‘Shops at Metropolis’ remain shopless. For now.
Despite rumors among residents and industry insides, Dean & Deluca says it won’t be occupying some of the 39,000 square feet of available “prime” street-level retail and restaurant space at Metropolis in Midtown.
“We are not currently considering any locations in the Atlanta area,” a Dean & Deluca spokesperson told What Now Atlanta in an email Friday. “Your insiders must have us confused with another retailer!”
Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, space formerly occupied by the now shuttered Silk restaurant and Yes Home, are under redevelopment through Jamestown Properties.
Jamestown Properties is the Atlanta-based real estate investment firm that recently purchased City Hall East with plans to transform a portion of the space into Ponce City Market.
Unfortunately, Jamestown Properties is allergic to answering questions about their properties. But based on signage covering the vacant spaces at Metropolis including the “proposed West elevation” rendering shown above, our guess is the street-level property will be leased for retail.
For us, Dean & Deluca would be a perfect fit. What would you like to see open there?
38 Responses
Nothing is going to work in that space until the parking issues are cleared up for that building. Additionally, until the police get a handle on the gangs bashing cars into storefronts, nothing will go into that space.
Was just in NYC and said to my friend that I wish Atlanta would get a D&D. Too bad. @Bobbi – Atlanta is a city. People must pay to park in cities. Paying $2 to shop at Metropolis isn’t the end of the world. And as for your bashing cars into storefronts – get a grip…
Apple…?
Bobbi, what parking problem @ Metropolis? What gang has ever bashed in a storefront window @ Metropolis (there was a daytime traffic incident that had a vehicle crash into Silk Restaurant once)? You must have that building confused with Plaza Midtown, a few streets over, which is literally adjacent to both a strip club and a MARTA train station, and all the associated seedy characters.
I would love a Dean & Deluca, Alon’s, or Eatzi’s type of gourmet market there.
D&D would be great, but why not an outpost of Star Provisions or Alon’s? That, and Jamestown Properties already has a relationship with the Star Provisions group (Abbatoir) for whatever that’s worth.. Don’t get me wrong, I love D&D. I just think it would be better for Midtown to have something based out of Atlanta.
Dean and Deluca would be a great addition — I eat virtually every dinner out in Midtown so have a good sense for what’s missing in the area. This location or perhaps another — a Houston’s or similiar with great food and service would be a hit. But mostly, we need to keep in mind that people live in Midtown because they like to walk to places and that includes affordable restaurants – not speaking to fast food (not usually on my diet)rather good selection of healthy food at a every day price point. Midtown restaurants struggle with serving local population and desire to be a destination.
I wonder if Jamestown is actually planning on remodeling the storefronts or if that’s just for show. I think the round corner that’s currently there is a little much, but replacing it with a low brown facade doesn’t seem like a great fit.
Can I please have a Sephora? No way women who live within walking distance, won’t flock to it mosquitos to the light. Myself included.
@Midtowner: boys shop at Sephora too 😉
I remember there used to be a Men’s clothing store in the bottom of Metropolis that had its front door smashed. Universal Gear maybe?
This is Atlanta. We are a proto-city. People pay to park in real cities…but this is Atlanta and it does not work. Good luck with that though, I hope it works.
Unless they have changed their policy, the first hour of parking at Metropolis is free. Sounds good to me. If you go over one hour, paying $2 or so for another hour isn’t that big of a deal. Plus there isn’t that much shopping so other than a quick trip into a store and lunch, I’m not sure how much time you can spend in that area.
Those renderings are most likely merely to attract retail – meaning that whatever changes happen to the space will only occur when the next tenant is leased. But rest assured that if another resto wants the space, they aren’t going to say, ‘no we don’t want your money’.
What I don’t get is how Charlotte has at least TWO D&D locations and they’re not even considering opening in Atlanta. Not that Charlotte is bad (I actually really like it there), but Atlanta seems to be much more cosmopolitan a city that can appreciate it.
Atlanta a more cosmopolitan city? I don’t get that feeling at all. We have more people, but that’s about it. Despite Charlotte being considerably smaller (I think around 1.2mm people), I think they have a much more urban and cosmopolitan feel. Everytime I’m there (and not near Nascar country) I get the sense that Charlotte’s population is well educated and well employed in primary sector jobs.
