dougskiles

January 30, 2012, 06:28:12 AM
Great video.  Very inspiring.

daveindesmoines1

January 30, 2012, 07:17:39 AM
Mr. Gingrich talked about a decade old goal of reaching the moon once again. I see the benefits of where all Americans could build that goal, instead of bickering at each other. However, can we create a goal of developing  auto driven, one passenger vehicles, instead? Can new climate controlled, auto driven one passenger vehicles be built with enough space to haul groceries? They would be guided by GPS. You would simply plug your smart phone to accomplish this. Traffic lights could be programmed to not slow down traffic. Diamond lanes could be set up just for these vehicles.
Most times you will see only one person in each car. How you drive can save up to 33 percent in fuel usage. Then if you include traffic lights, this will reduce your MPG even more.
We have our baby boomers aging fast. Soon many will not be able to drive. These new vehicles could help the retirees get around.
Monetary competition could be organized among our universities to develop this new vehicle. These vehicles could be powered by natural gas and special batteries.
Closed manufacturing plants could be reopened to build these new "MADE IN AMERICA" vehicles.
I agree with the wisdom of setting a long term goal for our nation to build upon. However, I believe in building auto driven vehicles could go farther in terms of fuel demands. If we can lower our passenger gas usage by up to 33 percent. Then we reduce oil prices, according to the supply and demand curves.
The lower oil prices become; the more money will be made available to stimulate our whole economy. I believe the investment in developing these auto driven vehicles would go farther in terms in economic stimulation for our whole US economy..Then we all win in more ways than one.

peestandingup

January 30, 2012, 09:21:09 AM
Sorry, but the Boomers did it to themselves by embracing everything that is the automobile & their sprawled out unconnected living arrangements. Personal single self-driven vehicles are dumb for a numbers of reasons, all of which I won't go into here. But it mostly has to do with it being a highly space wasting & inefficient means of getting people around (opposed to public rail transit). Its basically a continuation of the poor & unconnected infrastructure we have now (which needs to change). Not to mention keeping the car ownership racket going.

If Newt said that, then he's as out of touch as they are. Sorry, not trying to be a jerk about it, but they should have really thought about this well beforehand instead of now in their old age demanding that a computer drive them around in their own little self-contained pods in the world they've built for themselves. They made their bed.

JeffreyS

January 30, 2012, 09:39:42 AM
Sure it has given a boost to Charlotte's economy and Quality of life but has the community made a mint on the fare box?  Isn't that what our city council thinks is the important part of transit?

thelakelander

January 30, 2012, 09:55:35 AM
Good question. Like toll roads, no transit system recovers 100% O&M costs at the fare box. However, Charlotte's LRT has already paid for itself, several times, in terms of property tax revenue, economic development,  downtown growth, revitalization of blighted areas, quality of life, community marketing, and job creation.

Ocklawaha

January 30, 2012, 09:56:34 AM
daveindesmoines1, We already have that vehicle, it's called fixed route mass transit. This is available right here and right now, there is absolutely no reason to stretch to some distant point in the future where mobility-pods will take over the world.

What you are speaking of is called PRT, or personal rapid transit. The investment required to make this comprehensive system idea work would stagger the budget in the best economy. You'd still have to consider the costs of construction and maintenance for these 'highways,' which by itself would not be sustainable.

Since a bare bones double track rail line has the passenger per hour capacity of a 6 lane highway we'll get much more bang for the buck if we use basic, off-the-shelf, LRT, Streetcar, Commuter Rail and a complimenting system of BRT and city bus connections.

As a baby boomer, I'm not so sure your assessment is completely correct. It was our parents, returning from a world war, that sought the 'security' and peace of tract housing in the burbs. As for our generation, we wouldn't be talking about green, walkable, communities had we not protested the status quo. Communal living, barter as opposed to cash, raising ones own food, back to the land and antidisestablishmentarianism were not just catch phrases.

Bottom line? Charlotte did what Jacksonville could have done over 30 years ago. They acted on a sound logical solution and we spent many times the amount per mile chasing a glorified horizontal elevator. They are now pulling away from us at maximum track speed.

