North Hills has always been a great spot for exotic car spotting since like 2010 I would say…my sister and I have the proof!
North Hills is now the absolute best for exotic car spotting in Raleigh, IMO, surpassing downtown.
My sister took this picture for me as she does every day. And I do my best to spot something exotic here in Viriginia Beach. She usually wins…
What a cool building - shame that it couldn’t be retrofitted. Yale did a marvelous job renovating their Rudolph-designed School of Architecture but to be fair, it wasn’t cheap.
I saw someone cruising around the village district in a McLaren on Saturday.
Virginia makes it complicated. they put a V before the ABC.
the Urethrea-meter…in stores soon?
I am not sure if anyone has been following this but a new bill was introduced in the house to review, update and proposed new plan review statues. This is a big deal for developers and for us all that follow development because this will streamline the permitting process and push AHJ(Authorities Having Jurisdiction) to process permits faster.
One clause that I am frankly super excited about is introducing 3rd party permit reviewers. Developers will hire 3rd party reviewers and these reviewers will review, comment and give you a final “ok” before submitting to the city which in turn the city should only take less than 2 weeks to give you the final approval.
I am working with a couple of developers in Georgia and Florida that have used 3rd party reviewers and the reviewers have processed their construction drawings for permit in less than a week then those were submitted to the city and the developers received permit approvals for construction in less than a month. If this gets implemented in the state then it’s a huge win!!!
Oh this will be a nice loophole, take that NIMBYs.
It just means the city will reject each review round more quickly. Many jurisdictions have come to the point where they want every I dotted and every t crossed before they will issue a permit. I don’t think that outside reviewers will catch everything. All it takes is one small item and another review round is needed. There needs to be a way to let construction start while waiting for the final approval. I worked on a project Cary that the permit was delayed for a month because I forgot to check a box on the building code summary sheet.
There is also the added pressure from developers to submit for permit before the drawings are really ready. Got to get it in the system. So, consequently they have issues and more review rounds are needed. The whole system is broken at this point.
I would have to disagree with that since I have been involved in projects where 3rd party reviewers came in the picture and never had an issue.
North Hills tall buildings have really risen since the last time I was there. The view coming down 440E is cool. Took this while stopped.
Also, their new liquor store is huge. Quite the selection of bourbon which I love, plus a whole long shelf of NC products, and a number of things I hadn’t seen in an ABC here before. And Snoop Dogg’s $14.95 gin. I assume it pairs well with juice.
The N&O article says this store is 8,000 square feet and the new downtown store is 5,000 with 3,000 of storage. Wonder if that North Hills number includes storage or if that’s the store footprint. Looks well stocked!
North Hills gonna be lit now a nightclub and some luxury stores like 
.
I retired from a local government and know the tricks of the trade for plan review. I have seen applications blank to slip sheeting on the plans. I have seen plot plans for new single family where they used a pencil/marker that look like a kid drew it to mark where the building footings would go with no notes on set backs. Wrong addresses on plans. I have seen driveways where the storm drains culvert is etc etc. Almost laughable if it wasn’t so sad. I have seen them having the City do the work LOL. The worst item is using out of state consulting engineers who want to do it their way. Some municipalities have express review that everyone is in the room or now by zoom/teams and plans are red lined and stamped and can go out the door within a week or two. There are always two sides to a story. There are SFD builders who get permits on first review and I heard that Kane’s plans are the same way.
I have no doubt you’ve seen a lot quirky stuff come though the review process. But as a licensed GC, the CoR review system is absolutely broken (trust me, I deal with it daily). A good example is the UDO requirements. I know responsible development is a must, but a lot of what the UDO doc requires is excessive & redundant.
Coincidence?
Um, it’s called ”futuristic design…"
I’m still mad about the bus and fire station fiasco 
. All of this density and no adequate alternative transportation options
