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Yeah, it does seem like a waste. I mean, look at what Washington has done with their waterfront. All the town commons does is just block your view of the river. Downtown is already close to the river so why not make use of the space. You can still have a boardwalk but why waste all that space with just trees and paths. There should be shops or a hotel like they were talking. You could have some shops along the waterfront and that would be a safer area to walk along and shop or go to a restaurant then directly in the middle of town.
Exactly, that is why I suggested (here) to clean up the north side of the river. A carbon copy could be made (or smaller) and would make the view on the south side better.
New concrete info about some of my earlier speculation.
There are currently three different owners on the six parcels around Reade/Cotanche/8th/Evans. They are planning on combining into single ownership.
They want to close 7th Street in between Evans and Cotanche.
All of the utilities and existing buildings and improvements will be removed.
They are in the design phase to redevelopment these properties.
Also, of those six parcels, only Ham's is currently designated as Downtown Commercial Fringe (CDF). The owners want to rezone it to Downtown Commercial (CD), which is what the other 5 parcels are. CDF allows for right under 10,000sqft of commercial/retail/restaurant space, which CD allows around 22,600sqft of commercial/retail/restaurant space.
As of now, this is expected to be completed in 2 to 3 years.
These parcels are right over 4 acres.
IIRC, the rumor was mixed-use/residential/retail buildings.
The final? recommendation for 1st Street parking, will occur from North Holly to Pitt Street. It will be reduced to two vehicle lanes. Also, bike lanes will go in on each side of the road. Finally 45 degree parking will go on the south side, and parallel parking will go on the north side. This will create 106 more parking spots.
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I personally would like a median in the road, and a turn lane at Cotanche and Washington Streets. But we'll see what happens.
New concrete info about some of my earlier speculation.
There are currently three different owners on the six parcels around Reade/Cotanche/8th/Evans. They are planning on combining into single ownership.
They want to close 7th Street in between Evans and Cotanche.
All of the utilities and existing buildings and improvements will be removed.
They are in the design phase to redevelopment these properties.
Also, of those six parcels, only Ham's is currently designated as Downtown Commercial Fringe (CDF). The owners want to rezone it to Downtown Commercial (CD), which is what the other 5 parcels are. CDF allows for right under 10,000sqft of commercial/retail/restaurant space, which CD allows around 22,600sqft of commercial/retail/restaurant space.
As of now, this is expected to be completed in 2 to 3 years.
These parcels are right over 4 acres.
IIRC, the rumor was mixed-use/residential/retail buildings.
Exciting news!!
A little history on the 5 parcels already CD. They were rezoned from CDF and Residential to CD in January 2008. At that time they expected the project to be a multi-story multi-family project with approximately 175-225 units.
One can assume the economy got in the way of this project.
Ward Holdings was deeded Ham's in 2012, so one can also assume that whatever was planned in 2008 will be larger. Unless parking goes there. There was an issue with remote parking, so maybe that parcel will take care of it.
None the less, I am excited to see what comes forth.
We really are seeing a lot more development in the downtown area since the new mayor Allen Thomas got elected. All it takes is for one person to actually do something about the problems and not just ignore them. Now we just need a new company HQ or somw kind of high tech jobs in the area.
We really are seeing a lot more development in the downtown area since the new mayor Allen Thomas got elected. All it takes is for one person to actually do something about the problems and not just ignore them. Now we just need a new company HQ or somw kind of high tech jobs in the area.
Exactly my thoughts, I've felt a hell of a lot more optimistic about Greenville's future under this new mayor. I'm not sure if its him or not but he's def. getting the credit from me. If we can't lure a HQ, we could at least build a center where startup companies can locate and possibly grow into companies.
Greenville is a city of health and education, so we could try to brand ourselves that way to attract large pharmaceutical companies or even have a few companies grow up from here. We (meaning city council) don't need to wrap our heads around retail developments, they'll come as more people come so firstly attract the large well paying jobs, then retailers will come that are far better than the ones we currently have. When it comes to downtown, I'd like the public-private approach when it comes to development meaning a developer will collaborate with the city on improving the area rather its by building garages, hotels, or even parks. It's far more effective rather than waiting on developers to come.
One thing for sure, it would be nice if ECU (or I guess the UNC school system) were to build a school similar to the NC School of Sciences and Mathematics but instead have it in a Health school type of way. I'd love for it to be in the West End once the area begins seriously revitalizing. I know Vancouver, CN is a international city but we could learn from their model when it comes to development, discourage developers from building low-rise apartment complexes around the city but instead attempt to have them begin building in downtown and surrounding areas with mid-rise buildings. I don't know about student housing when it comes to what I propose, but regular developments would be forced to build up in the downtown area. Also this would prevent the massive sprawl that Greenville is having.
Exactly my thoughts, I've felt a hell of a lot more optimistic about Greenville's future under this new mayor. I'm not sure if its him or not but he's def. getting the credit from me. If we can't lure a HQ, we could at least build a center where startup companies can locate and possibly grow into companies.
Greenville is a city of health and education, so we could try to brand ourselves that way to attract large pharmaceutical companies or even have a few companies grow up from here. We (meaning city council) don't need to wrap our heads around retail developments, they'll come as more people come so firstly attract the large well paying jobs, then retailers will come that are far better than the ones we currently have. When it comes to downtown, I'd like the public-private approach when it comes to development meaning a developer will collaborate with the city on improving the area rather its by building garages, hotels, or even parks. It's far more effective rather than waiting on developers to come.
One thing for sure, it would be nice if ECU (or I guess the UNC school system) were to build a school similar to the NC School of Sciences and Mathematics but instead have it in a Health school type of way. I'd love for it to be in the West End once the area begins seriously revitalizing. I know Vancouver, CN is a international city but we could learn from their model when it comes to development, discourage developers from building low-rise apartment complexes around the city but instead attempt to have them begin building in downtown and surrounding areas with mid-rise buildings. I don't know about student housing when it comes to what I propose, but regular developments would be forced to build up in the downtown area. Also this would prevent the massive sprawl that Greenville is having.
We have The Technology Enterprise Center of Eastern Carolina for start-ups, but we need something bigger. I want to say part of the "Millenial Campus" is a place for startups. I mean we have all these profs who create things, but don't have the extra bench/office space to build it up.
I agree it would be great to scale up the Health Sciences Academy, make it into a free-standing school, and allow students from other counties to come. Could you imagine all the HQ students ECU would get for their science programs then?
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