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Ball park area and Westin update and other small updates, I’m actually surprised how quickly this area is moving, Carroll at bellemeade(far left)took nearly 8 years to complete, meanwhile 400 bellemeade(left brown/glass) went up in a couple of months, and they’re already starting on the much larger Carroll South of ballpark park project (center). Which thankfully got a design change from the original 20 story bland glass box and a much needed height change on the aloft hotel, a nice modest boost in height to 13 stories instead of only 6 stories.
The westin hotel tower lot is finally graded and after what seems like decades finally has some building materials on site..
And the Hampton inn near the rail yard district is complete.
Not the best time to be building a lot of new hotels. In Greensboro, or anywhere else for that matter.
I’m actually surprised construction is still continuing as usual, however I think they are only working on the parking decks of each lot, and then when things clear up they will start on the hotel portions.
I think it would be nice to have a few bodegas open up at the corners oof the residential buildings.
You have he eateries etc. likely closer to central core (I can't say Uptown, just don't like it), and likely concentrated which is fine.
I think a few tiny benches/gathering places like with a hot dog stand or minimal food / convenience store would be great along that very residential section. More neighborhoody patronized by just 2 or 3 apartment complexes.
That's just what i think would make for a cozy, social scene
I think it would be nice to have a few bodegas open up at the corners oof the residential buildings.
You have he eateries etc. likely closer to central core (I can't say Uptown, just don't like it), and likely concentrated which is fine.
I think a few tiny benches/gathering places like with a hot dog stand or minimal food / convenience store would be great along that very residential section. More neighborhoody patronized by just 2 or 3 apartment complexes.
That's just what i think would make for a cozy, social scene
All that’s there and is coming as more and more developments come. That’s actually why the rail trail and SouthEnd is booming along that trail. For the very things you suggest.
Even office towers are getting breweries and such In SouthEnd. Rail trail fronting. At first is seemed gimmicky, but over a decade, it’s maturing and really coming together in the way you’re describing.
One of many new office tower proposals:
The rail trail really has dashed hopes of more uptown retail as it is quickly becoming a large retailer hub with mall type tenants. Lots of urban format stores, etc. SouthEnd is maturing and it’s a great place.
The rail trail also goes along Camden, which is like Southends original Main Street before South Blvd. grew and eclipsed it. It’s full of various restaurants, clothing and other various local retail shops.
All that’s there and is coming as more and more developments come. That’s actually why the rail trail and SouthEnd is booming along that trail. For the very things you suggest.
Even office towers are getting breweries and such In SouthEnd. Rail trail fronting. At first is seemed gimmicky, but over a decade, it’s maturing and really coming together in the way you’re describing.
One of many new office tower proposals:
The rail trail really has dashed hopes of more uptown retail as it is quickly becoming a large retailer hub with mall type tenants. Lots of urban format stores, etc. SouthEnd is maturing and it’s a great place.
Uptown could still get retail. It'll likely be along the north end area that is set to develop along North Tryon Street as proposed with the Charlotte City Center Partners master plan for the north side of Uptown. There are several open lots that are bring assembled right now by REITs and developers to have ground level retail within their mixed use development in that very area.
Not the best time to be building a lot of new hotels. In Greensboro, or anywhere else for that matter.
The current national situation with the coronavirus is temporary and is hurting the economy. But when it passes things will get back to normal. But developers who have proposed projects that have not already started construction will wait and see when this ends and what the economy will look like and that pretty much applies across the board from hotels to office towers all over the country. We'll have to see how much damage is done by the time this is over. The shut down is already having some lasting effects. One example..Hooters will be permanently closing its Greensboro and Burlington locations. The question is will we start to see high profile downtown establishments not just in Greensboro but across the country close permanently because of extended closings for the coming months. In Greensboro's case, it seems like everytime downtown begins to gain traction and jump into high gear, a national situation brings down the economy and slows things down again. It happened with 911, and the 2007 recession. This is why I cringe when it takes several years from groundbreaking to actual construction on downtown projects in Greensboro because anything on a national level could potentially halt those projects permanently. The Westin project is a prime example. Get the dang thing under construction before a national downturn in the economy happens and stop di_ _ing around with it. Groundwork construction has finally begun but only after a number of mishaps on the city's part. With all the great things happening in downtown Greensboro, the construction process on downtown projects is painfully slow and I don't know why. The 6-story Hampton Inn in downtown is nearing completion but construction began in September 2018! Why does it take a year and half to build a 6 story hotel? It took 4 years to build Carroll at Bellemeade when it was suppose to take 24 months. This does not happen elsewhere in the city. Construction is slower than it use to be. It took a year to build three 19 to 21 story office towers in downtown Greensboro back in 1989. It makes no sense at all for it to take a year and a half or 4 years to build smaller midrise projects.
