Charlotte Off Topic

[tozmervo]

Dunno, but they have my least favorite building in Uptown. 

[HopHead]

BB&T wouldn't have reason to move their HQ to Charlotte that I could think of. I could see them maybe ramping up certain operations here, but that's about it. The only thing that would maybe drive BB&T to move would be an acquisition of a decent size institution in a larger city. I think Charlotte lost that option when Fifth-Third bought First Charter. They had at least $4-5Billion in assets at the time of being acquired. 

[nowensone]

Does anyone ever think BB&T would relocate it's H/Q or have a major expansion in Charlotte but keep regional offices and such in Winston?

Our airport is often cited as a huge benefit and the Greensboro airport is on the small side. As BB&T grows bigger, would it be beneficial for them to move to CLT?

I'm all for Charlotte poaching, just out of state.  Besides, the Triad is languishing behind both CLT and the Triangle, it needs anything it can get, and keep.

[ah59396]

Yeah, leave the Triad alone.  I dunno what it is, but I love poaching from Cincinnati and Richmond.  Mostly because:

 

A.  The Richmond people on Skyscrapercity LOATHE everything that is Charlotte

B.  The Cincinnati people seem to hate Charlotte as well, mostly on the CityData forum.  They were all chuckling about Chiquita the other day and are convinced we are going to lose our Hub status.  I would love to just take something else from them for the sake of seeing their faces.

 

So basically my reasons are based offf 4-5 bad apples.  But I don't care.  This time, it's personal.

[jednc]

Yeah, leave the Triad alone.  I dunno what it is, but I love poaching from Cincinnati and Richmond.  Mostly because:

 

A.  The Richmond people on Skyscrapercity LOATHE everything that is Charlotte

B.  The Cincinnati people seem to hate Charlotte as well, mostly on the CityData forum.  They were all chuckling about Chiquita the other day and are convinced we are going to lose our Hub status.  I would love to just take something else from them for the sake of seeing their faces.

 

So basically my reasons are based offf 4-5 bad apples.  But I don't care.  This time, it's personal.

I have to admit that I had a similar reaction back when the Hornets were talking about a move to New Orleans. The message boards (for the Observer I think) were full of comments from people in NoLa who were putting down Charlotte. At first it was just reasons we couldn't hold on to a team (which was bogus in the first place since most people were apathetic about the possible move), but it turned into comments about Charlotte's lack of culture, history, etc. It left a bad taste in my mouth for all things New Orleans and I can honestly say I felt little pity for anything that has happened to them since.

[HopHead]

Maybe it's because I don't have the time to read everything that everyone says, especially on other message boards besides this one, but I'm not one for wanting bad things to happen to other metros. Ok, maybe when something happens to Atlanta, I might grin a bit... kidding. Can't take things too personal from what people post on a message board. If that were the case, half the people on the Charlotte Observer comments section would be in jail because they went out and killed someone. The fact that some of them can even turn on a computer is a partial miracle in itself. But I digress...

 

When job announcements are made that involve taking them from somewhere else it's a double edged sword. It's great to see jobs added here, but I don't necessarily take pride in taking them from somewhere else. At the end of the day, you're impacting someone's life, their family, etc. It is what it is, and life goes on. But it's still impacting some one. I lived in Richmond for years, so that place still has some meaning to me. I have friends that live there still and I still keep in touch with some of them. Though it's funny. I remember when I moved to Charlotte from Richmond. There was a bit of resentment from people that were living there at the time. It's almost as if I ran over their dog because I was moving to Charlotte (it's just another city people). Not sure if it's the general attitude of people in that town, the people I hung out with (and I had a large contingent of friends at the time) or something else. A lot of them though have never left the state of Virginia in their lifetime so that may have something to do with it. I was finally able to convince one of my best friends a few years ago to come down here for a visit. He had a blast and I think it gave him a different perspective and made him realize why I had to go somewhere else (see last paragraph for that). Cincinnati is actually a cool town and have visited there several times, mostly to catch Reds games. And the ribs at the Montgomery Inn are to die for. If they really think that our hub will be gone, they should quit drinking whatever kool aid they are drinking. The two airports are night and day when you compare their costs, location, etc. Their airport was the most expensive to fly in and out of for YEARS and that was part of their downfall. New Orleans... I like their food, but I hate their stupid football team. Especially the fans that have only been around since 2009. So I guess I could see the resentment there.

 

To me, Charlotte is the perfect medium between a place like Richmond and somewhere like Atlanta. It's big enough where you have a couple major league sports teams, almost all major concert tours come through here, you have a growing cultural scene, great restaurants, increasingly DIVERSE economy with an airport that can take you almost anywhere you in North America with a straight shot and not the traffic problems of the bigger cities. Yes, Charlotte's traffic is a pain with its 1987 sized highways. But when you compare it to Atlanta, Boston or LA it's really not that bad. Is it New York, Vegas or Miami? We know it's not. But that's why I live here. Those places are nice to visit, but I enjoy calling this place home. Now if we could just get at least ONE team that knows how to consistently win, that would be great. And oh, the local brewing scene here has become quite good too. 

