NASCAR Hall of Fame

[monsoon]

I wonder if this will get us any closer to non-entertainment retail?

As long as the city continues to support and allow continued new retail construction in places such as SouthPark, NorthLake, and even MidTown square, its unlikely. That is a different problem that we have discussed before. I do however see a revival coming for some of the downtrodden stip malls on South Blvd due to the arrival of the Light Rail line.

[ngp]

The best thing that has come out of this, is that charlotte has cemented itself as the racing capital of the world.....which is pretty cool in itself. However, the biggest thing that this (Along with the whitewater park) is that it sets us apart from any other "cookie-cutter" southern city. In a way this has always been known to those of us that are from charlotte, but now this will be know worldwide. This is the biggest announcement in charlotte is years....maybe decades.

Well, NASCAR capital of the world. Certainly not the racing capital.

It's great that we're getting the building, but I don't think this HOF makes Charlotte anymore relevant in the scheme of things. We already host two (three?) NASCAR weekends per year, so I don't see this attraction increasing awareness. It's more or less capitalizing on the existing fanbase.

[stateman99]

As long as the city continues to support and allow continued new retail construction in places such as SouthPark, NorthLake, and even MidTown square, its unlikely. That is a different problem that we have discussed before. I do however see a revival coming for some of the downtrodden stip malls on South Blvd due to the arrival of the Light Rail line.

You obviously didn't watch the news last night on Channel 2 about how Brevard was getting ready for a retail revival. They interviewed the guy with Center City Partners and talked about how it was coming uptown and soon. I think this announcement only solidifies it.

[dubone]

Brevard will be getting pedestrian infrastructure like Tryon has. Perhap CCP has lined up some development to coincide with those improvements and the hall construction.

[atlrvr]

CCP has a big uptown retail initiative going on right now, where they are selling Uptown to all kinds of retailers, and trying to link them with developers etc. I have no idea how successful they have been, but at least they are getting the word out.

[monsoon]

You obviously didn't watch the news last night on Channel 2 about how Brevard was getting ready for a retail revival. They interviewed the guy with Center City Partners and talked about how it was coming uptown and soon. I think this announcement only solidifies it.

Heh. Obviously. If you mean WBTV (which broadcasts on channel 3 BTW) I didn't watch it. That channel is a bit hard for me to stomach most of the time. Of course if the CCP thinks it is coming that is great, but I still don't think you are going to see any major retailers moving into the center city anytime soon. There isn't enough of a base to support something like a Best Buy, Sears, Boyles, HHGregg, Lowes, etc. Especially since there are other ones so close in the places that I mentioned.

If you look at why Norstrom and Saks went to where they are despite heavy marketing for them to come downtown, you will understand the reasons.

Did the reporter on Channel 3 list any specifics?

[redjeep77]

^NASCAR is by far the most popular racing series in the US. I also am under the impression that it is this way for the world too (i believe even more so that F1). If it's not more popular than F1, it's rapidly closing the gap and will surpass soon.

[charlotte_bon_vivant]

Brevard will be getting pedestrian infrastructure like Tryon has. Perhap CCP has lined up some development to coincide with those improvements and the hall construction.

I hope this comes true. I would love to see something similar to Copley Place. Of course, I think Charlotte has a similar mall, but it's underused.

I'm still not fond of the HOF... I can't lie about that. I'm happy Atlanta won't get it. Sorry. I'll save my congratulations until after the announcement. I don't want to jinx it for the supporters. (I'm cursed that way....)

[dubone]

The huge retail like best buy, Home Depot, Target, etc. will be going to Midtown about 7 blocks from the hall site. I wonder what major retail they think will go to second ward. My guess is it will be more of the same, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

[stateman99]

Heh. Obviously. If you mean WBTV (which broadcasts on channel 3 BTW) I didn't watch it. That channel is a bit hard for me to stomach most of the time. Of course if the CCP thinks it is coming that is great, but I still don't think you are going to see any major retailers moving into the center city anytime soon. There isn't enough of a base to support something like a Best Buy, Sears, Boyles, HHGregg, Lowes, etc. Especially since there are other ones so close in the places that I mentioned.

Did the reporter on Channel 3 list any specifics?

Yeah, it was WBTV. Sorry, i had a brain fart. It got my attention because they showed a Nat Nast shirt. Those are nice shirts they sell at Nordstrum. Anyway, didn't see specifics but they had a reporter on Brevard with the Stadium in the background and talked about the history of uptown department stores and that we would soon be seeing them back uptown. I only half caught it, but it seemed to talk about a couple of women that owned some store or (it almost looked like hair studio) downtown. Not sure where that fit into to story. Anyway, they said CCP were working on getting it down there and they made it seem as if it would happen soon.

Maybe someone else on here caught it and could fill in with more detail.

[DanRNC]

It's great that we're getting the building, but I don't think this HOF makes Charlotte anymore relevant in the scheme of things.

The Rock and Roll HOF hasn't made Cleveland relevant and the Pro Football HOF hasn't made Canton relevant. Springfield, Cooperstown???

[ngp]

^NASCAR is by far the most popular racing series in the US. I also am under the impression that it is this way for the world too (i believe even more so that F1). If it's not more popular than F1, it's rapidly closing the gap and will surpass soon.

Well I didn't really even mean in terms of popularity (although F1 is still claims larger viewership). I just mean that as far as racing cities in America go, Indianapolis has a much stronger racing legacy. Not that the Indy 500 matters anymore, but it used to, and more people have heard of that than something like the Coca Cola 600 or whatever.

