The Good News Report

[jednc]

4 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Queen Charlotte has plenty of transplants, but did you know about her implants?

Nicely done!

[jednc]

5 minutes ago, kermit said:

This. ( plus the move was 15 (?) years ago, no one really knew if 'the urban thing' was just a fad or not)

How much worse is traffic on 77 in North Meck now than it was in 2003?

How much worse is traffic on 77 in North Meck now that it is still two lanes?

There, I fixed that for you.

[urbanlover568]

4 hours ago, kermit said:

This. ( plus the move was 15 (?) years ago, no one really knew if 'the urban thing' was just a fad or not)

How much worse is traffic on 77 in North Meck now than it was in 2003?

They wanted to be close to charlotte but in the middle of wilks and Charlotte. Mooresville gave them their own exits and infrastructure essentially.  Across the pond where the 4 mid-rises are master planned would make a fantastic addition. The higher-ups are really not too keen on urban as people may think. Company culture has shifted, but not there yet. Why would they move from their stunning campus? Has EVERYTHING and the food and services are pretty good. 

Edited May 30, 2019 by mpretori

[Brendv7]

51 minutes ago, mpretori said:

They wanted to be close to charlotte but in the middle of wilks and Charlotte. Mooresville gave them their own exits and infrastructure essentially.  Across the pond where the 4 mid-rises are master planned would make a fantastic addition. The higher-ups are really not too keen on urban as people may think. Company culture has shifted, but not there yet. Why would they move from their stunning campus? Has EVERYTHING and the food and services are pretty good. 

I have no dog in this fight. I am a transplant from the Northeast. My girlfriend is a transplant from the West Coast. We have multiple grad degrees and could have accepted jobs in other cities, but are in NC because of Charlotte. I would not have accepted this same job in Mooresville out of school and probably not even now. If you are trying to recruit top millennial tech talent from outside the state, the majority are not going to view being located in Mooresville as a plus.

[KJHburg]

As I have stated we need to win this Lowes 2000 job technology center first over Dallas and from this article in Dallas Morning News I would say it would go to an intown location here in Charlotte.  Downtown Dallas has somewhat cheaper office space than Charlotte due to a much higher vacancy rate 24.7% vacant and  all the DART light rail lines converge on downtown Dallas.  

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/2019/05/23/lowes-may-hunting-2000-software-engineers-dallas-area

Edited May 30, 2019 by KJHburg

[Scribe]

wrong thread

Edited May 30, 2019 by Scribe

[KJHburg]

Guess what metro area across the fruited plain has the most employers saying they will hire more people???   The Queen City of course.  #1 in a Manpower survey with 37% of the employers saying they are hiring!

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2019/06/11/red-hot-raleigh-charlotte-job-markets-are-sizzling-with-many-firms-hunting-talent/

full report from Manpower here

https://manpowergroup.us/MEOS/public/pdf/employment-outlook-forecast.pdf

Edited June 12, 2019 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Well Charlotte and its skyline shined in a nationally televised show last night.  I am out of town with friends and you know how you watch and do different things that you might not do at home.  Well I watched for the first time ever "Married at First Sight" and this year the show is set in Charlotte.  I saw Legacy 1 tower, skyline repeatedly, the LYNX, one of the participants lived in the Avenue, another in First Ward, another in Southend and a couple in the suburbs.  They all got married at Alexander homeplace on Shamrock and N Sharon Amity.  the guys looked like they went to Emerson Joseph  for their party.    So while we are talking about Truist bank and their new headquarters the rest of the country is watching evidently this show! 

https://nypost.com/2019/06/12/meet-the-married-at-first-sight-season-9-cast-including-the-first-virgin-bride-to-be/     NY Post

https://www.newsweek.com/who-elizabeth-bice-meet-married-first-sight-season-9-participant-marrying-jamie-thompson-1443663   Newsweek

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/married-at-first-sight-season-9-trailer-4-charlotte-couples-wed/   US Magazine

https://people.com/tv/married-at-first-sight-season-9-cast-exclusive/   People Magazine

Hey I can admit I watched it for the Charlotte scenes of course.  I guess every Wednesday for the next few weeks.  The 8 people who participated are better representatives of Charlotte than any of the real housewives of insert any city.    Good news?    Charlotte shines in this show and it shows our newest buildings filmed evidently in winter or early spring here! 

Edited June 14, 2019 by KJHburg

[SouthEndCLT811]

And my friend's bridal shop in South End got to be on the show too!