OCKLAWAHA

Tacachale

January 30, 2012, 10:27:18 AM
^It's not just a Jacksonville problem. Charlotte's also in a more with-it state, where they are arguably the top dog and most important metro area. They're also a good bit larger and even faster growing and have stuck to some workable plans. A large part of our problem is the state makes us jump through hoops and doesn't always listen even when we do. It just compounds the problems we face locally. We need to expect more of our local leadership and elect more effective state legislators or that's never going to change.

thelakelander

January 30, 2012, 11:21:43 AM
...But for every Charlotte or a city that's the most important dog in their state, there's a Kenosha, Tacoma, San Diego, and an Orlando.  At some point, local accountability has to come into play.  LRT, streetcar systems, etc. are localized transit circulator systems.  We can pass blame on others but we had $100 million in local transit money set aside for years with the BJP.  That was more than enough to get something up and running.  Instead, we came up with a foolish idea to purchase property tax generating shopping centers and office buildings for potential BRT ROW and sat on the cash until Peyton took it and "invested" it into the courthouse.


Cedar Hills Shopping Center was one of many sites that JTA wanted to spend that lost BJP $100 million on in 2007
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2007-oct-outrageous-jta-transit-sites-selected

We suggested for years that the money should have been invested on a $100 million (or less) starter rail line and then using that investment as a local match for federal dollars to expand the line.  Instead, the money sat for nearly a decade and it eventually disappeared when the courthouse budget ballooned to $350 million.

fieldafm

January 30, 2012, 11:26:05 AM
River City Marketplace was built(in part) with city bonds...  for far more money than could be bonded out for the construction of fixed transit that could stimulate property-tax generating TOD within already built environments.

JeffreyS

January 30, 2012, 12:16:15 PM
Even if we never have a BRT line it has cost us dearly.  Letting that money just sit in the city coffers was so dumb.  You don't think someone is drooling over 100 million dollars, think JTA.

thelakelander

January 30, 2012, 12:36:57 PM
^A few years before the courthouse overruns sucked up the cash, Lake Ray tried to spend it on an ITS system.

http://www.streport.com/files/Duval_County/Jax_CC.htm

So it wasn't a surprise that it disappeared after being allowed to sit for nearly a decade.

Ocklawaha

January 30, 2012, 08:14:39 PM
Makes one wonder if a certain group of politicians and/or a particular state or city agency couldn't be sued over this breach of public trust. They made a promise to us, if we voted for the BJP and when we did, then they changed the rules! The inactivity over the proper use of these funds (IE right-of-way for fixed transit) was pure negligence, using it for a courthouse which cost many times what we were promised was simply criminal.

Who's accountable, and who's feet should be hauled over the flames? Hello?

cityimrov

January 30, 2012, 09:54:29 PM
If I remember correctly from learn all I can about mass transit in this city as a person who was educated all about mass transit in Jacksonville, how does moving poor people using fancy rail stimulate growth? 

I remember learning from everyone who lives here that mass transit is only for moving poor people who can't afford cars to and from work.  If they are lucky, there might be a stop at the grocery station but how does moving lower income residence equal economic growth? 

Yes, I think that's how mass transit is suppose to work based on all the things I've learned from this city. 

JeffreyS

January 30, 2012, 10:12:21 PM
Well I would suggest visiting cities that have embraced more mass transit and see if those trains are full of poor people.  As for Jacksonville our lowly Skyway was cited as a reason First Union built their 50 million dollar tower here that has been paying property taxes ever since.  The developer at one of the Brooklyn sites has struck a bargain with the JTA to open their station they have there to the public if he builds.(financing for the private project is looking bad). In fact just use your eyes to look at what has sprouted around the skyway on the southbank and it should be apparent.

JeffreyS

January 30, 2012, 10:14:09 PM
Explore the back articles on this site you will be amazed.

Ocklawaha

January 30, 2012, 11:28:22 PM
1. The Omni and adjacent bank building and the Hilton complex, are both in Jacksonville DOWNTOWN because of the Skyway. Imagine how much more we would attract if we invested in rail that actually went where the people live, work and play?

