Yes, that was for real. The reason we have the couplet one way streets that are timed to move traffic north and south through downtown is because Oakwood residents successfully led the effort to prevent a freeway through their neighborhood and the east side of downtown.
I know that many like to bemoan our two one-way (N/S) streets but they are much better than having a freeway plow through the heart of the city.
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That would be awful, but we would probably have more density in downtown and along that route because of itā¦
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Iād heard of this, but never seen the maps. Can you imagine a freeway 3 blcks from Union Sq? Just the ugly is mind boggling. Still, as @scotchman many said, DTR was a different place in 1972, and freeways were the future! Thank goodness we dodged this bullet.
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Iām curious about the lease rates for retail in DTR - are they priced to encourage small and mid-sized locals or the Urban Outfitters of the world?
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Wow, where did you find those images? Iāve tried multiple times (unsuccessfully) to search the web for information about that project, and the state government complex master plan of that era.
Always amazed at Georgiaās Capitol being lost in urban conglomerate of high rises & freeways.
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I think that thereās two things to consider. The first, and probably more obvious, is leasing rates per ft2. The other, and possibly less obvious, is parcel size. If rates are high, and we know that they will be, small businesses need to mitigate that issue with smaller suites to rent. It seems to me that these new retail suites being created are on the larger side, which will make it harder for independent small businesses to open shops in these new projects. Right now, I donāt think that itās too bad for small businesses, even in newer buildings, because retail is still in its infancy and there are available suites to rent. This gives them more leverage when negotiating lease terms. If/when retail hits its stride, thatās when itās going to become a problem for small businesses. Theyāll simply be priced out of the market if smaller suite alternatives are not offered as leasing rates escalate. It would seem to me, if left solely to the developers, that theyād prefer to provide larger suites to lease to national chains. Iād love to see the city require some smaller retail spaces in new projects to encourage smaller businesses to participate in the cityās retail renaissance.
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This is also the reason the Hammond/I-40 interchange is so overbuilt. That is where this freeway was supposed to tie in with I-40.
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One thing Iāve noticed about the grid is that there is a ring of narrower blocks forming a giant U around downtown. I assume it used to be a closed rectangle but the govāt complex destroyed the top of it. Iām wondering if that is the original termination of the grid?
This freeway wouldāve gone right through it.
The original downtown grid was bounded by the streets with directional names: North, South, East and West. North is pretty patchy now, thanks to the government complex. Lane would have been the other side of that narrow block on the north end.
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I never knew that, but something doesnāt add up for me. I-40 across the south side of downtown wasnāt completed until the early 80s, well after the N/S freeway was killed. Why would that interchange be oversized long after the freeway was dead?
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This was the original Christmas Plan for downtown:
(Funny, I could have sworn that the plan was a perfect square, with the four directionally-named streets intersecting at the corners. . . I guess that was a later expansion?)
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It is curious how Christmas left out those corners of the square. Is there a topographical reason to cut off those 4 corners? I know the land drops off a lot to the NW of Caswell Sq, but canāt recall the drop to the NE of Burke Sq/Executive Mansion. Also curious how much further south the town plan extended, particularly compared to its northern reach. Again, I wonder if its topographical. I do know Christmas and the committee sited the town carefully so Union Sq was the high point with the 4 principle streets running closely along the ridge lines as true high roads/ways. I believe this is a fantastic plan, and the structure continues to play off for DTR.
We had a terrible tornado here where I live last March, thankfully no one was killed. The decimation of the trees has made me far more aware of the topography here on my little postage stamp.
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That northwest public square will be missed more and more as downtown continues to develop. How nice to have another Nash Square in that location near Glenwood South and the re-do of the Days Inn.
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Ineteresting to see how different the imagined the state/Halifax mall area compared to how it turned out. Taking out both Wilmington, Salisbury and Blount would have dramatically changed downtown traffic patterns!!
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The more I think about this location, the more excited I become about it being a catalyst. The entire N/S, km long corridor between Salisbury and McDowell, from the convention center on its south & Lane St. on its north has the potential to change downtown. This stretch is just littered with potential. The block just north of the N&O site has two parallel n/s strips of surface lot parking. What might happen in that space if we can relocate the parking? Imagine those as pedestrian corridors akin to the city market block. There are some huge surface parking lots in this corridor as well, including the half-block one at Lane St. in front of the state dept. of Human Resources, and the western side of the block immediately north of the convention center. Letās hope that the N&O site redevelopment can activate this corridor to its potential.
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SOā¦when can we see construction to start on the N & O ( Nexus Office Tower ) site ?
Expected start date + 6 months.
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