The Hampton Inn is looking good but this should not take a year and a half and counting to build. This is ridiculous.
The current situation could be even more devastating nationwide and take years to recover. It's not just a Greensboro problem. It's a Charlotte problem, an Atanta problem. Pretty much everywhere in this country. How long this coronavirus problem last will determine how much damage will be done.
The current national situation with the coronavirus is temporary and is hurting the economy. But when it passes things will get back to normal.
Note this reply isn't really in response to gsoboi directly, more triggered by it in general and complement to it. I get what gsoboi is saying.
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I'll argue that it'll take a while for everything to get back to normal, not just net-new construction. Despite what some politicians are saying, it's not a light switch situation where everyone is just suddenly going to go about their day-day again. As this entire sheltering situation goes on, it's rapidly become the new normal. People are picking up hermit habits and are going to be super cautious to some extant resuming their prior lives in the "before times".
I had 4 "big" trips I was planning this year for example. The only one I'm still sorta/kinda entertaining is a beach trip this fall because that involves a house rental and is the furthest out at the moment of this mess. Even then I'm kind of leery about it. I've personally just already written off summer travel this year.
Will probably be a year from now before the American mind does the whole "forget about it" thing and resumes their normal lives.
Note this reply isn't really in response to gsoboi directly, more triggered by it in general and complement to it. I get what gsoboi is saying.
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I'll argue that it'll take a while for everything to get back to normal, not just net-new construction. Despite what some politicians are saying, it's not a light switch situation where everyone is just suddenly going to go about their day-day again. As this entire sheltering situation goes on, it's rapidly become the new normal. People are picking up hermit habits and are going to be super cautious to some extant resuming their prior lives in the "before times".
I had 4 "big" trips I was planning this year for example. The only one I'm still sorta/kinda entertaining is a beach trip this fall because that involves a house rental and is the furthest out at the moment of this mess. Even then I'm kind of leery about it. I've personally just already written off summer travel this year.
Will probably be a year from now before the American mind does the whole "forget about it" thing and resumes their normal lives.
Agreed, and I'll add to this by saying that Global economics will probably never be the same after covid-19. I expect the new economic "normal" to lean heavily towards socialism; more than ever before. I think this will come as great news to the poor and middle classes, but the super-rich-for-no-reason folks (pro athlete's, famous singers, movie stars) probably won't like it that much. Bless their little hearts...
After 9/11 I read countless stories about how no tall buildings would ever be built again.
It's almost childish the way grown people react to current events, though never would I have imagined that the long bull-run economy would end in this unprecedented way.
But during the past several years I watched dozens of new eateries open in Atlanta that were the bad decisions of those foolish enough to think that the strong job market and people's free-spending for non-essential services and stuff was normal and permanent.
It just yo-yos back and forth, and with our service-based consumerism economy, probably 1/2 of the economic activity comes from superfluous services people don't need like mani/pedis, expensive hair salons, high-priced grocery stores, etc.
Over half of those new eateries in Atlanta didn't make it even before the pandemic.
What's needed is to strike a balance between consumerism for things with real value that don't just create more trash/pollution. A roaring economy is full of new businesses shipping snack boxes to your home, auto-delivered toothbrush subscription services and BS stuff like that.
Telecommuting will become more mainstream and telemedicine/telehealth too. (doctor diagnoses via your smartphone). But watch it not bring down the cost of healthcare even though it required 75% less resources to deliver.
I don't know about an increase in socialism, because if the rest of the world starts thinking less of the US dollar that we keep printing to pay for everything (except no rebuilding of infrastructure) we'll be in trouble.
This crisis along with Trump's denial of the national debt's validity, will easily get us over the $30 trillion mark. I don't know if it could haunt us or not. Ward on Leave it To Beaver complains about the national debt in episodes from 1959.
That building with the two extruded boxes will be one of Charlotte's best-looking.
The recent development boom had already overbuilt some things, but we continue to repeat our concerns over and over.
Remember how hard it was to sell the units in Charlotte's very tall residential tower?
I'll bet they were in demand & pricey much more recently.
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