Urbanist – WOW. I think that Midtown continues to grow and evolve in a grand fasion. Fortunately the change is at a reasonable pace that people are noticing and that’s why people are choosing to make Midtown home. It is becoming more cosmopolitan. Most of my friends who live in Midtown are well educated and employed in primary sector jobs. And I’m a person who has lots of friends and professional contacts in this community. So don’t see urban as much as the trend…rather it’s becomming more cosmopolitan — it’s the only place in Atlanta where this is really happening. Why — one reason is we are the only place where people WALK to live, work, shop, recreate, dine and play. Love Midtown today and even more as other invest in our growing cosmopolitan community.
So what’s your point? I was comparing Atlanta to Charlotte, not Midtown to Charlotte. I agree, Midtown does continue to evolve, and changes are now being made at a reasonable pace (quite different from the past). It also seems like some of the future development for Midtown will be demand driven vs speculative, which is a good thing.
Congratulations for your friends. I have friends like that too. However, I wasn’t comparing your friends or mine to Charlotte – I was talking about Atlanta and Charlotte as a whole.
I was simply speaking about the current comparison between the two cities, as I see them.
Urbanist, not only are you the only person I have ever heard with that opinion, but I have actual numbers to back it up. While I know you don’t allow things like fact to drive you to concede you are wrong, a phrase I doubt you have ever uttered in your entire life, im happy to share the numbers on professionals and educated population with you at your request. Let’s start with the obvious on the surface though, Atlanta has 3 areas Buckhead, Midtown, and Downtown, which are all more cosmopolitan, walkable and vibrant than the one comparable area in Charlotte, Uptown, a fact I have heard Charlotte civic officials themselves admit. Second, we have the largest concentration of fortune 500 companies in southeast which attracts educated individuals and proven executies alike giving us the most educated population in the southeast. We have the worlds busiest airport giving us international connectivity and diversity in population and business which Charlotte can only dream about. Third, we have a budding movie industry, an established music industry, and are a go to destination for celebrities of all types giving us that “glamour factor” that Charlotte will never achieve. We also rate yearly for the last decade between 2-4 with Orlando, Vegas, and Chicago as the top convention destination in the United States.
Now for Charlotte, it is half the population, nowhere near the international influence, one professional sports franchise, and a single engine economy focusing heavily on financial services which are reeling in this economy. Crime? Do you think Charlotte doesn’t have the crime or “thug element” Tryon St. The heart of “Uptown” Charlotte right outside their shiny new debt ridden NASCAR Hall of fame and their convention center which rivals maybe one hall of the GWCC is largely a ghost town at night and is a haven for Charlottes drug dealers, cruisers, and general bad crowd and is one of the most crime ridden areas of a city with a substantial crime problem.
I invite you to look up the facts that exist that support all of thar points, if that proves too difficult I will be happy to post them here for you.
Don’t you think there’s a logical correlation between population and number of neighborhoods in a city? I’d also argue the fact that we’re worse off for having three distinctive “urban” areas, than we would be if we had all of that economic/human force concentrated in one area.
The fact that we have more F500 companies than anywhere in the SE, and the world’s busiest airport, yet we can’t manage to add more than 300 people per year (over the past 10 years) to our city’s population, speaks volumes about where the priorities of the leadership of this city are, and have been. I’d also argue that Charlotte draws from a much better caste of schools (UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, UVA, etc.) than Atlanta does, save for Ga. Tech.
We have a budding movie industry, only because we changed the tax laws last year. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing, but it’s not something that is a mainstay of our economy. We do have a great music community.
We’re not a “go to” destination for celebrities…at least not those above Tyler Perry grade celebrity.
Every city has a “thug” element. However, I think Charlotte understands that removing that element takes time and subtlety. There’s a new Ritz right down the street from what you would describe as a bad area. Over time, nicer, newer, development will push out the bad elements. They won’t sign up a 15mm sq ft development that provides a breeding ground for trouble, but instead they’ll gradually develop deterrents to that demographic, pushing them further and further from the city, making it a larger, denser, better place to be. I think they have the vision, and the discipline, to avoid the mistakes that Atlanta has made. Oh, and financial services reeling in this economy? Have you seen some of the latest earnings reports/bonus numbers for the i-banks? Get with it.
