The New North State

FINALLY today plans were disclosed for the redevelopment of the old North State Chevrolet site by the new baseball stadium downtown. The article from the News and Record follows below if you missed it. The Triad Business Journal reports that a grocery store may also be in the mix for the $60+ million development.



Shops, homes planned near ballpark
2-24-05
By Nate DeGraff, Staff Writer
Updated 4:30 p.m.
GREENSBORO — The owners of the North State Chevrolet property revealed their plans for shops and hundreds of homes today, hoping that the city will help pay for the massive downtown project.
Blueprints for the development, dubbed “Bellemeade Village,” show a sweeping mini-town straddling Smith Street, complete with retailers, a hotel, underground parking and more than 300 apartments and condominiums. A new road would slice through the project, which sits on a choice 6-acre tract just beyond the left-field wall of First Horizon Park.
The tract is owned by brothers Steve and Jim Jones, who are planning a giant mixed-use development for the site. (Photo courtesy of Jim and Steve Jones)
More details will be revealed this spring. Construction could start within a year.
“It’ll be the largest urban development Greensboro’s ever seen,” said Steve Jones, who co-owns the property with his brother Jim.
Some of the funding for the $70-$100 million project could come under Amendment One, a change in the state constitution which gives local governments the authority to borrow money for certain economic development projects without going to a bond referendum. Voters narrowly approved Amendment One last fall.
Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro, Inc., said Amendment One money could fund 5 to 10 percent of the Bellemeade Village project. The funds would be used for parking and streetscapes, he said. A proposal could be brought to the city this summer.
"It really is exactly what Amendment One talks about," Gibbs said Thursday.
The developers approached city officials Wednesday with a prospective request for assistance. In a meeting with Mayor Keith Holliday, Council member Tom Phillips and City Manager Ed Kitchen, the developers asked about the city possibly borrowing money to build a parking deck and pay for roadway work around the project.
The city may opt to use Amendment One, which means the loans would be paid off with the increased property taxes the owners would pay. For instance, the city could build a parking garage that would be used by the residents and retail shops.
Phillips said the city’s involvement is still in the “conceptual” stage and no promises had been made to the developers. Holliday said that the city would do what it could to make the Bellemeade Village project work, but he said that more details would be needed before any city aid is pledged.
But Holliday and others said they liked the plans for the land and said it would be a great addition to downtown.
“These guys are trying to think outside the box,” Holliday said. “Hopefully it’s well received.”
Phillips agreed that the shops and homes will do well near downtown.
“There’s so much traffic that goes past there, I can’t help but feel that it will succeed,” Phillips said.
Holliday noted the irony that the developers want to add a street only a block away from where the city closed Lindsay Street to make way for the new stadium.
“With the baseball stadium, we closed a street,” he said. “With this one, we’re adding a street.”
If built, the project will also likely spur more development at the downtown’s northwest edge.
One hot tract is the Guilford County office building at West Lindsay and North Eugene streets. The building now houses the county’s tax collection department, but those offices will move to the nearby Independence Center as long as the county makes good on plans to buy it.
That would leave the old tax collections complex empty. Developers have been inquiring about the property for months.
“I would think the board (of commissioners) will probably put it on the market as soon as we can vacate it,” said David Grantham, the county’s property management director.
Bellemeade Village could also be a boon to existing businesses that don’t see much walk-up traffic in that part of downtown.
“I think it’d be great,” said Jimmy Contogiannis, who co-owns Acropolis, a nearby restaurant. “Because once everything gets built, you’ll have more people who are able to walk to the restaurant.”

Burned out, green and artsy

So there are a few more exciting things to report regarding the evolution of downtown Greensboro that made the news this week. . .

First of all, the burned out building in the 200 block of South Elm (former home to the Mantelworks Restaurant? before my time. . . ) has been bought by the developers of Smothers Place Lofts. They plan to tear it down within the next two weeks and replace it with a six story mixed use (residential and office) building. While it is sad to see such an old facade disappear from the downtown landscape and the height of the proposed development may be inappropriate for this stretch of Elm, this building has been a blight on downtown for many years. Further, bringing more office space and residences to the south end of downtown will be a good addition to the mix. Construction probably won't start for another year or so.

Secondly, the city of Greensboro has finalized plans for streetscape improvements to the south end of Greene Street. The interesection of McGee and Greene will feature a roundabout and the stretch between McGee and Washington will feature angled parking and a median in the middle of the road. Trees and lighting will also enhance the soon-to-be completely two-way road. The improvements will make the area much more pedestrian friendly and downtown easier to navigate by car.

Finally, Downtown Greensboro Inc. has commissioned artists to create unique way finders throughout downtown. Visitors will be guided through downtown by a series of unique yet informative pieces of art. Very cool.

Best of in Greensboro

GoTriad! polled the public at large regarding the "best of's" in Greensboro a couple months ago. I really disagree with most of the results and wonder who exactly responded to the poll (e.x., the "best brunch" in the triad went to "Waffle House"--ARE YOU KIDDING ME??). Hopefully most of the responses were well executed pranks.

