Gym Memberships do well in November

So I hit the gym tonight after work. I saw Mike Scotto, the head personal trainer, at the Birkdale Fitness Center. It seemed busy and I asked Mike how the gym was doing and he said exceptionally well. He said that they were booming right around Thanksgiving whereas usually they wait till Christmas and the New Year to boom. I wonder if they are up because the population is still exploding here or because existing residents are spending more money on health? Anyways, if you want to join the gym, ask for Mike and now is the best time of the year to do so because they roll out the best incentives. I reccomendd the personal training if you have never worked out before.
The news is full of contradicting reports and for the most part the village feels slower but I can't tell if that is a normal fall slow down after school starts and the weather cools or if that is the economy. I wonder how the Birkdale stores performed on black Friday? I guess that all depends on the weather. My friend that works at Barnes and Nobles says that they are doing well. I find that amazing because the place is never really packed. This past weekend in NJ, we went food shopping and the lines were twenty deep at the registers. I don't think that I have ever waited in any line around here (except maybe at Starbucks). The point of all this rambling is that I wonder how the stores are doing?

The Manhattan Effect

First off, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We are enjoying it at my parents house in New Jersey. This morning I read the papers and it is amazing how many letters and editorials were decrying the property taxes up here. A few of these authors claimed that the entire middle class of New Jersey was fleeing or wanted to flee to North Carolina or Florida because of the horrendous tax burden. I thought that it was interesting as more and more people that I know from NJ are considering moving South (especially to Charlotte).
Additionally, my parents live in Jersey City which is directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Being only one subway (PATH) stop from Manhattan, Jersey City has boomed. When I went to high school it was abandoned railroad yards. Now it is miles and miles of condominiums, offices, and mixed use spaces. I think 50,000 residences have been built here between the Bayonne and George Washington Bridges. Where do all these people come from that can afford half a million dollar plus condos? Everyone I meet is an immigrant (smart ones working in banking or such) or from the mid west. Right on our street are so many people who are aspiring actors or investment bankers. Its amazing.
Anyways, I read article after article stating that Manhattan along with a few other signature cities has continued to surge ahead in property values because of 1) Big Wall Street Bonuses (Yes they still got $32 Billion worth this year) and 2) Overseas investors taking advantage of the weak dollar. Well, additionally, Jersey is booming because even though a 600 sqft 1 bedroom condo costs $800,000, that is only 40% of the price it would cost in Manhattan. Absolutely amazing!
Anyways, as prices and taxes continue to rise here so many non-investment banking people, are considering moving. I think that by extension (or third order effect) that Charlotte will continue to do well. The only question that I have is whether enough people will continue to move to Charlotte to offset the number of new homes built on former farm fields. I keep watching that Charlotte Observer which says that new home permits are way down, but are they down enough? Here’s hoping and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Stratford Forest Not A Great Deal

Well, unfortunately, our friends won’t be buying that house in Stratford Forest. It turns out that the home needed $30,000 worth of work on its inspection report. This is simply amazing. As I understand it the houses in Stratford forest were built about 20 years ago (give or take). Additionally, they were made entirely of wood (especially the siding) which is all starting to rot and the plumbing is in a class action lawsuit so that may all need to be replaced. This is unfortunate because this is the second home buyer that I know of that was scared away from Stratford forest because of the deteriorating condition of the homes. On paper it may look like a great deal compared to Birkdale but the homes seem to be crap.
All of the homes in Birkdale were built with Fiber cement siding and PVC piping. Saussy Burbank and Lyllian Floyd areknown as great area home builders so I think that we are safe from the same type of 20 year deterioration that Stratford Forest has experienced.
Our friends are now back to looking at homes in Birkdale because they feel that Birkdale is the only place that will hold its value if the market continues to worsen. Does anyone else know of any other areas that they think will hold their value well?

Stratford Forest

Congratulations to our friends. They just bought a house in Stratford Forest. Stratford Forest is the sub-division right across McDowell Creek from Birkdale. Now all we need to do is build a bridge across the creek. They just pulled out of a new home contract in Moss Creek. Moss Creek is going down hill as the builder slashes prices and resales are sitting. They figure that they are better off next to Birkdale where home values have actually risen over the year.

Congratulations!

Dog Park

Has anyone been to the Ramsey Creek Dog Park recently? We haven't been to the park since the spring time. Have Charlotte Mecklenburg's new Dog Park guidelines taken effect? Are the parks free or do we still require a token for access.

I don't agree with CharMeck's decision to let the dog parks be open access because the registration requirement kept the park clean and safe with all dogs vaccinated and such.