2. The impoverished view of JTA is also largely skewed, stand by the Duval County Courthouse any morning or evening rush hour and tell me how many brief case toting executive types you see catching those buses. The fact that the transit map of Jacksonville has been largely planned with the 'poor mans transport' mentality makes this a self fulfilling conundrum. Throw some lines at Ponte Vedra, WGV, Nocatee, Argyle, and other upper income areas of Jacksonville's metro and watch this demographic change. Did you know for example, that Julington Creek Plantation has 'bus stops' (pedestrian shelters and kiosks at the front edge of the neighborhoods) as does much of WGV, already in place? Not a bus in sight!

OCK

tufsu1

January 31, 2012, 10:57:54 AM
Hilton complex....the one in San Marco?

cityimrov

January 31, 2012, 02:41:31 PM

Did you know for example, that Julington Creek Plantation has 'bus stops' (pedestrian shelters and kiosks at the front edge of the neighborhoods) as does much of WGV, already in place? Not a bus in sight!

If I remember my lessons correctly, aren't those bus stops in Julington Creek Plantation really only there to support the low wage workers for the residents who live there?  I mean, someone has to clean these houses. 

From the conversations I had with the average resident of this town and the lessons they taught me, asking them to take the bus is like asking them to risk their lives to take a cheaper form of transit.  Why risk their lives when they have a car? 

fsquid

January 31, 2012, 06:06:20 PM
The bus shelters in Julington Creek are for the kids waiting on the school bus.

Ocklawaha

January 31, 2012, 08:44:57 PM

If I remember my lessons correctly, aren't those bus stops in Julington Creek Plantation really only there to support the low wage workers for the residents who live there?  I mean, someone has to clean these houses. 

From the conversations I had with the average resident of this town and the lessons they taught me, asking them to take the bus is like asking them to risk their lives to take a cheaper form of transit.  Why risk their lives when they have a car?

Risk their lives to ride a bus? What planet did you drop in from? We simply are 'not there yet' and hopefully in spite of being a city with violent crime that exceeds most South American cities, unless you count rogue deer stampedes, our buses are pretty safe.

US...

In partnership with the Youth Crisis Center, all JTA buses serve as a Safe Place, providing transportation to immediate help and shelter for runaways and teens in crisis. With JTA's participation, Jacksonville boasts the most Safe Places in any community in the United States.

THEM...

November 13, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Most Dangerous Bus Route in New York City Identified The most dangerous bus in New York City is the M101 bus, according to The New York Post. Buses on this route crashed 268 times in 2009. The 12-mile route circling between Washington Heights and the East Village is one of New York's longest and busiest.

DETROIT -- Death threats, beatings and even stabbings are not uncommon on at least five of the city's bus routes , fueling a mix of fear and anger among drivers and riders who are clamoring for a police presence.
Since the start of 2006, the first full year after Detroit cops stopped policing the buses , more than 50 people have been assaulted -- five of them stabbed, according to drivers' reports obtained by The Detroit News. One driver was dragged off the bus , pummeled and stabbed with an ink pen. Another miscarried after an armed man hijacked her bus . A four-person brawl sent two passengers to the hospital with stab wounds.
"It's to the point where you're afraid to ride at night," said Shirley Newman, 57, a frequent passenger on the Detroit Department of Transportation coaches.
The violence -- most prevalent on busy routes such as Grand River, Greenfield and Woodward - - comes as the City Council and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration battle over bus security.

Your non-transit using friends would do well to give any of our buses a try, I think they'd find they are quite comfortable, and they'd capture hundreds of hours annually by letting someone else do the driving while they caught up on the friendly hand held device. 

Your theory seems to be, "Since nobody wants to ride but the 'dangerous poor people,' we shouldn't support this system." My contention remains the same, the day that Julington Creek Plantation/Fruit Cove residents residents learn that the kids can get to the soccer field without the SUV, or to The Avenues, or Town Center, personal trips would skyrocket. The day that the breadwinners realize they can board a nice bus in Ponte Vedra/Nocatee/WGV and step off in front of the office on Bay Meadows Way, those routes will quickly change the perceived face of JTA. Granted it MUST BE MARKETED, and sold to the public so everyone realizes when/where and how the bus runs, but that is about all the bus side will need to radically change their demographics.

THANKS TO squid for the input on the Julington Creek 'bus shelters'. This has to be the closest thing to a turn key quality bus route in Florida, and it sits unused except for the kiddies and occasional sore footed joggers.