Charlotte is smaller, no doubt about it. But as Charlotte continues to grow, I think they’ll supplant Atlanta as a/the regional hub, over the years, unless Atlanta gets it’s act together. Like I said, I FEEL like Charlotte has more of a cosmopolitan environment, as compared to Atlanta, when you take into consideration the population, the business environment, etc.
JT,
Don’t bother arguing with Urbanist; she knows everything.
WTF how does Charlotte have two of these?
OK, lets try actual facts, I swear, it’s like speaking to a teenager.
Colleges Atlanta pulls from and their US News and World Report academic ranking:
Vanderbilt- #17
Emory-#20
Georgia Tech-#35
University Florida-#53
University of Georgia #56
Auburn University #85
Clemson University #64
Thats seven schools in the top 100 in the nation within 5 hours of Metro Atlanta. Also, if you ever read any non opinion based journalism then I’m sure you saw the piece in the Atlanta Business Chronicle a few months back saying Atlanta draws more Ivy League grads than nearly any other city.
From the AJC:
“Beyond uptown’s pizzazz, though, Charlotte still lags Atlanta in virtually every big-city category. Atlanta counts four — downtown, Midtown, Buckhead and Atlantic Station — high-rise business, living and entertainment districts.”
“Atlanta is also home to four major league sports teams and a slew of universities — Georgia Tech, Morehouse, Georgia State, Emory — that the Queen City envies.”
“Morgan, of the Charlotte Chamber, said the 1996 Olympics “put Atlanta on a stage we can only aspire to.””
“Is Charlotte doing any better at controlling sprawl?
Charlotte and Mecklenburg have done virtually nothing to preserve farms or any section of the county from suburban-style development, other than a few county parkland purchases. Eventually every square foot of the county will be developed except for those parts purchased for parkland or privately donated to land conservation groups such as the Catawba Lands Conservancy. No serious farmland or forestland protection measures have been taken by local governments other than Davidson.”
Sam Williams:
‘We don’t really compete tooth-and-nail with Charlotte because the companies we go after (are) in the international trade, logistics and biomedical fields and they’re not looking to go to Charlotte,’ he said. ‘Dallas, Tampa and northern Virginia — those are our consistent competitors.’
List of celebrities (from wikipedia, sorry I havent had time to conduct my own independant research) who do call or have called Atlanta home at least part time, by genre ( seems to be a little more than just ‘Tyler Perry Level’:
Music:
Country:
Jason Aldean, country singer
Zac Brown, country singer
Luke Bryan, country singer
Billy Currington, country singer
Alan Jackson, country singer
The Lost Trailers, country group
Jerry Reed, country singer
Sugarland, country group
Travis Tritt, country singer
Mark Wills, country singer
Trisha Yearwood, country singer
Brantley Gilbert, country singer
[edit] R&B112, R&B quartet
Johntá Austin, R&B singer
B5, R&B/hip hop group
Blaque, R&B group
Bobby V, R&B singer
Sleepy Brown, R&B singer
Cherish, R&B quartet
Ciara, R&B singer, raised in Atlanta.
Keri Hilson, R&B singer
India.Arie, R&B singer
Dear Jayne, R&B trio
Gladys Knight & the Pips, popular music act
Little Richard
Monica, R&B singer and actress
Raven-Symoné, R&B singer and actress
Otis Redding
RichGirl, R&B quartet
Kelly Rowland, R&B singer and actress
The-Dream, R&B singer
TLC, R&B trio
Usher, singer
Xscape, R&B Group
Rock:
The B-52s, punk/alternative band
The Black Crowes, blues rock band
Black Lips, flower punk band
Butch Walker
Cartel, punk/power pop band
Cat Power,
The Chariot, metal/hardcore band
Chris Tomlin, Christian worship artist
Collective Soul, alt rock band
Deerhunter, rock
Drivin N Cryin, folk/rock band featuring Kevin Kinney
Family Force 5, crunk rock band
Follow for Now, black rock band
Georgia Satellites
The Glass Ocean, indie rock band
Group X
Hubcap City
Injected, alt metal band
Magicicada, experimental
Manchester Orchestra, indie rock band fronted by Andy Hull
Marvelous 3, ’90s alternative rock band fronted by Butch Walker
Mastodon, metal/hardcore band
Norma Jean, metalcore band
The Rock*A*Teens, ’90s indie band