[monsoon]

I have been hoping we would get one of these kind of sushi places in downtown Charlotte as all of the larger cities have them. I would certainly go to it.

However, my thinking is the clientale coming to the HOF might not be interested in the food served at this chain, so it doesn't seem likely.

rotating conveyor belt sushi place

[monsoon]

Well I didn't really even mean in terms of popularity (although F1 is still claims larger viewership). I just mean that as far as racing cities in America go, Indianapolis has a much stronger racing legacy. Not that the Indy 500 matters anymore, but it used to, and more people have heard of that than something like the Coca Cola 600 or whatever.

There is an ongoing poll on this topic here at UrbanPlanet. (you guys need to get out and view more of UrbanPlanet) Please feel free to add to that thread too if you like.

Which is better, the Indianapolis 500 or the CocaCola 600?

[dubone]

That is an interesting point about a department store. The area of brevard between the arena and the Hall seems to be a great location for a new Belk. With the millions of yearly visitors now expected in that area plus the new light rail rail with all of its riders, there should be lots of money to be made. Certainly much more money than in Eastland Mall or some small towns like Brevard, NC where Belk has stores currently.

[ngp]

I have been hoping we would get one of these kind of sushi places in downtown Charlotte as all of the larger cities have them.

Seconded! Chapel Hill has a place sort of like that. Not the same chain, and smaller maybe, but same idea. It's great to just stroll in and grab some sushi without all the pomp that has to be tolerated at the typical American sushi bar.

But your comment about the HOF clientale makes me wonder what kind of retail would be attracted to the area. I definitely think downtown could use a little more diversity, but I'd hate to see a Second Ward dominated by Quaker Steak style restaurants and Hooters.

[Rickydavisfan21]

thankfully ngp I don't think second ward would allow that to happen, and I'm pretty sure we would all be otu there picketing, I highly doubt that would ever happen

[DanRNC]

Seconded! Chapel Hill has a place sort of like that. Not the same chain, and smaller maybe, but same idea. It's great to just stroll in and grab some sushi without all the pomp that has to be tolerated at the typical American sushi bar.

Its called Kurama. Sushi plates range from $1-$8 and its relatively decent quality.

[guy4charlotte]

ATL's Mayor Franklin just upped that city's portion of the HOF financing by a whopping $77 million--somebody hurry up and get that fat lady out on the stage before this thing falls apart for CLT!

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/g...861&newsLang=en

[Rickydavisfan21]

uh oh, I am getting pretty nervous now....

[Neo]

You are forgetting that we already had an arena that drew in people so the real benefit of the new arena is the difference between what was going to the Coleseum vs the new Arena. Since it holds less people, I think we probably lost out on visitors to the city. When you consider this difference, the NBA deal was really really outrageous. At best, you can probably count the attendence of Bobcat games as the net gain as the NBA would not be here otherwise. Their performance has not been that good.

Perhaps this is true regarding the Bobcats and the new downtown arena, but many quickly forget that attendance for other activities such as hockey are up from previous venues. The new arena also brings MANY more people downtown and quite honestly, it's MUCH easier to get in/out of the arena and traffic is negligable before and after events. I've been downtown at several times when an event was letting out and have experienced no problems. I've also been to an event that held ~12k people and getting onto I-77 from getting in my car took probably 5 minutes. That would have been non-existant in previous venues.

[guy4charlotte]

NASCAR's spokesman is still saying its not over yet and that the decision will not be til the end of March--meanwhile the GA legislature is planning to add even more $$$ to the ATL offer.....all of this desperate money tossing from ATL at the last minute, conveniently after some anonymous source at NASCAR leaks the story that CLT has the HOF, has me suspicious. If all this was just a ploy to loosen up the ATL pocketbook and shake a few more coins out of them then NASCAR can keep the damn thing as far as I'm concerned...but hopefuly I am just being paranoid and we're still on for a Monday announcement that it's CLT....

http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/sto...27/daily23.html

[guy4charlotte]

"Tharp reconfirmed NASCAR's intentions to make an announcement at the end of March about which city will get the hall, and he said the professional racing organization has not yet made a decision. "It's kind of like running a 500-mile race. You get to the last 10 laps or so and people involved feel very, very strongly about wanting to get the checkered flag, so to speak. I'd say at this point people are still involved in the race, and should be making every effort to make sure what they have in front of us is their best shot."

is that code for "show us the money" suckers??? geez i am turning into a cynic

BTW, with Mayor Franklin's extra $77 million, the AJC says the CLT money offer now "pales in comparison" to the ATL offer

[turbocraig]

I don't think we really need to be worried. If I'm interpreting that article correctly, it only means that they've increased the total bid from $92M to $102M. The city has just 'guaranteed' it's portion will increase from $5M to $77M of that total $102M figure. I can't see how that would really untangle anything. Our $137M bid has been 'guaranteed' from the get-go.

[UptownGrrl]

all of this desperate money tossing from ATL at the last minute, conveniently after some anonymous source at NASCAR leaks the story that CLT has the HOF, has me suspicious. If all this was just a ploy to loosen up the ATL pocketbook and shake a few more coins out of them

Ya think?

It's got a bunch of Atlantans upset though - the extra $72M pledge from the city is drawing on funds already earmarked for other services and infill redevelopment programs.