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You beat me to it. Lol. Yes I wonder what he is referring to. He put #downtowngreensboro in the tweet. So he must be talking about something downtown.
Maybe its news the city will start construction on the Eugene Street Parking deck which means Carroll could essentially start on phase 1 of his project on the north end of the property by the ballpark. With construction on Project Slugger underway, the city has to start construction on the deck really soon.
Greensboro needs several more parking decks. Massive parking shortage in the city.
i mean, it does, carroll at bellemeade/hyatt place underground parking is nearing full capacity. The office tower is just going to add onto that problem, the greene street deck will really help out that garea.
When it comes to parking decks the city needs to over build in parts of downtown that is seeing a lot of growth. For example, If the parking needs are for 500, the city needs to figure out how to make the numbers work for 800 to 1,000 space for future growth. This way the city is not building decks for every new development. The Eugene Street deck is being built around 1,000 spaces. They could have built it with 1,500 plus because there are nearby vacant sites ripe for development.
I understand what you are saying, but it would be better to integrate a new deck into the base of a new building (like the Westin) rather than building free-standing decks. Not only are free-standing decks ugly, they take up a lot of room that could be put to a better use, increase development density etc. Most cities are getting away from free-standing decks as well as the 4-5 story apartment-condo developments like Carroll at Bellemeade, simply because they take up an enormous footprint. Developers like them because they are much cheaper to build, but as land gets more expensive in downtown Greensboro, that model will go away. Durham has already started to change to taller structures around the DBAP, each taking a smaller footprint than something like Carroll at Bellemeade.
I am certain that Carroll at Bellemeade / Hyatt had to include adequate parking for their own use, so that shouldn't have any impact on a new deck. I think that the new deck was "rushed" in order to accommodate the Project Slugger. It's unfortunate that Roy Carroll wasn't given more time to develop is initial proposal, which would have an integrated deck. On the other hand, the Project Slugger will be very nice looking, so it's good that it is being built.
I understand what you are saying, but it would be better to integrate a new deck into the base of a new building (like the Westin) rather than building free-standing decks. Not only are free-standing decks ugly, they take up a lot of room that could be put to a better use, increase development density etc. Most cities are getting away from free-standing decks as well as the 4-5 story apartment-condo developments like Carroll at Bellemeade, simply because they take up an enormous footprint. Developers like them because they are much cheaper to build, but as land gets more expensive in downtown Greensboro, that model will go away. Durham has already started to change to taller structures around the DBAP, each taking a smaller footprint than something like Carroll at Bellemeade.
I am certain that Carroll at Bellemeade / Hyatt had to include adequate parking for their own use, so that shouldn't have any impact on a new deck. I think that the new deck was "rushed" in order to accommodate the Project Slugger. It's unfortunate that Roy Carroll wasn't given more time to develop is initial proposal, which would have an integrated deck. On the other hand, the Project Slugger will be very nice looking, so it's good that it is being built.
Carroll south with thankfully wrap around that free standing deck, which is a good thing, at 8 stories it will be an eye sore for a very nice area.
Wake County built a free-standing deck (downtown) around 10 years ago. A developer followed that with building an L-shaped "wrap around" office building / retail / residential on two sides of the deck. It still looks like a massive block of UGLY. Takes up way too much room, and you can't hide the monstrosity.
Contrast that with the Dillon, which has the deck imbedded, and the office lobby is actually on the sixth or seventh floor, even though there is first level retail, restaurants etc. Very innovative building; old rail lines run through part of the first level retail. Its very different.
Maybe Carroll will have better luck, but's not the best use of real estate to build free-standing decks. Also, the market will dictate what he actually builds, and when it gets built, so the eyesore may be there for a while.
I've seen tons of building-wrapped decks that look flawless, but I've also seen tons that look terrible. The worst offenders are ones that place large deck entrances right in the middle of the ground floor retail along the main frontage of the building and just completely destroy and pedestrian activity on the block as a result. Thankfully the current plans for this deck have the entrances on side alleys and not straight onto Eugene St.
I checked the website, and this one doesn't have a large entrance in the middle of the first floor retail. I also took my teenaged daughter to a first floor retail store there several months ago, so I have actually been inside the building. I don't recall seeing any large entrances that looked out of place.
From the first floor level, the building looks very cool and pedestrian friendly. From a distance, it looks like a large Soviet Era piece of crap. I have to admit that I don't like "modernist" architecture, so I may be biased. This one is UGLY.
The renderings that I've seen on Carroll's SOB project look very disappointing. He should have been given an opportunity to pursue his original concepts, and the City of Greensboro handled that situation horribly. Maybe he can make chicken salad out of chicken crap. Time will tell. The market will tell.
I do think that his ego (Project 561) may have been a part of the "change in direction" by the City of Greensboro.
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