NASCAR Hall of Fame

[New Name]

The supports for the overstreet walkway are being installed now on the convention center side. I would think we could see some steel for this thing going up sometime this week.

[dubone]

I walked by the NASCAR hall construction this weekend. Didn't the city decide that they'd leave the possibility of adding some retail spaces along Brevard inside the parking deck? The Parking deck level is way above the street in that section. I suppose it is possible that they could add some steps, but this did not seem they are keeping their word on that.

[InitialD]

From last weekend:

[New Name]

2 story overstreet walkway is in place now. Especially from further down Brevard, you can't see that it is actually over the street, and it almost looks like Brevard ends at NASCAR now

[New Name]

Which NASCAR thread are we using?

[dubone]

This thread is about the museum the other is about the office tower called 'NASCAR Plaza'.

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/NASCAR-P...ame-t22763.html

[monsoon]

The news is reporting that officials of this mostly taxpayer funded project are headed back to the Charlotte city council to ask for an additional $32M in order to actually finish the project. Seems they might have underestimated the cost and they are now saying the attractions planned for the place won't attract enough people. So they need more money for something better.

[Spartan]

2 story overstreet walkway is in place now. Especially from further down Brevard, you can't see that it is actually over the street, and it almost looks like Brevard ends at NASCAR now

Sweet. Thats a great step towards that Brevard Street pedestrian/shopping corridor.

[tozmervo]

Sweet. Thats a great step towards that Brevard Street pedestrian/shopping corridor.

Wait, isn't this kind of a double standard based on your comment about the 1 Bank of America skybridge, or is there something about this one that will keep pedestrians on the street?

[Guest]

Wait, isn't this kind of a double standard based on your comment about the 1 Bank of America skybridge, or is there something about this one that will keep pedestrians on the street?

He was being quite sarcastic. While I do agree with Spartan that this is a bad thing, its also neccessary, to seemlessly move between the new conventioncenter ball room and the convention center. Now did they need a double decker, I think not.

[tozmervo]

Ok, I thought that might be the case but this being the medium it is I wanted to be sure

[ontap]

He was being quite sarcastic. While I do agree with Spartan that this is a bad thing, its also neccessary, to seemlessly move between the new conventioncenter ball room and the convention center. Now did they need a double decker, I think not.

There is a reason for the double decker skywalk. One level is for food service, catering, maintenance personnel, operations...etc. The upper level will be for convention attendees/public.

[Guest]

There is a reason for the double decker skywalk. One level is for food service, catering, maintenance personnel, operations...etc. The upper level will be for convention attendees/public.

Wow, for once there is a very good reason for one of these things.

[U4ick]

Does anyone else feel that the portion of $32M they want allocated for more interactive non-static displays is just a part of a chess game they have been playing since Day 1 just to get the project off the ground?

With that said, they do have a valid point.......I travel all over the U.S. and visit Museums and one of the biggest things that I get a laugh about is when I see them show prices for "Annual Memberships" when I'm bored stiff half-way into my very FIRST visit!!

[dubone]

Most of this new budget is for new stuff, or stuff that was value engineered out up front, but proved popular, leading them to look for ways to fund it (like energy efficiency and the lighting show in the grooves around the 'infinity loop'). Most of it, though, is for better displays and exhibits, which are the core function of this building in the first place. If that leads to a more successful project overall, then it will help to reinvest back into the hotel industry that is paying for most of this project.

My guess is that as they started ironing out the details, they kept adding to a wishlist of ideas that were not funded in the budget. Knowing that those wishlist items would help the core mission of the mission, they looked for ways to fund them. After waiting a couple years, the revenue stream that funds the project has exceeded expectations, given them the ability to fund part of their wishlist. Then, they worked with their partners, (the banks and Nascar), who deferred payments for them. Why would deferring payments make good business sense to justify these costs? Because they are investments in the core mission which they expect will drive additional visitorship and long term revenues. But also because this has always been more of a civic mission for those partners, so the better the result, the better their civic contribution.

Time will tell, but it is good that an increase in budget is actually going for new and better 'stuff' rather than like many projects, where the project gets more expensive AND goes through value engineering cuts. If the end result is higher value as a destination, then this will drive visitorship and tourism, which is the whole purpose for the project.