Ocklawaha

January 31, 2012, 08:45:54 PM

Hilton complex....the one in San Marco?

Yes, according to the hotelier...

vicupstate

September 22, 2012, 10:30:35 AM
The first phase of a $700mm development in Uptown (aka Downtown) Charlotte is about to begin.  Light Rail will run through part of the 8 block area, and border another part of it. 

Here is a map of the area and the plan.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/21/3547422/map-first-ward-redevelopment-plan.html

After talking about creating an urban village in First Ward since 1998, Levine Properties is finally planning to break ground in December on a project involving space for businesses, apartments and a park.

The city is also invested in the project: Up to $23.7 million in property taxes will go back to Levine Properties for the construction of parking decks, which will be for public and private use.

When the 15-year project is complete, First Ward, the area of uptown northeast of Trade and Tryon streets, will be home to a public park, three parking decks, apartments, office space, restaurants and stores. At least eight city blocks will be part of the urban village.

The project also includes extending 10th Street to connect Brevard and Tryon streets, said Daniel Levine, president of Levine Properties. The cost of the overall project could exceed $700 million.

The first phase of construction, which will cost $75 million, will include two parking decks, the park, 200 apartment units and the road connection. Levine said he expects the first phase of construction to last between 18 and 24 months.

Of the first two parking decks, one will be at Eleventh and Brevard streets and the other next to the UNC Charlotte uptown campus.

The First Ward project is a public-private venture because the parking decks will be funded through a tax increment grant with the city.

The grant will last for no more than 10 years, said Peter Zeiler, the city’s development and investment manager.

Levine Properties has to pay for the construction of the decks, but after they are built and property taxes are paid to the city, a portion of those property taxes will be returned to the company to defray the expense of the decks, which the city expects will cost $23.7 million.

Zeiler said whichever comes first – the end of 10 years or paying off the $23.7 million through property taxes – will end the city’s involvement in parking deck funding. In the long run, he said, the parking will pay for itself.

“The city, for the parking, is not paying any money out of the general fund,” Zeiler said. “The only source of funds is by taxes paid for the new development.”

The project’s original plan called for four parking decks, one of which would be below ground. But, because building an underground deck was too expensive, Levine Properties nixed it and expanded the plans for the other lots. Levine said there will be 1,335 spaces in the two decks.

One deck will be entirely public, and the other two will be a combination of public and private spaces, Zeiler said.

The city is involved in helping to fund the parking decks because there are parking areas already in use that will be demolished with the project’s construction, Zeiler said.

The public park will be across the street from ImaginOn, between Seventh and Brevard streets and extending into the next block where UNCC is.

Levine said the land for the park will be leveled.

“We will have an open area as big as a football field for concerts, fairs and throwing Frisbees around,” Levine said. “When we think of urban parks, we think of the Green, which is a beautiful park, but the park we’re talking about is more than five times the size of that park.”

The first phase also calls for 200 apartment units, although the project ultimately plans to include 1,500 units, Levine said. There are also 1.5 million square feet of office space planned, about 350 hotel rooms and about 350,000 square feet for street-level retail.

Levine Properties will build a privately owned road, Market Street, bordering the light rail between Seventh and Ninth streets. The company will also realign and rebuild parts of Brevard and Eighth streets, and Zeiler said the city will reimburse Levine with money that has already been allocated for uptown road improvements.

A new walkway will also be built to run from new apartments on 10th Street to UNCC.

Michael Smith, the president and chief executive officer of Charlotte Center City Partners, said he’s delighted with Levine’s plans for First Ward.

“This is a great way to knit those neighborhoods together and expand investment and expand jobs in the center city,” Smith said, adding that the project also improves First Ward’s infrastructure.

Levine said specifics on restaurants and stores have not been decided yet, but he thinks the eventual addition of such retail will fill a big void in uptown.

“One of the things we need in the center city is some fashion retail to round out some of the retail offerings,” he said. “I think our center city is on the verge of increasing residential population. When that happens ... those people want to participate in an urban lifestyle, and a lot of it has to do with urban retail or day-to-day living without having to get in their car and get to the shopping center.”

vicupstate

December 05, 2012, 05:19:21 AM
The renaissance continues...

