projections on what it would cost to extend the Blue Line from where it ends now to say Nations Ford High School?

How in the hell, besides money, would Fort Mill and South Carolina be against this.  Even still, the amount of development that would happen around the line would surely cover a lot of the cost.  Right?  

 

maybe 100-150M?

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56 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

maybe 100-150M?

How in the hell do you not pull the trigger on that?

With all of the advantages in SC compared to NC you would see explosive growth.  Even if they were worried about overcrowding the schools...just office parks in Fort Mill would be a huge draw. 

Dumb.

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1 hour ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

maybe 100-150M?

I dunno. It looks like 4.5-5 miles from the Pineville / 485 station and the BLE was roughly 100M per mile.

The Ft Mill extension might have fewer elevated structures (assuming it runs alongside NS with their blessing) but you will still need to build a bridge over 485. I would FMA $350M best case.

That said, extensions of the blue line to Ft Mill and a separate one to Ballantyne (soon to be vital to revitalizing Carolina Place Mall) would certainly be serious trip generators.

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South Carolina would never do this. They are so far behind in roads and maintenance they are proposing just now to raise their gas tax to do needed road improvements and the backlog for which they have is BILLIONs of dollars. (Not to mention Charleston would want some kind of light rail first) The best bet is for commuter express buses maybe 50 years from now but this is not likely in the next 20-30 years due the state of SC's finances.  Pineville did not want the Light Rail into their town so I would not assume Fort Mill would welcome it either. Dittos for Cabarrus county. The best thing Charlotte could do is build out the current system with the commuter rail to Mooresville, lines to Matthews and the airport. 

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32 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

South Carolina would never do this. They are so far behind in roads and maintenance they are proposing just now to raise their gas tax to do needed road improvements and the backlog for which they have is BILLIONs of dollars. (Not to mention Charleston would want some kind of light rail first) The best bet is for commuter express buses maybe 50 years from now but this is not likely in the next 20-30 years due the state of SC's finances.  Pineville did not want the Light Rail into their town so I would not assume Fort Mill would welcome it either. Dittos for Cabarrus county. The best thing Charlotte could do is build out the current system with the commuter rail to Mooresville, lines to Matthews and the airport. 

Interesting.  It makes sense but it also doesn't make sense.  

South Carolina, at the expense of North Carolina and Charlotte has a unique ability to syphon benefit without the cost.  Everything from CLT and professional sports to the companies that call Charlotte home are considered 'assets' to Fort Mill.  You would think someone would look at connecting to all of that with light rail, in the long run, would be a huge benefit.  The expansion of jobs, housing values and the like would go a long way to paying for the road improvements they need elsewhere in the state.  

Only other places with a similar dynamic are NYC and Boston.  NYC works with NJ....through a single agency.  I wish Fort Mill/Charlotte could create something similar.    

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2 hours ago, kermit said:

I dunno. It looks like 4.5-5 miles from the Pineville / 485 station and the BLE was roughly 100M per mile.

The Ft Mill extension might have fewer elevated structures (assuming it runs alongside NS with their blessing) but you will still need to build a bridge over 485. I would FMA $350M best case.

That said, extensions of the blue line to Ft Mill and a separate one to Ballantyne (soon to be vital to revitalizing Carolina Place Mall) would certainly be serious trip generators.

oh wow, its 4.5-5 miles? sorry distances look so much shorter when there is literally no density. I'd think 50M is a good per mile out there where you don't have to do too much eminent domain moves and have a pretty easy ROW.

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34 minutes ago, cjd5050 said:

Interesting.  It makes sense but it also doesn't make sense.  

South Carolina, at the expense of North Carolina and Charlotte has a unique ability to syphon benefit without the cost.  Everything from CLT and professional sports to the companies that call Charlotte home are considered 'assets' to Fort Mill.  You would think someone would look at connecting to all of that with light rail, in the long run, would be a huge benefit.  The expansion of jobs, housing values and the like would go a long way to paying for the road improvements they need elsewhere in the state.  

Only other places with a similar dynamic are NYC and Boston.  NYC works with NJ....through a single agency.  I wish Fort Mill/Charlotte could create something similar.    

I just understand politics between the 2 states. NC would say why spend all the money to extend towards SC even if SC pays their share to make SC even more attractive to tax paying businesses of NC.? Like I said Charleston has rumblings of light rail or some kind of mass transit you will see it there first in the Palmetto state. And as I pointed out SC can not even handle their own roads now much less the cost of light rail line. . I know there are multiple state agencies like Metro in DC but it just wont happen anytime soon next 20-30 years. It may take that long to get all the system already planned to be built in NC out. As  a NC taxpayer I would rather see lines built to Gaston County extended to Union County Iredell county before my tax dollars are used to extend a line toward SC. 

Does it make common sense to extend the line to Fort Mill Yes but politically it won't happen. 

Edited by KJHburg
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