I can't find the CO article, but in the CBJ article, there was some reference to the land sales going better than expected. Does anyone know if they applied the extra proceeds from the land sales to this project? Or was that just an ancillary reference?

[Guest]

Most of this new budget is for new stuff, or stuff that was value engineered out up front, but proved popular, leading them to look for ways to fund it (like energy efficiency and the lighting show in the grooves around the 'infinity loop'). Most of it, though, is for better displays and exhibits, which are the core function of this building in the first place. If that leads to a more successful project overall, then it will help to reinvest back i

There is a breakdown in Monday's CBJ about what the costs are for. They go as follows.

[Guest]

Pix Du Jour.

Just wanted to post a bunch of images of the nascar tower for the enjoyment of everyone. They are poor quality screenshots for the most part, but it will give us a better idea of what is to come over the next couple of months and what has been approved most recently.

First 4 views.

Then some schematics and flats

[InitialD]

Taken Sunday from Stonewall Station:

[DjStedali]

Drove by the building today and if I remember correctly they only have one floor of glass to hang on the west side of the building which is the side facing us in the picture InitialD took above.

[tozmervo]

WCNC is reporting that the city council approved the extra money for the HoF, though it was not unanimous.

Well, here's hoping that NASCAR stays popular.

[Spartan]

Ok, I thought that might be the case but this being the medium it is I wanted to be sure

Haha, yeah sarcasm doesn't translate well on message boards. Sorry for any confusion. I have and always will hate the hamster tubes.

Wow, for once there is a very good reason for one of these things.

Nope. Still a bad reason. I went to a conference in DC one time, it was quite large so we had to (gasp) walk to two different buildings. Outside. In January. In the snow. And incidentally it was up hill in both directions due to the layout of the hotels. Ok it wasn't uphill in both directions, but it was in the one direction. We all survived the horrors of being on the streets with the common people though.

The only exception that is acceptable is the bridge the goes from the Lynx platform to Epicentre because it serves a much more practical function.

I will agree that if we have to have one then its a decent reason for having it doubledecker.

[monsoon]

WCNC is reporting that the city council approved the extra money for the HoF, though it was not unanimous.

Well, here's hoping that NASCAR stays popular.

The sad thing about this is that if you read back through this 4 year old topic, you will find this was originally pitched as a $100M project as an attempt to win it from the other cities in contention for it. $100M was a lot more than what other cities were willing to commit to the project at the time. Now that Charlotte has the project it has somehow turned into a $200M project.

This means the city has hit the taxpayers for $500,000,000 (1/2 Billion) in the last 5 years to promote just two professional sports, the NBA, and now Nascar. Honestly I think there are bigger priorities in this town where that much money could have been spent. This is more money than the local funding required for both the NE LRT extension and the North CR transit lines.

[Guest]

The sad thing about this is that if you read back through this 4 year old topic, you will find this was originally pitched as a $100M project as an attempt to win it from the other cities in contention for it. $100M was a lot more than what other cities were willing to commit to the project at the time. Now that Charlotte has the project it has somehow turned into a $200M project.

This means the city has hit the taxpayers for $500,000,000 (1/2 Billion) in the last 5 years to promote just two professional sports, the NBA, and now Nascar. Honestly I think there are bigger priorities in this town where that much money could have been spent. This is more money than the local funding required for both the NE LRT extension and the North CR transit lines.

And by Taxpayers, surely you mean people that rent cars, and stay in our hotels. Speaking that these are the people that foot the bill for the Arena, and I'm fairly certain the Hall of Fame. The money was specifically allocated for the Arena, and could not have been used for anything else. Also the original Hall was pitched at 100M, and that did not include a 19 story office tower for Nascar.

Before, without tower

I do agree with you that we spent too much on the Nascar Hall of Fame however. I feel Nascar should have definately contributed some money towards the process.

[uptownliving]

It sounds like the Staff just kind of set the exibition budget off to the side at the begining due to budget constraints and intended all along to come back and revisit and see where they could get the money from to fund it....but that was never communicated clearly to City Council.

In the end I think Council made the right decision...$13M for exibitions just would not have made for a good experience...and would have meant less money from ticket sales.

[New Name]

The curved steel for the "swoop" is very visible on the Stonewall side of the building. It's worth checking out simply because it gives you a perspective for how BIG this place is going to be.