[ah59396]

^ I wasn't being literal, I was being pretty tongue and-cheek.  Hope that was apparent.  I don't want anyone to lose their job.

[HopHead]

^ I wasn't being literal, I was being pretty tongue and-cheek.  Hope that was apparent.  I don't want anyone to lose their job.

 

I figured that was probably the case... It's hard to interpret everyone's comments through the Internet though. 

[15895]

I wasn't thinking of "poaching" from Winston. But BB&T making a relocation on their own or maybe adding to their work force here like BOA did in NYC. BB&T is the 3rd largest by bank deposits in Charlotte and we are "bank town" with the 6th busiest airport in the world in a larger city that's low cost (as opposed to San Fran or NYC).

BB&T are great corporate sponsors around here (BB&T ball park. Yes I know they have it in the Triad also) and with all this office space being planned and just seeing SunTrust consolidate its CLT operations into a single building, BB&T comes to mind as a company that can do something big here if it made sense. BB&T is growing and rather stable; it makes me wonder if they ever planned on relocating to any larger city or if it would even make sense to relocate. I'm not sure if it would make sense for BB&T to ramp up operations in a larger city.

It's not even economical for me nor about the jobs as much as it is I wanna see more people downtown.

And in regards to poaching from other cities. It sucks for the other cities and I would hate for it to happen to us but we have to do what we have to do and Im going to put Charlotte before any other place on this planet. Any other city would be stupid not to pounce on jobs from another city. Nothing personal to other cities.

Edited March 15, 2013 by AirNostrumMAD

[nowensone]

It would be an awesome thing if BB&T built an office building downtown, to mirror your BoA/NYC comment, as it seems that banks are about the only entities capable of building scrapers any more and it would make a bit of sense.

[tozmervo]

Let's all just agree to poach suburbs. 

[HopHead]

Let's all just agree to poach suburbs. 

 

Best idea yet...

[nowensone]

Yeah, stuck on BB&T building a scraper now, and it could go right in the gap seen from this angle.  40 floors good.  

 

[southslider]

It's not like Charlotte hasn't ever stolen a bank from Winston before now.

[HopHead]

It's not like Charlotte hasn't ever stolen a bank from Winston before now.

 

True. Remember it's "Charlotte" that stole "X" bank... Not the bank itself who purchased it. Sigh.

[nowensone]

By this measure, we're #5, Raleigh #1, interesting that the article pays homage to low density, and lower housing costs, though seems to say this should not be a factor for growth, perhaps I missed a finer point (or have had too much to drink).  Riverside/San Bernadino on the list  would seem to contradict that idea, it is suburban in character and appearance though quite dense if visited.  Btw, hate their pic location of the skyline, they left out much.

[Guest]

By this measure, we're #5, Raleigh #1, interesting that the article pays homage to low density, and lower housing costs, though seems to say this should not be a factor for growth, perhaps I missed a finer point (or have had too much to drink).  Riverside/San Bernadino on the list  would seem to contradict that idea, it is suburban in character and appearance though quite dense if visited.  Btw, hate their pic location of the skyline, they left out much.

Its not about the location of the picture. Its actually from about 2004, hell the old Duke Power building is till in the shot!

[Dale]

By this measure, we're #5, Raleigh #1, interesting that the article pays homage to low density, and lower housing costs, though seems to say this should not be a factor for growth, perhaps I missed a finer point (or have had too much to drink).  Riverside/San Bernadino on the list  would seem to contradict that idea, it is suburban in character and appearance though quite dense if visited.  Btw, hate their pic location of the skyline, they left out much.

Read recently that San Bernardino was the poorest city of its size in the US.

[ah59396]

The rule of thumb unfortunately seems to be "if the city is in California...it's broke".

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18799372

 

 

At least it's not Bell, CA.  Who's entire city government robbed their people blind for years.

[Bikeguy]

Kudos to Harvey Gantt and his long lasting impact on Charlotte community..

 

http://www.archdaily.com/349035/HarveyB.Gantt,FAIA,Honoredwiththe2013WhitneyM.Young,Jr.Award/

 

 

 

Harvey B. Gantt, FAIA, Honored with the 2013 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award

ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center / Gantt Huberman Architects and Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture

[Urbanity]

Had to laugh

 

[cltbwimob]

^I do not know whether I should laugh at that picture because its funny, or cry because its true.

[Bikeguy]

Ok... it's not Charlotte, and it's not UNCC,  but holy crap, what a building and what an addition to the architectural landscape in our state....

 

http://www.archdaily.com/354701/hunt-library-snohetta/

[cltbwimob]

^^^It is interesting how different people view different types of architecture...some like that style of bulding whereas I would expect a building like that to be filed into the "what were we thinking" category of architectural styles in the coming decades.

Edited April 5, 2013 by cltbwimob

[nonillogical]

^^^It is interesting how different people view different types of architecture...some like that style of bulding whereas I would expect a building like that to be filed into the "what were we thinking" category of architectural styles in the coming decades.

I'm surprised any feel that way unless they disdain modern architecture in general...its not that wacky, I can't call it avant garde at least, (arguably less strange than our uptown UNCC building or Mint Museum) but with plenty of personality. I think its great.