Jump to content

Metropolitan, Midtown Redevelopment


uptownliving

Recommended Posts


There are entrances to the building on the Kings Side of the project, however I'm not sure that it is best buy or not as this building will house marshalls staples and best buy in a 2 floor stacked nature I believe. My question is are there any larger best buy signs than this because this one seems rather small compared to the target and homedepot signs.

On leaving Target tonight (god how I do not miss driving down to Pineville), I spied what looked like the main entrance to BB off the new road. If you look at Riverwood's photo, you can see the beginning of a glass curtain wall in the far right just behind the bike lane sign/rear view mirror. There is a much larger Best Buy sign there, and none of that crappy "Best Buy Blue" - just awesome curtain wall action.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From RiverwoodCLT's photo, it does look like there are a number of retail entrances into to the Best Buy / Marshall's / Staples retail building from the Charlottetowne Ave sidewalk as well. Hopefully those aren't "fake" entrances that will be locked and used as display windows.

Can somebody take some updated pictures of what the Metropolitan Midtown complex looks like from Kings?

Assuming that the windows & doors along Charlottetowne are real entrances into the building, this is shaping up to have a great deal more external focus than I originally thought it would.

As for the Wendy's ruining everything, well, that can eventually be redeveloped, and quite easily too. No biggie. Hopefully there are enough surplus parking spaces in the Target deck so that whatever goes there won't have to waste money and space on parking of its own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From RiverwoodCLT's photo, it does look like there are a number of retail entrances into to the Best Buy / Marshall's / Staples retail building from the Charlottetowne Ave sidewalk as well. Hopefully those aren't "fake" entrances that will be locked and used as display windows.

Can somebody take some updated pictures of what the Metropolitan Midtown complex looks like from Kings?

Assuming that the windows & doors along Charlottetowne are real entrances into the building, this is shaping up to have a great deal more external focus than I originally thought it would.

As for the Wendy's ruining everything, well, that can eventually be redeveloped, and quite easily too. No biggie. Hopefully there are enough surplus parking spaces in the Target deck so that whatever goes there won't have to waste money and space on parking of its own.

Met is kind of scary over on Kings. I am not sure what there are for entrances, but I can say that I feel like I am driving through the canyons on the Death Star when I slolem my way through there. The back/front/side (?) of the Marshalls/BestBuy building is very close to the street, or maybe it feels that way with the construction still going. Maybe it won't feel that way once it's done. But like I said, I can't confirm what there is for entrances on Kings, as I haven't been able to look in attempts to not crash my car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to the site plan, the loading bays take up MOST of the frontage along Kings, however, right at the corner of Charlottetowne and Kings there is something "else" at that corner. Looks like two elevators, a stairway, and some sort of lobby.

The question is, is this a public lobby, that can be accessed from the street? Or, are these simply freight elevators for moving merchandise from the loading docks to the retailers on the second floor?

The area in question is highlighted in red here:

metcorner.jpg

Regardless, at least there are at least 4 smaller retail spaces along Charlottetowne.

This may all be bloody obvious, but I'm sitting in Raleigh and can't exactly drive by to check it out myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked in that door on the corner that orulz referenced but it is difficult to tell if the public will be able to use that entrance or not. There is definitely a staircase there, but it looks like a parking deck staircase would look, not like an interior staircase, so my guess would be that it is for the loading dock only, but I can't say for sure. It is a shame to have all that on Kings but not actually be able to get in the building from Kings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

On Monday City Council is expected to approve the construction contract to build the new Baxter St bridge. If it is approved then the new bridge reconnecting Kennilworth with Kings Dr will open by this time next year. I remember when the developer was pushing the city to accelerate the Baxter St bridge because it would allow them to build the 15 story condo tower....I wonder if that is still the case with all of the changes in the market.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^I certainly hope they do get that bridge up ASAP. With the streets the way they are at the moment I think traffic flow is going to get seriously clogged up once the stores start opening in Metropolitan. I personally don't think they did such a great planning job where traffic flow is concerned around this whole project. For instance, if you're coming eastbound on Charlottetowne and want to turn left into the Home Depot/Target deck, there's no turn lane. Worse, when you come out of the parking deck onto Kings you can only turn right (which is fine), but then if you need to turn left onto Charlottetowne, there's no protected arrow there. I sat through THREE!! light cycles the other day trying to turn left at this intersection. Very frustrating.

