My Own "Learning From Charlotte"

[uptowngirl]

Ahhh my second home, CLT! That hotel is the Dunhill, one of the few historic buildings left and one of my favorite places to stay. CLT also has huge events on the streets pictured above, from festivals to Thursday night outdoor music either at the BofA tower, or te old Wacovia tower. People in CLT live AND play DT and it shows. My daugter once said (I think she was about five) that she was ready to head back to Jacksonville, CLT was "too clean". LOL

[Miss Fixit]

Charlotte, the beautiful banking capital of the southeast.  Some 20+ years ago, Wachovia and First Union began funding Charlotte's downtown renaissance.

Jacksonville has much, much to learn from Charlotte's example but I wonder how current problems with that city's core industry will effect its future?

I agree with rainfrog's post about Jacksonville lacking a focused outlook, with "some eyes on the past, some eyes on the future, but little bringing the two together."  Jacksonville needs to find some positive common ground.

[vicupstate]

It all comes down to leadership folks. All cities were founded over 175 years ago, at least.  Some preserved their history and some didn't.  But the difference is a plan based on a collective vision and the will to see it through. 

Charlotte's success was not overnight by any means. They made plenty of mistakes along the way such as destroying too much historic  and urban fabric (which has only recently been somewhat re-created).  They also sprawled out for decades before seeing their was value in infill.  They built a coliseum in the burbs bEFORE the current one. 

The difference is, they fixed what didn't work, and kept moving forward until the right ideas and 'mix' (ie residential) were found.  They also had very substantial corporate backing, which included not only First Union/Wachovia/Wells Fargo but also Bank of America and Duke Energy AND many, many smaller firms.  For instance, there has long been a maxim that to be considered a genuine player in Charlotte, you had to have a presence Downtown.   

[CS Foltz]

vicupstate..........you have very valid points! Charlottes sucess in their downtown, has coperate involvement whereas we have what? "Collective vision and the will to see it through"...........said it before.....no plan, no vision and no funding to get something done other than raise taxes and add fee's! Jacksonville has a very long way to go and we can start with an Administration that gives a poo about our City!

[Jason]

^ Jacksonville had her reign as a corporate leader when there were a mass of insurance companies and bank headquarters here.  BofA bought out Barnett Bank and then moved its headquarters to Charlotte.  Before that the insurance companies started to fold or consolidate.  Blue Cross moved to the burbs... etc.  The main difference between us and Charlotte is that they concentrated growth downtown and Jax allowed it to run to the burbs....

[duvaldude08]

^ Jacksonville had her reign as a corporate leader when there were a mass of insurance companies and bank headquarters here.  BofA bought out Barnett Bank and then moved its headquarters to Charlotte.  Before that the insurance companies started to fold or consolidate.  Blue Cross moved to the burbs... etc.  The main difference between us and Charlotte is that they concentrated growth downtown and Jax allowed it to run to the burbs....

I know right! Humana and indepedant life folded. Prudential got bought about Aetna. And as stated barnet got bought out by bank of america. BCBSFL still remains in its same location. I still consider us a heavy insurance and financial service city. Its just not as dominate as it used to be.

[simms3]

Charlotte's suburbs are more sprawly than our suburbs.  Charlotte's metro is wayyyy less dense than ours.  The metro's high points are Uptown and surrounding immediate neighborhoods, beyond that there is wayyyy worse planning than our city and if you think faux stucco is tiresome try 100% brick!

Also Merrill Lynch has one of its only large campuses here and Deutsche Bank just located the NA HQ for their sales department here.  A lot of people that were involved with the banks locally (from First Union, Florida National, Barnett, and of course the company Charter) are now managing hedge funds.  There are a lot of hedge funds in Jax and PE firms.  Also Florida's largest homegrown bank currently is Everbank, HQ'd here.

[vicupstate]

Metro Charlotte is signifcantly bigger in population and is not contrained by an ocean, those are the reasons for it being more 'sprawly'.  I don't think either city can claim to be better planned than the other.   

[Jason]

I'm really looking forward to what Everbank has comming in the future.  They seem committed to downtown and could continue to grow pretty rapidly.  Couple that with what Fidelity has done to transform their little pocket of Brooklyn.  IMO, if we could just get BCBS back into the core along with enticing a couple other large local corporate players, DT Jax will be every bit as nice as Charlotte.

Build the transportation network and eliminate the parking issues and the big fish will come back.  The core will thrive again.