Sevendust, alt metal band
Sound Tribe Sector 9, jam band
Smoke
Seely
Third Day, Christian rock band
Toenut
Woe, Is Me Metalcore band
Pop:
The Atlanta Rhythm Section, pop/rock band
David Berkeley, singer-songwriter born in New Jersey but living in Atlanta
Evan and Jaron, pop duo
Indigo Girls, Folk and pop duo
Brenda Lee, singer
John Mayer, singer-songwriter
Shawn Mullins, singer-songwriter
Conductors:
Robert Shaw, conductor
Robert Spano, Grammy award winning conductor and music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Hip Hop:
Kilo Ali, pioneer Atlanta rapper
Andre 3000, rapper and producer
Arrested Development, hip hop group
Fonzworth Bentley, rapper
B.o.B, rapper and producer
Big Boi, rapper
Blak Jak, rapper
Bonecrusher, rapper
Boyz n da Hood, rap group
Jody Breeze, rapper
Cee Lo Green, rapper, singer and producer
Crime Mob, rap group
D4L, rap group
Roscoe Dash
Dem Franchize Boyz, rap group
DJ Drama DJ
Fabo, rapper/part of D4L
Goodie Mob, rap group
Gorilla Zoe, rapper
Gucci Mane, (From Alabama, moved to Atlanta)
Graham Jackson, the “entertainer of presidents”[1]
Jim Crow, rap group
Killer Mike, rapper
Lecrae, rapper
Lil’ Scrappy, rapper
Ludacris, rapper
Christopher Massey, Kyle Massey actors, rappers
Mullage, rap duo
OJ da Juiceman
OutKast, hip hop duo
Jennifer Paige, singer
Pastor Troy, rapper
Shawty Lo, rapper/part of D4L
Shop Boyz, rap group
Soulja Boy, rapper (born in Chicago, raised in Mississippi, resident of Atlanta)
Bubba Sparxxx, rapper
T.I., rapper
Charles Davis Tillman (1861–1943), formative influence on southern gospel, author of “Life’s Railway to Heaven”
Too Short, resides in Atlanta
Trillville, rap group
Unk, rapper
Kanye West, rapper (born in Atlanta raised in Chicago)
Ying Yang Twins, hip hop duo
Youngbloodz, rap group
Young Dro, rapper
Young Jeezy, rapper (From Columbia, South Carolina, moved to Atlanta )
Yung Joc, rapper
Zion I, California rappers born in Atlanta
Producers:
Speech, rapper/singer/producer
Lil Jon, rapper, producer
Keith Sweat, singer/songwriter/producer
Dallas Austin, music executive/producer
DJ Toomp, producer
Mr. Collipark, hip hop producer
Babyface, singer/producer
Jermaine Dupri, rapper, producer
Polow da Don, music producer
T.I, rapper producer
Usher, singer, producer
Shawty Redd, producer/rapper
Organized Noize, hip hop producers
Film and acting:
Isabella Acres, child actress
Matt Battaglia, actor & producer
Monica Calhoun, actress
David Cross, stand-up comedian/actor
Don Curry, actor
Corri English, actress
Dakota Fanning, actress
Elle Fanning, actress
Jane Fonda, actress
Jeff Foxworthy, actor & comedian
Jasmine Guy, actress
Oliver Hardy, comedian
Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus tales
Ed Helms, Actor
Shuler Hensley, Broadway and film actor
Jennifer Holliday, Broadway actress/singer
Holly Hunter, actress
DeForest Kelley, actor, Star Trek
Elijah Kelley, actor
RonReaco Lee, actor
Spike Lee, film director
Kenny Leon, former artistic director of the Alliance Theatre Company
Chris Lowell, actor, Veronica Mars
Christopher Massey, actor, Zoey 101
Kyle Massey, actor, That’s So Raven!
Chloe Moretz, child actress
Brittany Murphy, actress/singer
Kip Pardue, actor
Ty Pennington, actor
Tyler Perry, playwright, actor, director
Victoria Principal, actress
Julia Roberts, actress
Ryan Seacrest, actor
Steven Soderbergh, film director
Marlon Campbell, film director
Raven-Symoné, actress
Christopher Tavarez, actor
Kenan Thompson, actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live, Fat Albert)
Chris Tucker, film actor & comedian
Devon Werkheiser, actor, (Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide)
Alvin V. Williams, African American, Television Producer/Film Producer/Music Producer/Entrepreneur
[edit] Visual artsGutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore and the first aborted Stone Mountain carving
Mildred Thompson, African-American painter, printmaker and sculptor
[edit] Radio and televisionNeal Boortz, talk radio host, author with Congressman John Linder, The FairTax Book
Robert L. Boyett, former ABC executive, television producer, producer of Broadway theater productions
Alton Brown, Peabody Award-winning creator and host of the Food Network program Good Eats.