Two more large apartment buildings are slated for construction in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood.

Camden Property Trust said it plans to build a 10-story, 324-apartment building at West Boulevard and Camden Road, and a 266-apartment building at South Boulevard and Iverson Way. Camden already owns two large apartment buildings in South End.

Currently, South End has seven apartment buildings under construction, according to one development expert, and five more in the advanced planning phases, including the Camden properties.

“The neighborhood was at 96 percent occupancy,” said Ted Boyd with Center City Partners.

Boyd says the recent construction was part of the long-term plan to develop properties along the Lynx Blue Line. But as the light rail started, the economy sputtered, leaving projects on pause. Now both old and new projects are breaking ground.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/04/3706109/2-more-apartment-buildings-coming.html#storylink=cpy

fsquid

December 05, 2012, 08:40:04 AM
and to think a decade ago, the only thing there were old industrial buildings and run down strip malls.

tufsu1

December 05, 2012, 09:45:47 AM
I was just in Charlotte this past weekend...and there is a massive new development occurring along the light rail line....seems to span both sides of the track and is at least 2 blocks long.

Ocklawaha

December 05, 2012, 12:50:10 PM

I was just in Charlotte this past weekend...and there is a massive new development occurring along the light rail line....seems to span both sides of the track and is at least 2 blocks long.

This is pure BS!

I have it on reliable authority...

Well....

....more like delirious, raving authority...

...that RAIL doesn't spur growth!

Randal O'Toole, the Cato 'expert' that studied forestry and earns his pay from Oil Company symposiums said so!

thelakelander

December 05, 2012, 01:10:34 PM
Ock, I'm sure O'Toole would tell you there was no property left in town for what they are developing, so all they could do is set up next to an LRT station.

I-10east

December 05, 2012, 04:14:25 PM
I really can't wait for the next Charlotte update...

Ocklawaha

December 05, 2012, 11:35:00 PM

I really can't wait for the next Charlotte update...

I can't either, Charlotte is now moving on reestablishment of the old Piedmont and Northern Interurban line. A shortline operates it for freight right now and the City/County are making them a deal. Not all that much different then Jacksonville rebuilding the old Seaboard S Line from Union Station to North Main Street and Airport Road. We can learn much from their experience and reap even bigger rewards. BUT WE'VE GOT TO ACT!

vicupstate

December 07, 2012, 06:19:38 AM
Here you go I-10east and Okla:

Apartments are sprouting at a rapid clip along Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line in South End, as developers look to cash in on a booming rental market and cater to young professionals who want to live near uptown.

While commercial development across the region is seeing slow growth at best, the South End neighborhood has seen a spurt of new activity this year with more than $200 million worth of new construction being announced. Apartments near the Lynx line are powering the growth.

In fact, of the more than 4,000 new apartment units announced in Charlotte this year, 60 percent are within a 15-minute walk of the light-rail line, according to CoStar, a real estate analytics firm.

Two more South End complexes were announced this week, as Camden Property Trust said it would build 324 units at West Boulevard and Camden Road, and 266 units at South Boulevard and Iverson Way.

Driving the apartment boom are demographics: a growing number of young professionals who are either uninterested in owning a home or unable to because they can’t get a mortgage. Rents have been rising, and have room to rise further, said CoStar senior real estate economist Erica Champion.

“In Charlotte, you have this constant inflow of young professionals that will probably rent before they buy,” Champion said.

“(Developers) can get a huge premium being next to mass transit.”

Apartments near mass transit in Charlotte rent for an average $982 a month, compared with an overall city average of $638 a month, CoStar research shows.

Nationally, 65 percent of apartments built in metropolitan cities are within walking distance of mass transit.

“A renter is looking for convenience and lifestyle, and part of that equation is light rail,” said developer Stuart Proffitt, whose firm, Proffitt Dixon Partners, is building Fountains at South End, a 208-unit complex at the New Bern station.

The land’s former owner had planned to build a larger complex with more structured parking, partner Wyatt Dixon said.

The firm bought the land at a discount from the lender, cut the number of units and added a lounge where tenants can wait for the train.

“We bought the property at an attractive price; we had a great design for the site, and we weren’t forced to pay so much for land where we had to over-densify,” Dixon said.

