NASCAR Hall of Fame

[dubone]

Have you been to Second Ward? The whole place is parking lots, and they are all city/county owned. Plus Second Ward has the convention center to have some indoor space. And for closing off streets, Brevard is much less important a thoroughfare now that the Arena has cut it off, so closing it would be less of an impact than closing Church or 3rd.

[guy4charlotte]

"The Charlotte City Council voted Monday to exempt the NASCAR Hall of Fame from the state-required bidding process. The measure was aimed at hiring Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the architecture firm whose design helped win the hall."

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/14210328.htm

This is great news! Hopefully the HOF will get designed by Pei Cobb Freed rather than being some dumbed down design by the lowest bidder as in other municipal projects.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Nevermind

[Rufus]

i'm a little confused. i thought Pei Cobb and Freed already designed the HoF. Does it need changes or what?

[atlrvr]

They did renderings.....they didn't do any sort of structural planning or detail work. This would make them the architect of record throughout the process.

[guy4charlotte]

Specifically, the drawings and design were done by Yvonne Szeto, one of six partners (and the only female one) at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, which was founded by the renowned architect I.M. Pei, who retired in 1990. Here's a link to her bio page on their site:

http://www.pcf-p.com/a/f/fme/ys/b/b.html

PCF&P doesn't yet list the HOF anywhere on their website as one of their projects, so at this point as atlrvr points out all they have really done is come up with the "design concept"....let's just hope they also become the official architects.

[dubone]

PCF&P doesn't yet list the HOF anywhere on their website as one of their projects, so at this point as atlrvr points out all they have really done is come up with the "design concept"....let's just hope they also become the official architects.

That is true that they don't list it as a project, but it is front and center on their homepage:

http://www.pcf-p.com/aN.html

"Yvonne Szeto, partner at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners,

to design NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C"

http://www.pcf-p.com/h/060306/n.htm

It would have been crazy to have to bid out architectural services after another firm did the overall design. I think Monday's vote was a no brainer, and was pretty much a rubber stamp to officially bypass typical policy.

[dubone]

This topic hasn't come up in more than a month. But the Observer is revealing details on how this was really Charlotte's for most of the time.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/spo...ts/14464562.htm

[Rickydavisfan21]

Option to purchase at fair market value a 3.5-acre tract of city-owned land across Caldwell Street from the hall of fame.

wonder what thats for? a Nascar Headquarters maybe, or some other option

[dubone]

That was discussed earlier in this thread. It is for the block of land just south of the [non-]clock tower. I personally think it is for more office space allowing them to either shift their hq here, or else just direct all future growth here.

[Rickydavisfan21]

oh yea I forgot we had discussed that, i would love for there to be a nice tower right there :-D

[AuLukey]

oh yea I forgot we had discussed that, i would love for there to be a nice tower right there :-D

While I think a tower would be nice there. I don't think that, realistically, NASCAR would build a tower larger than fifteen stories. Which, considering their hq size now, it would have to be a taller structure to completely move their operations here. But who knows? The HOF was the first "flashy" thing NASCAR has really ever done, so maybe it's a trend.

[dubone]

That's a good point. There were some insider rumors that Nascar would be starting to move the HQ here bit by bit now that the HOF is here. Who knows if that is true, but the fact they obtained the option on that land seems to support at least one other tower in the future.

But the land they have optioned is pretty large. It is basically a full block large, equivalent in area to the Epicentre project, and most other blocks downtown. They could potentially do three or four fifteen-story buildings on that block.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=...&style=h&lvl=19

[rooster8]

That would be right beside the clock towers!

[Rickydavisfan21]

maybe they can hide them from view :-D

[dubone]

That would be right beside the clock towers!

Right. Hopefully hiding it.

[Neo]

Raising this topic from a dry spell is an article published in Wired magazine. The article is a couple of pages long and is available online via the link below. Discussed are points in favor of Nascar and that it now brings in more sponsorship dollars than the NFL and nearly double the average attendance than that of the NFL.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/autot...ml?tw=rss.index

[atlrvr]

Wow.......68 pages in a years time, and then nothing for over a month.

Anyway....they are out taking soil samples today...so I guess that is the first sign of physical progress on the NHOF.

[alpha.type.alpha]

I'm just suprised we have not gotten a preview of the floorplan, or the exhibit space layout, and what exactly were are going to have to work with. Frustration is definately building.

[A2]

Wow.......68 pages in a years time, and then nothing for over a month.

Anyway....they are out taking soil samples today...so I guess that is the first sign of physical progress on the NHOF.

I saw that too atlrvr. I did get a bit excited, but failed to post anything. However, it is nice to see some progress on the site.

A2

[revitalize]

i've seen surveyors around the area a lot. probably getting plans together soon

[AuLukey]

i've seen surveyors around the area a lot. probably getting plans together soon

I wonder how deep they will have to dig seeing as the tower isn't going to be tall enough to demand a massive foundation. Anybody know what is planned as far as parking for this venue?

[atlrvr]

Well they are planning an underground parking deck, so they'll have to go relatively deep for that.

[eastsider]

There is a press conference scheduled for this afternoon where an executive director for the hall of fame is expected to be named. They are also supposed to reviel who the exhibit designer will be.

[dubone]

Winston Kelley is the executive director. The article doesn't have any construction info, though, beyond the basics of Spring 2007 for construction and a 2009 completion.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/14978913.htm