If you want to know more about the Ramsey Creek Dog Park then read my earlier post: click here.

Otherwise, let me know how the dog park is faring.

Birkdale Village New Urbanism Case Study

What a neat looking map of the Birkdale Communities? I found this map on a website that posted a UNC Watershed Assessment of the Birkdale Village Community. Some interesting facts are that Birkdale has 6.2 Units per acre (really 7.2 units per acre if one discounts the fact that 7.4 acres are dedicated as McDowell Creek watershed. Overall, the study was favorable of Birkdale's high density walking community. It's one critique of the site plan is that Birkdale Village's 8 acres of parking lots creates significant run off that can be easily contaminated with oil and other pollutants. What was interesting is the note that someday (not before 2010) the parking lots may be built on for additional store fronts and apartments. That would be interesting especially if more parking was added in semi-hidden parking structures.
I wonder if or when that would happen. Would the town let it?

Anyways, enjoy the map and the knowledge that the case study's author thinks that Birkdale Village is a great success.

Pier One Kids Bankrupt Too

After researching what's happening to Bombay I wondered about some other recent closures in Birkdale. It seems that Pier One Kids met the same fate as Bombay. It seems that Pier One has been losing money for more than a year. $56 Million in this latest quarter. Here's the press release announcing the closure of the Pier One Kids stores:

FORT WORTH, Texas — Pier 1 will close all 33 of its Pier 1 Kids stores by Oct. 31
and its 24 clearance stores by July 31 to focus on its full-line units, the retailer’s president and CEO said today. In total, the company will close 100 stores this year, Alex Smith said in a conference call with securities analysts.
“We need to focus 100% of our attention on our core business, the Pier 1 Imports stores,” said Smith. He made the comments while discussing Pier 1’s earnings for the first fiscal quarter ended June 2, which included a net loss of $56.4 million, compared with a loss of $23.2 million a year earlier, and sales of $356.4 million, down 5%.
In addition to closing stores, he said the company will exit its e-commerce and catalog sales activities by Oct. 31, although it will keep its pier1.com Web site for marketing purposes. The moves will leave the company with 1,020 stores in the United States and 80 in Canada.

I am amazed the Pier One didn't try to sell its kids stores to another brand. Maybe they wanted control over their own destiny? Or maybe no one would buy them because they were not making money? At least Pier One still has its main store in Birkdale. I like the store although I must admit that we haven't bought much in this one either.

So now the question is what would make a good fit for this former Pier One Kids space? It seems too big for a boutique. I think it would make a good fit for a Kid's Time - a short term daycare place for parents that need to run an errand, grab dinner, or whatever. Rumor has it that the one over by Target (on the other side of 77) is always full and pretty much requires reservations. I also heard another rumor that Dicks might be leaving Birkdale as well. Wow, that is a big space.

Anyways, I am sure that there are plenty of retailers angling to get into Birkdale. When I spoke to th enew property management company, the said that they bought Birkdale in May ( I heard that they paid $99 Million) and that they would start this fall really analyzing the spaces and trying to fill new tenants in the now five open stores. I imagine that the other tenants are not too happy because all of those empty stores could be filled and attracting more shoppers rather than sitting empty and weighing the place down. Well, let's see what happens.

What do you think should go into the former Pier One Kid's space?

Bombay Going out of Business

I was surprised to see Bombay holding a going out of business sale in the village this week. Actually, I wasn't too surprised. I didn't really know anyone who shopped there. The store seemed to have cool items but I don't know if cool was enough to fill people's homes. Anyways, I stopped in and asked an employee what was going on. The employee said that the entire company went under so this is not a uniquely Birkdale event. I went to the website which has been discontinued and then I went to a business news site where the last update was that the Bombay Company had secured $10 Million in financing at the end of September. Apparently, that was not enough and so this month they are going out of business. It must stink to be the Bombay company founder. Seeing the company that he/she created and expanded fall apart. On the other hand, now that it is a publicly traded company, he/she probably cashed out a significant chunk of wealth at the time of the IPO. Anyways, bankruptcy is a neccessary evil for our market economy.
I think that this might be a good thing in the long run because that is a prime location that could draw additional shopping traffic to Birkdale. Was Bombay a destination store? I was thinking that it would be a great location for a Panera Bread. It has a great outdoor setting between Banana Republic and what is now Bombay. Unfortunately, I don't have the $7.5 million net worth required to startup a Panera Franchise. Seriously though, we're considering a New Style Bakery/Deli somewhere in the village. I wonder if it would work in that location. Anyone for good bagels? Italian Bread?

