photo tour of Greensboro's First Horizon Park

downtown ballpark for Greensboro, NC

The stadium will hold 8,000 people with the capability of expanding to 11,000 if Greensboro ever lures a AAA team in the future. This is a great stadium with a great view of the downtown skyline. Winston-Salem and Charlotte both are planning for downtown ballparks. The Charlotte stadium, based on diagrams will follow the Greensboro template. The new stadium wo 't be like Knights Castle where you have like 40 rows of seating. All the seats will be closer to the field and seating will wrap around the ballpark so the scale of the stadium will liklye be smaller than Knights Castle.

 

The development listed in the article below will be the largest single development in the history of downtown Greensboro. It will include hundreds of apartments, live-work units and condos and will also include shops, cafe's, offices and a hotel to be built somewhere near the ballpark. The Project will be called Bellemeade Village and will be a cluster of mid-rise buildings ranging from 4 to 6 stories. The proposed plan even includes a mini-Harris Teeter or another chain that will be a part of one of the residential complexes much like in uptown Charlotte. Some of the condos will have view into the ballpark.

Here is a video link to the story as well

http://wm.gannett.speedera.net/wm.gannett/...evelopment1.wmv


Bellemeade plan stirs big-time buzz

2-25-05

By Nate DeGraff and Matt Williams, Staff Writers



GREENSBORO — The owners of the North State Chevrolet property announced plans Thursday for a massive collection of shops and homes that could spark a surge in development at the northwest edge of downtown.


Developers envision a mini town with retailers, offices, a hotel and more than 300 apartments and condominiums. (Doug Cox/©News & Record)

Blueprints for the Bellemeade Village project show a sweeping mini town straddling Smith Street, complete with retailers, offices, a hotel, underground parking and more than 300 apartments and condominiums. A small grocery could also find a home there.

A new road would slice through the project, which sits on a choice 6-acre tract just beyond the left-field wall at First Horizon Park.

Plans call for five-story buildings and tree-lined streets that encourage walking, not driving. 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 jointly owns the property with his older brother, Jim.

Some of the money for the $70 million to $85 million project could come from one of the first applications of Amendment One, a change to the state constitution narrowly approved by voters in November. The amendment gives local governments the authority to borrow money for certain economic development projects without holding a bond referendum.

Amendment One hasn’t been used yet because the state’s Local Government Commission hasn’t approved rules for its use. The guidelines should be in place by June 30.

Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc., said that Amendment One money could fund about 10 percent of Bellemeade Village.

The money would be used for parking areas and streetscaping, 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 have already approached city officials to gauge their interest in helping the development financially. In a meeting with Mayor Keith Holliday, Councilman Tom Phillips and City Manager Ed Kitchen, the developers asked about the city possibly borrowing money to build a parking deck and pay for road work around the project.

The city may choose to borrow money under Amendment One and pay off the loans with the increased property taxes the new owners would pay.

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.

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 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.”

Excitement surrounding the project has been building since the Joneses sold the long-standing dealership to a competitor last year. The brothers kept the land, saying a new development was a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity and a chance to give their hometown an economic boost.

The project will likely be built in phases, with shops and condominiums at the northwest part of the property going up first. The brothers said most of the condos would sell for $100,000 to $200,000.

The choicest real estate is on the south side of Smith Street abutting the ballpark, and that part of the project will be built last. The brothers aren’t sure what will go there, but the buildings will take advantage of the proximity to the $21.5 million ball park that will host its first minor-league baseball game this spring.

“Whatever it is, everything will be designed to maximize views,” Jim Jones said. Construction of the project could take five to seven years.

If built, it will likely spur more development at the downtown’s northwest corner.

One 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 other building 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 by adding hundreds of residents to that part of the city.

“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.”

Also involved in the project is The Boulevard Co., the Charlotte developer that’s building a separate condo project at Blandwood Avenue and West Washington Street. The architect is Atlanta-based Cooper Carry. Other firms could be added.

The Joneses will work with the groups throughout the year, tweaking their plans for the site. They say they realize the scope of the project and understand that a big-time project like this one requires big-time investment.

“Nobody’s going to accuse us — after seeing this — of thinking small,” Jim Jones said.

 

Nice pads