[Niner National]

14 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Well Charlotte and its skyline shined in a nationally televised show last night.  I am out of town with friends and you know how you watch and do different things that you might not do at home.  Well I watched for the first time ever "Married at First Sight" and this year the show is set in Charlotte.  I saw Legacy 1 tower, skyline repeatedly, the LYNX, one of the participants lived in the Avenue, another in First Ward, another in Southend and a couple in the suburbs.  They all got married at Alexander homeplace on Shamrock and N Sharon Amity.  the guys looked like they went to Belle Acres for their party.    So while we are talking about Truist bank and their new headquarters the rest of the country is watching evidently this show! 

https://nypost.com/2019/06/12/meet-the-married-at-first-sight-season-9-cast-including-the-first-virgin-bride-to-be/     NY Post

https://www.newsweek.com/who-elizabeth-bice-meet-married-first-sight-season-9-participant-marrying-jamie-thompson-1443663   Newsweek

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/married-at-first-sight-season-9-trailer-4-charlotte-couples-wed/   US Magazine

https://people.com/tv/married-at-first-sight-season-9-cast-exclusive/   People Magazine

Hey I can admit I watched it for the Charlotte scenes of course.  I guess every Wednesday for the next few weeks.  The 8 people who participated are better representatives of Charlotte than any of the real housewives of insert any city.    Good news?    Charlotte shines in this show and it shows our newest buildings filmed evidently in winter or early spring here! 

They had it here again? They messaged me on instagram 2 or 3 years back asking if I would have interest in being on the show an wanted me to come in for an interview. I declined.

[KJHburg]

from the sounds of it this is their first time to Charlotte they may have explored it before.   Had 50,000 people interested whittle it down to 1000 then 100 then 50 then 8.

Really the city shines through lots of skyline shots one girl lives in a high rise others in townhomes, apartments, houses.  

[TangoWithTheRango]

9 hours ago, Niner National said:

They had it here again? They messaged me on instagram 2 or 3 years back asking if I would have interest in being on the show an wanted me to come in for an interview. I declined.

Haha I actually was contacted via LinkedIn for this by someone named Lauren Spears.  I told her my wife wouldn’t appreciate it if I participated.

[Niner National]

On 6/14/2019 at 8:45 AM, KJHburg said:

from the sounds of it this is their first time to Charlotte they may have explored it before.   Had 50,000 people interested whittle it down to 1000 then 100 then 50 then 8.

Really the city shines through lots of skyline shots one girl lives in a high rise others in townhomes, apartments, houses.  

You are correct. The show I'm thinking of was called Married by Mom and Dad.

[kermit]

While this isn't in the category of traditional good news, it is nonetheless a really big deal. Transit is a large part of this, peculiarities of the finance sector are another.  It certainly suggests that more transit is a good idea. Full report is here: https://www.brookings.edu/research/where-jobs-are-concentrating-why-it-matters-to-cities-and-regions/

 

 

[KJHburg]

From the Triad Business Journal subscriber article about the new Wake Forest Atrium medical school in Charlotte.  Still planning but plans should be finalized by Dec.  They want the school to supply doctors to western NC especially in rural areas.  My prediction in 10 years the UNC system will regret not opening a medical school here but it will be great to be aligned with a stellar school like Wake Forest. 

""With Wake Forest as a partner, Atrium expects that it could cover 80% of western North Carolina's rural population.  That would start, though, with keeping more in-state students to study at the Wake Forest School of Medicine and thus, the future Charlotte campus. Only 40% of Wake Forest's medical students are from North Carolina, something Freischlag wants to improve upon with the new campus.  "We know if you’re from here and you do residency (in North Carolina), you’ll stay here and practice," she said, "And we need them in rural areas."  No major updates regarding a final agreement were provided at the meeting. The two sides expect to finalize their partnership in December.

Planning for the launch of Charlotte's school of medicine will begin in July, while a preliminary draft for the "reimagination" of innovation, rural care, population health, virtual care and the children's network will come in August or September.  Also slated for July are some results of an economic impact study for the Charlotte medical school campus. In 2015, health-care consulting firm Tripp Umbach projected the impact of a Charlotte medical school at $675 million annually in 2035.  Tripp Umbach president Paul Umbach projects the two sides will form a "nationally important medical school in Charlotte.""'

https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2019/06/19/wake-forest-baptist-atrium-health-ceos-talk-goals.html

[CLT>]

On 6/18/2019 at 9:46 PM, kermit said:

While this isn't in the category of traditional good news, it is nonetheless a really big deal. Transit is a large part of this, peculiarities of the finance sector are another.  It certainly suggests that more transit is a good idea. Full report is here: https://www.brookings.edu/research/where-jobs-are-concentrating-why-it-matters-to-cities-and-regions/

  

 

Some other interesting takeaways:

Other metro areas such as Austin, Charlotte, and Provo, Utah saw faster-than-average job growth but still saw job density increase less than expected as their jobs spread out.