Edited by PlazaMidwoodGuy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noticed the additional light they installed for Kings Dr. and Metropolitan Blvds. today. It's blinking the warning yellow so I guess it will be in service this weekend when Best Buy opens up. That will also help the people who are wanting to turn left onto Kings from the Target Deck. Perhaps they will make that a no left turn exit and make all left turns go to the light...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, did anyone make it to the best buy today?

I did actually. It's a smaller store than what you'd typically find (or at least it seems that way). The layout is different than the typical store too. It still seems to have pretty much everything you'd expect to find (or at least I didn't notice anything missing). I didn't have any problem finding anything I browsed for, even some very random DVD's, so it looks like pretty anything you'd want is there. All in all, it's a great addition to Midtown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went there Friday about 12:45pm. Due to a lot of factors, traffic was horrendous.

Parked on Level 1 with easy entrance to the store. The staff I spoke with were well trained and friendly. The store layout was slightly different, but you would feel "at home" there. Not a big difference from most any other Best Buy. When Metropolitan construction ends, I hope it will be easier to get around on Kings Drive. I only wish it were even closer in to uptown. My bad for the timing of the visit, but I was meeting an uptown worker friend for lunch at Arby's and we decided to squeeze in a visit to the BB. I like the urban vibe and enjoyed avoiding those seas of asphalt the other stores have. Now I'm waiting on the Lowe's in South End to debut.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went there Friday about 12:45pm. Due to a lot of factors, traffic was horrendous.

Parked on Level 1 with easy entrance to the store. The staff I spoke with were well trained and friendly. The store layout was slightly different, but you would feel "at home" there. Not a big difference from most any other Best Buy. When Metropolitan construction ends, I hope it will be easier to get around on Kings Drive. I only wish it were even closer in to uptown. My bad for the timing of the visit, but I was meeting an uptown worker friend for lunch at Arby's and we decided to squeeze in a visit to the BB. I like the urban vibe and enjoyed avoiding those seas of asphalt the other stores have. Now I'm waiting on the Lowe's in South End to debut.

ha...that's was about the time I went also and traffic was definitely horrendous, especially if you are on a scooter. The slightly smaller store was definitely no different from the other stores, except the checkout was in such a weird and a little difficult to find if you are not paying attention. They have easily have the friendliest staff I've seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Went to Best Buy today. This whole side of the Met has turned out wonderfully. It feels extremely urban in scale, style, and enviornment, and the amount of retail spaces is much more than I had originally thought. They opened up Baxter (and you can see where they will continue with the bridge) and there is parking in front of the retail and in the garage itself. The garage is very similar to the one at Target/HD. For some clarification from what was earlier pondered upon- The Best Buy is on the first floor and the Marshalls will be directly on top of it, floor 2, with access from the garage on Floor 3. Tarder Joes will be opening up right next to the BB on the first floor and the Staples will be directly above that on the 2nd Floor. Take a look:

The whole Met Project. You can see all of the retail in the front still has some ways to go, but everything behind it is finishing off and should all be open this summer per advertisements, as well as move in to the condos/lofts:

05-26-08085.jpg

Condos:

05-26-08062.jpg

Condos with Best Buy next door:

05-26-08064.jpg

The view looking down at Target/HD:

05-26-08070.jpg

Midtown from Dilworth:

05-26-08086.jpg

The rest can be found here.

Edited by Andyc545
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It did feel a bit smaller than most stores, but I did some quick checking, and it may not be that much smaller. The total footprint is about the same, 50ksf here, 52ksf at the Pineville BB, and 51ksf at the UC BB. The difference, though, is that included in the Midtown store's footprint are the loading docks, so the store must be smaller by that amount of space.

My general feelings on the actual store are that it was fine store that didn't have any noticeable omissions. I did not like the lighting at all. I am not sure why they couldn't at least do some windows high up or something to pull in some natural light. I am definitely glad for the use of fluorescents over anything else, but it had that cold lighting feel in there. I thought advances in fluorescents had allowed them to be better at this point.

The layout itself felt almost exactly like a Circuit City's layout, where the media is in the middle, the TVs are to the left when you walk in, and the check out is to your right (for the Met Ave entrance). I thought it was a decent approach given they had two entrances that they needed to support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.