The developers said competition from other complexes makes business more challenging in the beginning. Long term, they said, it helps to establish the neighborhood.

Change of plans

The road to development along the light-rail line hasn’t been smooth. Hopes ran high in the 2000s as the city of Charlotte and area officials worked to build the line. Speculators bought up land, sending values skyrocketing. But activity fell just as quickly when the financial crisis hit a few years later.

More than four years after the real estate market crashed, developers have adapted. Gone are plans for luxury condominiums and other projects. New owners have moved in, with plans retooled to meet today’s demand.

Lenders are more likely to finance a new multifamily complex than other types of commercial projects, analysts say.

Veteran real estate appraiser Fitzhugh Stout remembers speculators snapping up raw land in the 2000s as the southbound light-rail line came closer to reality.

At one point, land values in the south corridor doubled in a two-year period, said Stout, who was hired years ago by the city of Charlotte to study property values near the light-rail line.

Stout was among those bidding on property. He said he and others paid $20 a square foot for their office building on West Tremont Street. The value later rose to $40 a square foot.

“What drove that value was the transit-oriented development zoning,” said Stout, managing director of Integra Realty Resources. “It’s all a function of density.”

Higher density lets developers pack more people and uses into a project without having to provide as much parking as in the suburbs, yielding bigger profits.

Plans for the corridor then included mixed-use projects and luxury condominiums, including one where transparent floor-to-ceiling glass walls would fold out of sight to transform an entire condo into a balcony.

But when the real estate markets slowed in 2008, those dreams fizzled. Property values along the light-rail line fell an average of 51 percent, Stout’s research shows.

Values on the rebound

Stout said South End property values are starting to rise, thanks to the apartment complexes. He said some parcels are fetching around $35 a square foot.

“It’s not quite as high as it was, but it’s rebounding,” he said. “When you can build density, you can afford to pay more for the land.”

Apartment complexes, and their renters, in turn draw more development, such as retail and services, experts say.

While apartments account for the most significant new development in South End, about 40 new retail or service-oriented businesses have opened in the area during the past five months, said Ted Boyd, director of Charlotte Center City Partners’ Historic South End.

“Great urban places are built in layers,” said Boyd’s Center City Partners’ colleague Michael Smith. “The South End began very industrial, and there was a lot of re-adaptive use to create a creative district. We’re in the middle of an incredible transformation from a business district to becoming a mix of uses. Housing is going to become an incredible part of it.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/06/3711178/light-rail-attracting-apartment.html#storylink=cpy

thelakelander

December 07, 2012, 06:32:41 AM
Great update Vic.  Thanks for sharing.

vicupstate

December 27, 2012, 06:28:58 PM
Publix, which is just now building it's first store in NC, will build one right on the Lynx Light Rail line to serve the surging population along that corridor.

 

Developers plan a 55,000-square-foot Publix Supermarket and additional space for shops and restaurants in South End, a nod to the growing power of the neighborhoods sprouting along the Lynx Blue line.

The project at South Boulevard and Iverson Way, to be called Shops at South Line, will have two levels of sub-surface parking in addition to surface parking, plus 8,500 square feet for other businesses, developers told the Observer on Thursday. Work is expected to start in the spring.

The store will be Publix’s second in Charlotte, and signifies how serious the upscale grocer is about competing head-to-head with Harris Teeter, the Charlotte area’s dominant grocer. The closest Harris Teeter is less than 1.5 miles away on East Boulevard.

Multifamily developers have flocked to the light rail area during the past year, buying up land and announcing thousands of new apartment units.

Developers chose the South End site, the location of the former Lida Manufacturing textile plant, because “it represents a strong and growing demographic,” said Daniel Levine with Levine Properties, which along with Florida-based Stiles, is developing the store. Levine said the South End store will be among Publix’s largest.

The project illustrates a growing trend of how services once traditionally based in the suburbs are migrating closer to uptown.

The grocery store will be across the street from a Lowe’s home improvement store that opened in 2008. Less than three miles away, a Target has a store across from the Metropolitan mixed-use project.

When Florida-based Publix announced its first Charlotte store this year, the grocer said it planned to expand further in the state. More recently, Charlotte-based Levine Properties and Stiles announced they’d formed a joint venture to develop projects locally. Stiles has developed stores for Publix.