Jobs spread out more which means less employment in the urban core

 

[KJHburg]

In a study of the nations 30 largest metro areas Charlotte came in  #10 with walkable urbanism ahead of cities like Philly, Cincy and Portland OR.  Atlanta was slightly ahead of Charlotte.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2019/06/24/report-walkable-urban-areas-in-atlanta-gaining.html    from your ATL Business Chronicle.  NYC of course was #1 in this study but only 2 major sunbelt cities came in the top 15 and that would be Charlotte and Atlanta.   Did not see the major Texas or Florida cities on this list at all. 

 

[Dale]

On 6/18/2019 at 9:46 PM, kermit said:

While this isn't in the category of traditional good news, it is nonetheless a really big deal. Transit is a large part of this, peculiarities of the finance sector are another.  It certainly suggests that more transit is a good idea. Full report is here: https://www.brookings.edu/research/where-jobs-are-concentrating-why-it-matters-to-cities-and-regions/

 

 

Perhaps Nashville is an outlier. It has as close to zero transit as any of Charlotte’s peer cities. It has one sorely underused (and antiquated) commuter rail line. And the bus service is seeing crippling cuts. The transportation thread, on Nashville UP, is essentially a scooter thread.

[Muggsy01]

26 minutes ago, Dale said:

Perhaps Nashville is an outlier. It has as close to zero transit as any of Charlotte’s peer cities. It has one sorely underused (and antiquated) commuter rail line. And the bus service is seeing crippling cuts. The transportation thread, on Nashville UP, is essentially a scooter thread.

This stunned me about Nashville. They had a very ambitious, perhaps too ambitious LR/BRT plan & it was overwhelmingly rejected. Idk if there’s a city in the US that seems to hate mass transit more than Nashville. 

At least CLT has a vision. Personally I suspect it will mostly come to fruition as BRT rather than LR but better than nothing

[SgtCampsalot]

24 minutes ago, Muggsy01 said:

This stunned me about Nashville. They had a very ambitious, perhaps too ambitious LR/BRT plan & it was overwhelmingly rejected. Idk if there’s a city in the US that seems to hate mass transit more than Nashville. 

At least CLT has a vision. Personally I suspect it will mostly come to fruition as BRT rather than LR but better than nothing

Man, give us fancy comfortable, quiet busses that have great frequency, and official looking bus stops, and I think more people would be happier than they all think they would. 

[Muggsy01]

25 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Man, give us fancy comfortable, quiet busses that have great frequency, and official looking bus stops, and I think more people would be happier than they all think they would. 

Yeah I personally think BRT that has the scheduling functionality of LR is superior. Cheaper & quicker to build, serves the same purpose. Added benefit of relatively easy conversion to LR if you really find you want it. Also much easier/cheaper to maintain & replace rolling stock & general infrastructure. 

LR over BRT often comes down to vanity. Rail seems more cosmopolitan so city leaders favor it. They want the pics with a train. 

Edited June 24, 2019 by Muggsy01

[Dale]

OKC of course has a downtown streetcar system. Going forward, the mayor is pushing BRT. Rail purists are alarmed. But the mayor assures, “Yeah, But BRT feels like a train!”

[Muggsy01]

4 minutes ago, Dale said:

OKC of course has a downtown streetcar system. Going forward, the mayor is pushing BRT. Rail purists are alarmed. But the mayor assures, “Yeah, But BRT feels like a train!”

I get he's saying that to appease rail purists but my attitude is, who cares if it *feels* like a train as long as it *functions* like a train i.e. with the same schedule reliability? You can't get that with an ordinary city bus but you definitely can with BRT. Plus as I alluded to, BRT acts like a try & buy for LR/Streetcars. If you really like it but feel a train would enhance, just fill in the BRT lanes with rail infrastructure later on. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

You mean a metal pole with a dinky sign is not a good enough bus stop? If you're lucky there might even be a bench! The really fancy ones even have a crude shelter in case it's raining. I really can't fathom why more people don't choose the bus. 

[kermit]

BRT is great if it has its own lanes and is designed so it does not get stuck in traffic. Unfortunately it’s not unusual to see BRT get morphed into a fancy bus that moves just as slowly as everybody else in traffic.

It also appears that developers get less excited by BRT than LRT — they don’t view it as permanent enough to justify speculative development. So while it’s certainly cheaper up front, in the long run BRT tends to be a fiscal drain (from a development perspective)

Edited June 24, 2019 by kermit