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Atlanta firm plans $40M apartments


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I have lived here now for a couple of years.  It ain't the greatest building in the world, but it is cheaper than downtown and close enough to walk. It really helped kickstart the north quarter area, which has quite a few little decent restaurants and shops. Just need a little market and NQ would be an awesome place to live. Sure I can hear the freight train blow by at 2 am, but it is better than dealing with the loud music and drunks downtown.  I like it, really. Kind of a perfect balance for downtown City living and a suburbs apartment, but with a lot of the amenities of the city. 

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I think most people still drive to work. For other things like going to a restaurant or going out at night or going to hang out at the lake, or going to a game at the Amway/Orlando City Stadium, or a movie or concert downtown at the Plaza or DPAC, they take alternate transportation, whether it be walking, biking (sometimes with Orange bikes), Lymmo, or Uber.  I have ridden my bike and walked to work several times, but a lot of times I just drive because it is rainy season or it is hot as hell like right now. I don't have shower or locker room at work, and it just isn't worth it. I do it a lot more in the Fall/Winter. 

It would be much easier if we had a sort of covered network to keep the sun and rain off of you. Don't know why Florida cities don't do this like other cities with Pedestrian Tunnel networks such as Houston or Dallas, and systems up north to keep people out of the snow like the Minneapolis Skyway System or similar networks in Canadian Cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary.  It makes no sense to me why we wouldn't embrace this!

To me, this is really the key to people truly embracing green and carless downtown transit.  The average person doesn't want to deal with the heat/elements. I ride my bike about 40 miles a week, and I still don't like to deal with it most of the time. 

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4 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

It would be much easier if we had a sort of covered network to keep the sun and rain off of you. Don't know why Florida cities don't do this like other cities with Pedestrian Tunnel networks such as Houston or Dallas, and systems up north to keep people out of the snow like the Minneapolis  Skyway System or similar networks in Canadian Cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary.  It makes no sense to me why we wouldn't embrace this!

There was one planned/started at one time. I am not sure to what extent, but when I was working on the new Mad Cow location, we had to get approvals of a number property owners around Downtown to close the stairs that went to the second level of the SunTrust garage from 54 West because that was part of the network.

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I would suppose ROW would be somewhat of an issue, but if you already have some backbone corridors such as the magnolia bus corridor and Gertrude's walk N/S and could make some backbone E/W routes such as taking a lane off of Robinson like lots of us have already discussed (could reduce speed and run it all the way from the Creative Village area to the Milk District/Festival Park) and then probably take a lane down Church to link the main venues (they shut that ROW down all the time anyway for most events). Then go up throgh the NQ to Orlando Urban Trail and cover it up to Ivanhoe Village/The Yard/Virginia/Mills Park area, and you have the main parts. From there, you have areas with a lot of sidewalk arcades to link things up by walking. If I was trying to get people to bike or walk to work, that is what I would do!

You could give it a catchy name like the SunShade System or something to tie into Sunrail.  Boom! Quadruple alternative transit users probably!

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It's hard to beat the LYMMO location for Steel House.   And with the real time tracker on a phone app I would venture you could be savvy and get less wet on a rainy day than anyone whos parking isn't attached to their office building.   

Its interesting to me because I think finding an alternative to the work trip is what makes getting rid of your car feasible.   Once you've solved that things like uber, zipcar, AMAZON, etc really can fill in the rest.  

I wonder what the percentage of people who live and work in 32801 drive?  I see a fair amount of walkers but only a drop in the bucket given the overall numbers.  

 

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1 hour ago, Jernigan said:

It's hard to beat the LYMMO location for Steel House.   And with the real time tracker on a phone app I would venture you could be savvy and get less wet on a rainy day than anyone whos parking isn't attached to their office building.   

Its interesting to me because I think finding an alternative to the work trip is what makes getting rid of your car feasible.   Once you've solved that things like uber, zipcar, AMAZON, etc really can fill in the rest.  

I wonder what the percentage of people who live and work in 32801 drive?  I see a fair amount of walkers but only a drop in the bucket given the overall numbers.  

 

6

Jernigan,
Theoretically, yes, I can get rid of a car altogether. . . I have not had any problem doing anything I need to do in my vicinity without a car. Somewhat of an inconvenience, yes, at times, but could be worth it to a lot of people. I had a buddy who got rid of his and lived downtown for like a year with no problem at all. 

The thing is, my car is a 2004 Nissan Sentra that I paid $6500 for (plus tax tag and title) in 2006. I haven't had a car payment in over a decade. Basically, I don't give a crap.  

The variable costs are very low because I live close to everything and don't put a lot of miles on it. My insurance is cheap because I live close to work and haven't had a wreck in forever. I don't have collision on it because it isn't worth it, and my insurance premium and registration is only like $65 a month for decent liability/injury coverage which you would need anyway if you wanted to rent a car.

I just keep the thing because it is easier to keep it than deal with Uber or renting a car to travel back home to Manatee County to see my family and it is still reliable enough to do that. Sure, it's a beater, but worth it at that amount. I think I fill up with gas only when I need to drive back home really and only use it to drive back and forth to work or the grocery store, so probably average 20 bucks a month for that. The more I ride my bike or walk and the less trips I take, the less I have to spend on fuel variable costs. This is a much cheaper option for me for a little bit of convenience. $85 a month for all the transportation I really need is a lot cheaper and easier than renting a car in my experience.  

I thought about getting rid of a car totally but ran the numbers and I am better off just riding this into the ground for another 5-10 years or until it screws the pooch for good. By that time, I hope to be independently wealthy and retired in my 40s traveling the country to go through-hike trails and/or mountain bike, lol.

I would whole-heartedly recommend selling your car(s) and going without one for a couple of months if you don't have anything planned, then take the money you save to buy a beater just for the bare necessities with straight cash, holmey. You will find out what you really think you need a car for, and you will save the money. Making car payments is for suckas! 

A bit off-topic here, but this is an old thread so who cares. Always like conversing with you, as you seem like an intelligent, even-keeled, and interesting dude.  
 

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^^

Atlanta has somewhat of a limited skywalk system.  I think Cincinnati does too.  Been to the Montreal underground.  Sweet.

I think if and when the Sentinel moves, and they develop that couple of blocks, that will be huge for increasing the connectivity between the NQ and downtown.

Too bad Camden Orange Court converted their street level retail parlors so quickly.  Maybe they can convert them back as demand increases.

The Sevens should get their retail leased up sooner than later.  Any idea on their occupancy rate?

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On 7/7/2017 at 0:02 PM, dcluley98 said:

Sevens seems pretty empty to me just by building activity. No idea on actual rates. 

Had some friends move from St. Pete. They signed in the Sevens. When they got into their actual unit they found it too dark and not what they expected so they broke the lease and signed at Nora the same day. GF also hated the Sevens and signed at Nora instead as well. They really did a terrible job of the interior buildouts and the pool area is not very nice either.

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On 7/7/2017 at 6:15 PM, smileguy said:

I saw this past weekend that an app developer has gone into some of the retail space at the Residence Inn. 

...and I guarantee you it's b/c of the Ustler connection to the Creative Village.  He was probably contacted and said he's got space available at the Residence Inn right now.

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On 7/11/2017 at 11:03 AM, Boomer136 said:

Can't even get a weather shade on ORMC campus, one reason that Sunrail isn't used that much there. But there are weather shades from every parking garage into the next door buildings! 

Yeah, good point.  They take the Amtrack Station building's presence for granted thinking people wait inside it the whole time until the last second. 

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