Patrika Darbo, actress on Days of our Lives
Paula Deen, cooking show host on Food Network
Bobbie Eakes, actress on Bold and the Beautiful
Hollis Gillespie, magazine columnist and TV commentator
Clark Howard, talk radio host
Deborah Norville, host of Inside Edition, former co-host of The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel prior to Katie Couric
Erika “Nik” Pace, contestant on America’s Next Top Model Cycle 5, currently modeling for Ford Models
Bert Parks, longtime host of the Miss America Pageant and many television game shows
Ty Pennington, television personality
Forrest Sawyer, news anchor and journalist
Ryan Seacrest, TV/radio personality and host of American Idol
Alicia Leigh Willis, actress on General Hospital
OH AND LASTLY, IF YOU LOVE IT THERE THAN MOVE TO CHARLOTTE. BASH THEM ON THEIR BLOGS YOU SAD SHELL OF A HUMAN BEING.
JT – Really a stupid argument to make, but since it’s a slow day: Charlotte pulls from Vandy as well. UNC #30, Duke #9, Wake Forest #25, UVA #25 (tie), Virginia Tech #69. I’m not going to count the schools from DC, that send a lot of talent into the Charlotte area either, but I think it goes without saying that Georgetown & American are better schools than Auburn. I don’t know if there’s a study that shows it, but I’d be willing to bet that, per capita, there’s more intellectual power in the Charlotte area, than in Atlanta.
Since you’re clearly not familiar with Atlanta, let me summarize it for you:
Downtown – Few Atlantans go here unless they have to. Most for work, or for sports, and that’s about it. It’s not a “recreational” area.
Midtown – Atlanta’s best hope at having an urban neighborhood, but still severely lacks the amenities (abundance of shops, dining options – particularly upscale ones, and entertainment) of a true urban area.
Buckhead – Loaded with old money that loves showing off, but has little to no taste. Nightlife = shitty bars, restaurants = mediocre food with pretentious atmospheres, culture = ummm….
Atlantic Station – Really?
Atlanta is home to 3 major league sports teams, whose seats remain empty on many nights. Charlotte is home to 2.
Atlanta doesn’t compete with Charlotte in the banking industry, which is an international trade, fyi. The other cities that Atlanta competes with for jobs, more often than not, win. Dallas is a perfect example of this.
Re, your list of celebrities: I count maybe 10, less if you remove the rappers, that are worth mentioning. I really don’t consider this a gauge of anything, but I’m addressing since you brought it up.
This is really great entertainment for a slow day at work…
Urbanist…really? Take it off line as you clearly have to show off.
A couple of points
1.) really the Atlanta sports attendance argument? You go to the default unfounded argument of ATL bashers everywhere? For the record the Falcons and Braves both rank 15, right in the middle for attendance in their respective leagues. Exactly where they should be as a function of population. The Braves average 29,000 fans a night, it is only 56% occupied because their stadium is the third biggest in baseball, way too many seats, about 20,000 more than Philadelphia and nearly double Wrigley Field. The falcons average 70,000 a game and average 95% capacity each week. The NBA is the NBA and struggles in every market, even Charlotte. Hockey is also wildly unpopular in the US outside of the Northeast with many other teams expected to head back north of the border including, Carolina and Phoenix.
Also, just like with sports Urbanist is speaking on topics he has no knowledge of. D&D isn’t in Charlotte because they see it as the next big thing, they have a franchisee who happens to live in Charlotte, where one of their locations is in a *gasp* suburb, next to a wait for it….indoor suburban mall! What an urban utopia!
Atlanta- the Philly of the South. Charlotte at one time looked up to Atlanta. That was pre-olympics. Maybe the midtowners can turn the city completely around? Good luck with that.
@ JT – so you want to tout our sports teams as an indication of urban success, and when the attendance if those teams is revealed as mediocre that all of a sudden becomes “expected”?