 “With our partnership with Daniel Levine and Levine Properties, as well as our long-standing relationship with Publix, we look forward to building our second project in North Carolina, as well as additional projects as the grocery giant continues its expansion in the region,” said Robert Breslau, president of real estate investment for Stiles.

The first store, at Providence Road West and Johnston Road in Ballantyne, is expected to open in 2014. The Ballantyne store is expected to anchor a shopping center that includes a Walgreens and a future Fifth Third bank. In October, Publix opened two stores in South Carolina near the N.C. state line.

Supermarket experts said Publix is viewed as a tough competitor, one that has largely succeeded in beating other grocers when they go head to head.

Competition from Publix, experts say, contributed to Food Lion’s recent decision to close all of its Florida stores and to Winn-Dixie’s bankruptcy.

Publix is expected to compete for the same middle and upper-middle class customers as Harris Teeter, making Publix the biggest emerging competitor for the Matthews-based company, experts said. Founded in Charlotte, Harris Teeter has more than 50 stores and 7,000 employees in the region. Harris Teeter wasn’t available for immediate comment.

 “North Carolina is the No. 1-requested state for us to enter,” Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous has said.

Publix, founded in Florida in 1930, spent more than six decades growing in its home state. The privately held, employee-owned supermarket chain didn’t open its first store outside the state, in Savannah, Ga., until 1991.

While there are now more than 300 Publix stores outside of Florida, the majority, 752, of the chain’s stores are still located there. The company’s northernmost distribution center is in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Harris Teeter and Publix compete directly in some places, such as Charleston and Nashville. Harris Teeter said it competes successfully with Publix in those markets.

Competition from Publix, as well as Kroger, however, contributed to pushing Harris Teeter out of Atlanta after the Matthews retailer attempted to break into that market in 1993, according to media accounts.

 

spuwho

December 27, 2012, 06:47:35 PM
Is there anyway that a civic entity can start holding public workshops on this kind of development/thinking/planning?

I have seen comments from time to time about people not knowing about $100million here, or plans over there, etc.

Let's find a way to educate the public in advance of any major "plans" or "vision" for mass transit, so people can relate to the goals.

Just a thought.

thelakelander

December 27, 2012, 07:28:53 PM
There were a series of well attended public events that shaped the commuter rail, streetcar, etc. plans currently proposed between 2005 and 2010.  For those interested in downtown, the DIA will have to create a new CRA plan (basically a downtown master plan) in 2013, so there will be an opportunity for public input and planning.  In addition, we have Jax2025's community visioning event on January 19, 2013 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center from 9am-11am.  This will be a great opportunity to provide input on mass transit, education, economics, and anything else you believe is important to the future of Jacksonville.

tufsu1

December 28, 2012, 08:41:35 AM
and don't forget Lake...the 2040 LRTP update process will be getting underway soon....so there will be additional public involvement opportunities in 2013 and 2014 for that plan.

fieldafm

December 28, 2012, 09:16:48 AM

Is there anyway that a civic entity can start holding public workshops on this kind of development/thinking/planning?

I have seen comments from time to time about people not knowing about $100million here, or plans over there, etc.

Let's find a way to educate the public in advance of any major "plans" or "vision" for mass transit, so people can relate to the goals.

Just a thought.

The public meetings in which the DIA updates their CRA plans (the current CRA plan from the early 80's mentions prominently a future 'people mover' and feeder park n ride lots/garages as part of downtown's future development plans/patterns) is BY FAR your best opportunity in the short term.  The new CRA should adopt the Mobility Plan's priority legacy transportation projects which connects In Town Neighborhoods with Downtown. 

fsujax

February 01, 2013, 01:41:07 PM
Nice fight brewing between the Governor of NC and the current Mayor of Charlotte over funding a streetcar.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/02/01/3825774/city-mccrory-threatens-light-rail.html

thelakelander

February 01, 2013, 02:18:08 PM
Interesting fight going on there.  Kind of reads like the Governor is using his influence to try and kill a project he didn't like when he was the mayor of Charlotte.  I'm a risk taker.  I'd call him on his bluff and move forward with whatever my city had planned.