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I'm sure some things may have been years in the making, but I do feel that more is "happening" during the current Mayor's tenure than the last few mayors.
I think the city is trying to get what it can from wherever it can. Right now, ECU seems to be willing to do more to expand and is running out of space. Downtown is an area ripe for development, so it makes sense to want to include ECU as an anchor. They want to guarantee that people will be in these new developments. The best way to do that is to have ECU bring a department or the Registrars office, or something else ECU related because those people will have jobs and have to go to work there every single day.
If I was the city, I may even try to court PCC to establish a presence for their Art and/or Graphic design programs in the "Arts" section of LoDo.
I'd love an Arts Institute to be downtown, but those are normally reserved for much larger cities.
People in Greenville need to quit thinking like a city with 50,000 and start thinking like an emerging "small" large city of 100,000. Greenville is only 35-40 years behind Greensboro or Winston-Salem in terms of population. That is not a lot of time.
Actually, Greenville has the population now that either Greensboro or Winston-Salem had about 60 years ago: in the 1950s, both were closing in on 100k population or so. But I understand your point. I imagine many in Greenville still resist change - that was still the case when I lived there not long ago (2005-2009).
Greenville and Wilmington should not be taking a back seat to any other municipalities in NC when it comes to going after companies...but it is very rare that either gets a major announcement from the state. Wilmington got one last in Castle Branch, moving from California...Greenville got an expansion of ASMO....both about a year ago.
As you start looking at these plans and realize all the fairly worthless buildings in these areas like the Dickinson corridor...it becomes more and more apparent that nothing of any substance has been done to redevelop the area. I made the point in a post yesterday that the plans have to deal with what is there now and tackle what you can do quickly without trying to do too much. Removal of worthless structures is the first step to redevelopment...if they just focus on that, the investment will come in the next 5 years as the 10th St connector is constructed.
It just seems to me that other NC (VA) universities have marketed their locations and their institutions as regional incubators for skilled employment leading to research and industrial parks being developed in their vicinities. ECU has seemed to only do this in relation to their medical school. There does not seem to be a clear link between ECU and private industry/commerical development which could lead to tremendous growth for the tax base of Greenville and Pitt County.
Examples that I am thinking about are the RTP, University City - Research Park (Charlotte), Wake Forest Innovation Quarter (W-S), Innovation Park @ ODU (Norfolk), etc.
Greenville and Wilmington should not be taking a back seat to any other municipalities in NC when it comes to going after companies...but it is very rare that either gets a major announcement from the state. Wilmington got one last in Castle Branch, moving from California...Greenville got an expansion of ASMO....both about a year ago.
As you start looking at these plans and realize all the fairly worthless buildings in these areas like the Dickinson corridor...it becomes more and more apparent that nothing of any substance has been done to redevelop the area. I made the point in a post yesterday that the plans have to deal with what is there now and tackle what you can do quickly without trying to do too much. Removal of worthless structures is the first step to redevelopment...if they just focus on that, the investment will come in the next 5 years as the 10th St connector is constructed.
I agree that there can definitely be plenty of removal of structures downtown but also I think many buildings should be preserved and restored instead of replacing them with brand new modern buildings. Older buildings make a city unique and Greenville already doesn't have many older structures left that haven't burned down or been torn down.
I agree that there can definitely be plenty of removal of structures downtown but also I think many buildings should be preserved and restored instead of replacing them with brand new modern buildings. Older buildings make a city unique and Greenville already doesn't have many older structures left that haven't burned down or been torn down.
Not advocating tearing down Historic Structures....of which buildings like the Beach Bingo would NOT be considered, but the Ficklen Warehouse would.
There is a difference between old and Historic. ECU has saved some of the best warehouses in its Millennial Campus.
I'm just saying there is a lot of crap buildings...just like there was on the old Georgetown site. And houses can be moved if necessary.
I would agree with HP, many of the blighted buildings should come down.
Ideally, I'd be in favor of clearing 90% of the buildings in the LoDo area. Then taking the bricks and using them to form some of the new buildings for the area.
Thing is that there are very few buildings that actually look like an old "Tobacco" warehouse in that area anyway. The large building burnt down and sits in rubble. Most everything else are small 1 story buildings that look like they may crumble from a strong storm within the next 5 years.
There can be new buildings that can be designed to look like old tobacco warehouses. There should only be multi-story buildings created down there.
One thing that I think needs to stay are the metal sculptures on Dickinson. I think those sculptures should be on every other corner of the entire LoDo area. It will enhance the look and give that "Arts" vibe that I think they want.
If you have the time, go to Google Maps HERE then go to Google Street View and click around the streets. You'll see just how much isn't there. How much open land there is and businesses that aren't open. It is ripe. We will just need some money & time.
Last edited by michealbond; 05-15-2014 at 12:12 PM..
I get that they want to preserve the looks of some older buildings, and I believe that Historic structures are good and well for a community. But, the city seems to be preoccupied with working towards revitalizing and renovating rather than creating infrastructure that looks attractive and draws people in from down the street. I do think that we should keep historic buildings but, they should be designated and not just restored just to have them.
I know that the historic and older buildings are unique to a community and that new buildings will be way down the road but I just feel like that's all I ever hear about. "Historic this," "Historic that."
It just seems to me that other NC (VA) universities have marketed their locations and their institutions as regional incubators for skilled employment leading to research and industrial parks being developed in their vicinities. ECU has seemed to only do this in relation to their medical school. There does not seem to be a clear link between ECU and private industry/commerical development which could lead to tremendous growth for the tax base of Greenville and Pitt County.
Examples that I am thinking about are the RTP, University City - Research Park (Charlotte), Wake Forest Innovation Quarter (W-S), Innovation Park @ ODU (Norfolk), etc.
I don't know anything for sure, but maybe there is some gentleman's agreement not to compete or step on each others toes? If Greenville pushes the tech sector that might be seen as competing with Raleigh..
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