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Big plans for the Aloft site across from the ballpark are slowly being revealed. In addition to the Westin there are two other high-rises in the works. According to the Rhino Times, Greensboro City Council voted in favor of building a 1,050 space 8 story parking deck on the Aloft site which developer Roy Carroll owns. The council agenda notes there are plans to build a 15 to 20 story mixed use building on top of the parking deck which would include a hotel (Aloft). In addition there are plans for a 100,000 square foot office building adjacent to the parking deck. With that amount of square footage on a tight site, it likely will also be a high-rise. The mixed-use skyscraper will lease 450 spaces while the office tower will lease 350 spaces. All of this will be overlooking the ballpark. It's going to be quite an urban setting around the ballpark with the towers/Aloft Hotel to the south and Carroll at Bellemeade/Hyatt Place to the east.
It took 2 and a half years to build a similar sized skyscraper in Charlotte. So based on that I would say construction on this mixed use Aloft tower would begin around the end of this year for a spring 2020 opening as indicated on Starwood Hotels website. This explains why the Aloft opening is 3 years out. As far as the adjacent 100, 000 foot office building, dont know if it will be built at the same time or a different phase.
Construction on the Westin is suppose to begin early next year so we may be seeing two or three tower cranes downtown a year from now.
Downtown Greensboro Inc, president had made a comment earlier this year that downtown may see as many three cranes by the end of the year or early next year. The tower projects I mentioned adds up to three. These will be the first new construction downtown highrises since 1990. That was 27 years ago when downtown went through its last tower boom. Three office towers were built at the same time along with two parking decks. Greensboro's skyline was littered with cranes back then. Its been long overdue.
I'd like to see a Charlotte epic center type property but smaller in the gate city motors property. Restaurants bars maybe a movie theater, or upscale bowling alley.
The question I have is this Aloft project a reconfigured version of Project 561 or a separate project? If you look at them as two different projects they seem very very similar. Both call for 28 floors total with part of it sitting on an 8 story deck. Both also include a hotel. Since Carroll is building an adjacent 100,000 square foot office building next to the mixed-use tower, its more likely the mixed use tower will include residential. So if this is Project 561, Carroll has scaled down the office component but at the same time he would maintain the height by adding residential. Project 561 would have some sort of spire above the 28 floors pushing it to 561 feet. (Hopefully a well designed structural spire and not just a pole) If my theory is correct, Project 561 may be much closer to becoming reality than we thought just not originally as planned. The Triad's tallest building could top out in 3 years if this is indeed the case.
If you really think about it how could it be two separate projects? Why would Carroll plan for a 100,000 square foot office building with the Aloft complex while he is trying to find tenants to fill up 400,000 square feet of office space in Project 561? To me that doesn't make sense unless there are some unexpected corporate tenants that we don't know about looking to fill up a total of 500,000 square feet of office space downtown. That's always a possibility especially after the news of Arch Capital relocating its corporate headquarters to Greensboro. But Remember the Aloft site was reported as the first site for Project 561 almost a year ago and Construction Journal or the construction wire bidding website still lists the Aloft property as the site of Project 561. So we could be getting a reconfigured project 561, same height but with less office space. But if they are two different projects, that just means Greensboro will have two 28 story plus tall towers downtown. Regardless whether or not the Aloft project is 561, I'm sure Carroll will build some sort of a tower next to Center Pointe. He designed Center Pointe with no balconies and false windows on the north side anticipating he would build a tower on that lot. I would LOVE for project 561 and the ALoft development to be two separate projects but the more details we get about whats going on at the ALoft site, the more I think it is Project 561. But we will find out soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bpe16
I'd like to see a Charlotte epic center type property but smaller in the gate city motors property. Restaurants bars maybe a movie theater, or upscale bowling alley.
I agree that Greensboro really needs something like this downtown. I think its very feasible to have a smaller version of the Epicenter.
Construction of the apartment building on the back side is well under way
Almost time for the exterior facade on the hotel. I think it would be cool if they painted the road or at least at the intersection to look like brick with a Greensboro Grasshoppers logo. They also need decorative gates to close off Bellemeade during baseball games instead of using construction barrels and a police car and I would make the gates public art with a baseball theme. Get Greensboro sculptor Jim Gallucci to design it. Details like that can make a difference in how the area looks.
I'd like to see a Charlotte epic center type property but smaller in the gate city motors property. Restaurants bars maybe a movie theater, or upscale bowling alley.
This would be awesome to have something remotely like Charlotte's Epicenter Greensboro. Clearly, it would have to be on a significantly smaller scale, but I think it could work. A few clubs, a movie theater, and an upscale bowling alley mixed with a few restaurants would provide a nice entertainment hub.
Perhaps something at the scale of Jacksonville Landing or Norfolk's brand new (refurbished) Waterside District could be workable.
Even something like the tabbaco campus in Durham offices on the top restaurants and bars on the bottom would be perfect. It's walking distance to the baseball staduium and the gpac.
Kotis is finally finalizing plans on the 8acre site on the corner of Eugene and gate city Blvd nice!!
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