Anyway, here is my personal "best of" list for Greensboro:

1. Best Coffee Shop: The Green Bean
Nods: Tate Street Coffee

2. Best Fine Dining: The Undercurrent
Nods: Cafe Nouveau, 223 South Elm, Southern Lights, Revival Grill

3. Best Night Club: Heaven
Nods: Sky Bar

4. Best Neighborhood Bar: Fisher's
Nods: M'Couls, Westerwood Tavern

5. Best Steak: Ruth's Chris
Nods: The Chop House

6. Best Bar: M'Couls
Nods: The Tap Room, Next Door Tavern, Fishbone's

7. Best Sweet Tooth Satisfier: Ganache
Nods: Cheesecakes by Alex, Simple Kneeds Bakery

8. Best Apartment Complex: The Lofts at Greensborough Court
Nods: Country Club Apartments, Lincoln Greene

9. Best Park: Guilford Battleground
Nods: Center City Park, Country Park, Latham Park

10. Best Burger: Natty Greene's
Nods: Wild Magnolia Cafe,

11. Best Pizza: Brixx
Nods: Pieworks, The Tap Room

12. Best Mexican: Baja Fresh
Nods: Wholly Guacamole, Moe's, La Bamba

13. Best Brunch: Southern Lights
Nods: Cafe Europa, Lucky 32, Green Valley Grille

14. Best Grocery Store: Harris Teeter at Friendly
Nods: The Fresh Market, Earth Fare

15. Best Wine Store: Zeto's
Nods: Total Wine, Wine Warehouse

More to come . . .

Coming Soon to Downtown Greensboro

I'm pretty excited about the work in progress that is downtown Greensboro. Here are a few of the things coming to the center city in the near future to which I'm most looking forward:

1. Hemingway's Downtown--a (supposedly) swanky new martini bar opening up on the first floor of the Elm Street Center (the home of the Empire Room and the Idiot Box) in April 2005. Even though downtown is heavy on the drinking establishments currently, we're still missing a jazzy, sophisticated place that doesn't blast its music.

2. First Horizon Stadium--the new baseball stadium also opening in April. It should add some excitement and variety to the mix of entertainment offerings in the center city.

3. Smothers Place Lofts--the first phase is nearing completion, and the development group is making significant headway on the renovation of the old Carolina Hotel on McGee Street into 4 live/work units. The 37+ resident/owners that this will bring downtown is great.

5. Center City Park--construction on the permanent center city park at Friendly and North Elm is scheduled to begin in June 2005. The plans for the new park look awesome--including a cool fountain, many trees and quiet shady spots, a green area for concerts, bathrooms, plantings, paths, etc. It will be cool.

6. 4 Mile Greenway Circling the Center City--although it will not be fully implemented for 10 years, the first stretch (known as the "Miracle Mile") from Spring Garden to somewhere in the Lake Daniel area should be complete in the next year or two. The bike trail/walking path will connect with the adjoining neighborhoods and reflect the area of downtown through which it passes, and it will connect with the greater framework of trails throughout Greensboro ultimately.

7. Large Music Venue--Milton Kern (a major downtown Greensboro developer) is developing a music venue in the South Elm/Lee Street area of downtown that will rival (or at least be similar to) Ziggy's in Winston and Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. It should be open within the year.

8. Extreme Makeover of Downtown Building--Action Greensboro is funding an extreme facade makeover of the building on the corner of South Elm and Washington Street, the home of "Thousands O' Prints." The makeover will take place this spring and will be a high profile three day event (analogous to the TV show's format). A charrette was held this weekend to get an idea of what the community wants to see done. The highly visible structure needs a renovation badly.

9. Minj--A new restaurant opening in the 300 block of South Elm. I have no idea what type of place it will be (the name sounds Asian or Indian), but it should add some needed diversity to the mix of dining options.

10. 2 Way Greene Street--I know it's dorky to get excited about this, but the City is going to implement significant streetscape improvements to Greene Street including making it two way, adding parking in the center of the street and putting in a roundabout at the corner of McGee and Greene. I think this will make Greene more pedestrian friendly and downtown easier to navigate.

e-Greensboro

Here's a list of Greensboro-oriented websites I find useful:

NEWS/INFORMATION
www.news-record.com - the local newspaper; site updated throughout the day. Set for a huge overhaul soon.

triad.bizjournals.com/triad/ - business happenings in the triad

www.rhinotimes.com/gso - mildly entertaining but borderline annoying.


PLACES TO GO AND THINGS TO DO
http://www.gotriad.com/ - website hosted by the News & Record that generally focuses on cultural aspects of the triad.

www.downtowngreensboro.com - a website devoted to downtown Greensboro. You can look up merchants/hotels/restaurants/bars/etc. and it usually highlights upcoming events downtown.

www.triaddiner.com - a comprehensive search engine of places to eat in Greensboro/the triad. It needs somewhat of an update to reflect changes in menus/hours/etc., but it's a great place to start when trying to figure out where to eat.


MOVERS AND SHAKERS
www.actiongreensboro.org - nonprofit catalyst for much of Greensboro's economic development. Their multi-faceted approach has revitalized downtown (funding--in significant part--the new baseball stadium, the new center city park, the civil rights museum, triad stage, the new greenway system, and various other developments planned and already in construction), attracted young professionals to the city, funded the public schools, merged local non-profits focused on economic development into one, more efficient organization, and done many more things for the city of Greensboro. Their website is updated every few weeks, but is interesting to read nonetheless.

www.downtowngreensboro.net - now a part of the merged organization discussed above, this group is charged with facilitating the efforts to revitalize the center city. Their website is updated frequently.


MOVE HERE

www.southsideneighborhood.com - cool mixed use urban infill; won award from EPA for smart growth.

www.yostandlittle.com - I like their property searching tool. 27401 is the zipcode for downtown (but they don't offer much in the way of good downtown options other than governor's court--which you can check out at www.governorscourt.com)

www.smothersplacelofts.com - downtown loft development. First phase sold out almost immediately; new phases coming soon (and will hopefully be described in detail on their website).