Bottom line is, all I did was express an opinion of interest and favorability for Charlotte. I like Charlotte. I see it as a smaller Atlanta, with a more educated population, who hasn’t made the same mistakes as Atlanta, and could learn from Atlanta’s mistakes, as it develops forward. If you disagree, fine, disagree.
What this has really turned into is yet another failed opportunity for You to try and find a way to discredit me. Everytime you think you have something you exude with enthusiasm, only to be shot down. You should change your name to kamikaze. You try to argue a very short-sighted point, you’re proved wrong either through fact or due to intellectual incompetence, and then you either go silent or you just give up.
The post I made that starts this wasn’t even intended to be argumentative. I was just stating an opinion / observation. I guess you didn’t see that all the way through.
I’ve read this blog off and on for a while and never really “got” what Urbanist had to say. Then I saw Urbanist got a guest spot about Atlantic Station. It sounded like an emotion (hate for Atlantic Station)grasping for reasons, without finding any good ones. But whatever, everyone’s entitled. But now this idea that Charlotte is a “better city” and more cosmopolitan? Wow. Ridiculous. Again – emotion over facts wins. It seems that the only evidence of this is that they have D & D and we don’t. And every other argument doesn’t hold weight. And the D & D argument is weak beyond mentioning. Other comments piled on evidence against the superiority of Charlotte. In case it wasn’t obvious. Please do some research. You won’t find a single shred of real evidence to put the current state of Charlotte ahead of Atlanta and not a single real, neutral expert to back you up.
Pile on Urbanist – Here’s a report from Richard Florida: Atlanta’s GDP is top ten in the nation – same size as a smaller Central American country (although one run by drug lords). Charlotte’s GDP looks to be humming along at about the same clip as St. Louis and Indianapolis. The science of economics isn’t perfect. But probably better than the science of Dean and Deluca. Just the facts, man.
Christ people, it was just a f’ing impression that I got from the city. I never said it was rooted in any sort of scientific reasoning. Of course Atlanta’s GDP is bigger…it’s a bigger city bright guy. Houston’s GDP is bigger than Atlanta’s, but does that make it a better city? The arguments here are so singular and simple, it’s ridiculous – “Charlotte’s GDP is smaller, therefore it can’t be a better city”. Guess what Costa Rica’s GDP is smaller than many other country’s GDPs, but they’re also considered the happiest. What’s that? GDP isn’t an absolute indicator of greatness or happiness? Oh my god! They didn’t teach me that at GPC!
So many people with wadded panties over a simple observation.
Urbanist, I think it’s kind of funny you get the impression that Charlotte is “cosmopolitan”. I used to live in Charlotte (lived there for 17 years and moved to Atlanta a year ago). Judging from your criticism of Atlanta, trust me, if you lived there for a year you would kill yourself. More educated population? I don’t think so. You obviously haven’t spent much time there, because outside of the tiny downtown area (which I will admit has come a long way) is suburban shopping center after suburban shopping center surrounded by cul-de-sac subdivisions, vinyl cookie-cutter homes, and plenty of trailer parks. Outside of Uptown, it’s worse than Atlanta in that aspect.
Also, the only reason the city of Charlotte is adding thousands of people a year is because the city has annexed almost the entire county (similar to Jacksonville, Florida which is actually larger in population than Charlotte). The majority of the city of Charlotte’s population lives in a suburban setting, not like Virginia-Highlands or Inman Park, but like Gwinnett County/Sugarloaf Parkway/Kennesaw suburban.
Oh, and speaking of master-planned fake projects, you would hate the “Epicenter” in Uptown Charlotte… it’s a giant complex with an over-priced movie theater, bowling alley, crappy bars, restaurants, and nightclubs made of EIFS that fills up with rednecks and Jersey Shore wannabees on the weekend. I’m sure you would LOVE that.
Next time you’re in Charlotte, I would like to visit South Park, Ballantyne, and the University Area… then you can report back to us on how “cosmopolitan” Charlotte really feels…
Mike, I was referring to the city, not Ballantyne, not Concord, etc. That said, I think places like South Park have a lot more character than it’s Atlanta comparable (maybe Alpharetta?).
I might be entirely wrong about Charlotte. I don’t live there, I am there on occasion for work, and that’s it – it’s just the impression I get.
Oh, and speaking of Master Planned projects, the EpiCenter is about 1/20th the size of Atlantic Station (I don’t know how big it actually is, but I know it’s substantially smaller. I have to clarify that before JT flips his sheet, and tries to jump down my throat to let me know that the EpiCenter is actually 1/19.5 the size of Atlantic Station).
Urbanist, Ballantyne is IN the city limits of Charlotte, so it is “the city”… so is South Park, which is a suburban office and residential area. My point is that outside of the 10 block downtown area, Charlotte is more suburban than Atlanta… but hey, believe and feel whatever you want.
look at the constant fighting and bickering above and this is why Dean & Deluca does not want to even touch Atlanta… midtown has not progressed in the past 10 years as a true city should. and yes, i live in midtown. this is not Atlanta bashing, it’s the truth. we try to make Atlanta better than it is but in reality it is a pretty lacking city and that’s not because of the people it’s because of the government and leadership in this city, they are ALL corrupted, from the top to the bottom, from the mayor to the beat patrol cop. everyone is on the take and that doesn’t leave much for the future development of the city. crime is high, employment is down, unemployment up, 500,000 deadbeats living on tax payers dime for over 5 yrs claiming they can’t find a job (if Atlanta is so great where are the jobs?), real estate values plummeted, foreclosure rates some of the highest in the nation, sports teams are being sold and moved out, etc etc. the current facts are facts, still living in the glow of the Olympics is wearing thin.
urbanist is correct in some aspects but it is urbanist’s opinion. what makes your opinion better than anyone else’s? and who gives a shit about Charlotte. Atlanta is what it is, bad food and bad fashion, the home of the $30k millionaire w/ $30k in debt, got to take the bad with the good.
bottomline: Dean & Deluca is not coming to Atlanta and never will.
I think Urbanist makes some good points regarding Charlotte’s appeal. While it does not have the diversity of Atlanta, Uptown, SouthPark, Dilworth, and other areas have a great deal of character. Just an opinion…but these areas are, to me, nicer than midtown ATL, Va-Hi, Atlantic Station, and other areas here.
Also, why does a city like Charlotte have a greater representation of national restarurants than Atlanta when Atlanta has so many people? I’ve never understood how smaller cities–Denver, CO, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN–just to name a few have a much more diverse and greater representation of restaurants with a national footprint than Atlanta does. I find myself visiting some of these when I travel, and I think–I should have this option in Atlanta.
Also, Charlotte–like Denver (one of the best examples of a wonderful mid-sized city, in my opinion), have light rail and have taken transportation seriously. Yes, they still have their problems (especially in the burbs), but they have been forward-thinking.
In addition, cities like Denver seem to have many more cultural opportunities than Atlanta–especially given the size of Denver versus Atlanta. I love film, and Denver has at least twice as many screens showing foreign and independent films than Atlanta. Certainly, Atlanta has Charlotte beaten in this category, but there are many more people here than in Denver.
I do think there is potential here, and much of it burst with the economic downturn. I hope that midtown will continue it progress and I hope that the re-make of Atlantic Station will really work. I see that ATL is getting the first Yard House restaurant in the Southeast (outside of Florida) next spring at Atlantic Station, so it looks like things are moving in a positive direction. With Ponce City Market and Prospect Park (Alpharetta) coming online, improvements should hopefully continue.
If only the city could get its act together on transportation…
Let me chime in re the Urbanist vs everyone else debate. I’m from Chicago, lived all over the place including SF, NYC, and LA. Been in Atlanta 10 years. Bottom line: Atlanta sucks. No real city planning. ALWAYS playing catchup. No innovation. Borderline, drinking too much of their own sweet tea. Damnit, I’m still looking for “downtown”. Charlotte has, I think, a nice urban center for a mid-sized city.
I’ll give it to the Atl though that they hit a home run with the residential (i.e. subdivision) side of things. But to be a world class city, ya gotta have both sides of the coin. Atlanta = FAIL.
Ready for the flames…
I also live, work and play in Midtown, I love it. If I could do it again though….I would pick a really urban city such as Boston or Chicago. Midtown is slowly infilling but still has a sleepy suburban feel to it. The problem lays in the planning from day one. Too spread out. Midtown, Downtown, Buckhead, Atlantic Station and then lets include the mega office parks in Smyrna etc. I mean really, Broadway shows at the Cobb center? Should’nt they be in town? I agree with Urbanist in it does not have the vibe…yet. Maybe in 50 years.