Any other ideas for what would be a good fit in the Bombay location?

Bank of America 500

We also went to the Bank of America 500 this past weekend at the Lowe's Motor Speedway. We had great seats on row 7 between turns 1 and 4. I'm not a NASCAR fan but it was a lot of fun to be so close to the race track. At one point we got splattered with oil form a wreck right in front of us. I know that someone reading this is thinking, how scary. But it is exhilarating to have the cars going past at 180 MPH so close together. The fans are protected by a mesh fence that is about 20 feet high and hangs over the track. We paid $85 (really $95 after the fees) but the seats were well worth it.

We left for the race at about 4 PM and after about an hour of traffic to actually get a parking space, we walked about a mile to the stadium. It was a beautiful day and the traffic was not as bad as I expected. Lowe's Motor Speedway sits 220,000 people. That is not a typo! 220,000 people is a lot of people. Its crazy how people park everywhere and anywhere to include the medians and shoulders of the primary roads.

Once we got there, we checked out the experience booths outside the stadium. I got shaved with a Gillette razor, we checked out the Dell plasma, got free toilet paper (no idea why), looked at the Jack Daniels tent, and so on. If you go to the All Star Race (May), the Coca Cola Race (May), or the Bank of America Race (October), go early in the day to experience the whole carnival like atmosphere. Its amazing how many locals come out for this event too!

Carolina Renaissance Festival

We went to the Carolina Renaissance Festival this weekend. What a cool place. I was pleasantly surprised by how much stuff they have going on. It really is geared toward kids and I am looking forward to our son being old enough in a few years to really enjoy the place. It is amazing that the organizers are able to get that many characters and actors in once place to make the whole event neat.

We tried the crepes, the king size turkey legs, and the bakery near the entrance. The town drunk was funny and the tree (like a character from lord of the rings) was great. We all though the tomato insulter was the best. Basically, you pay a few dollars to throw tomatoes at a guy hanging out of a wall while he hurls insults at you. Its harder than it looks and the guy in the wall was hilarious. He tortured this poor soccer mom.

Anyways, if you get the chance, definitely go to the Renaissance festival. The Carolina Renaissance Festival is a medieval amusement park, a 10-stage theater, a 20-acre circus, an arts and crafts fair, a jousting tournament and a feast -- all rolled into one non-stop, day-long family adventure! It is on Poplar Tent Road between Huntersville and Concord, just North of Charlotte. It is open from 10 AM to 5:30 PM and it runs on weekends through the middle of November.

NYTimes Article: 36 Hours in Asheville

I saw this while reading the NYTimes today. Its one of the New York Times 36 hour travel guides. These guides are great for getting the gist of what to do when visiting a city. I know that I just published a blog about Biltmore a few days ago but I though this article was cool enough to point out on its own. I've actually only been to Biltmore and not to the city of Asheville itself. I hear good things though. Here's an excerpt of what the New York Times had to say:

Asheville is an Appalachian Shangri-La. This year-round resort town, tucked between the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, draws a funky mix of New Agers, fleece-clad mountain bikers, antiques lovers and old-time farmers. And what's there not to like? Charming yet surprisingly cosmopolitan for a town of about 73,000, Asheville has a Southern appeal all its own. There are lazy cafes and buzzing bistros, Art Deco skyscrapers and arcades reminiscent of Paris, kayaking and biodiesel cooperatives and one of the world's largest private homes — the Biltmore Estate, a French Renaissance-style mansion with 250 rooms. No wonder so many locals first
started out as tourists.

Check out the Asheville article at the following Link.

Charlotte's Oktoberfest

We attended the Charlotte Oktoberfest at the Metrolina yesterday. The event sold out two weeks in advance. At $30/ticket I find that quite amazing. There's definitely plenty of room to expand within the Mertolina complex as the actual beer stands only used up about 2/3rds of the space.

It was an interesting event but definitely not like the Oktoberfest in Munich. Although it was a great way to try new beers. I found the Highland Brewing Company and the Spaten beers were my favorite. There were over 350 beers at the event and all were free (in shot glass amounts) after the price of admission. What's cool is that no one seemed to get too drunk or rowdy. I hate drunken tough guys.

The weather was a perfect mid-70s and it was just a great day to be outside or even inside the beer serving buildings (But thise did get a little warm with the crowds. Its a shame that there wasn't a seated area and an Ompah band like the German Oktoberfest.

All in all it was a good event (Like the Walmart of wine tastings only for beer).

A Drought's Upside and Downside

What a beautiful September we're having! I don't think it has rained for more than an hour the entire month. Who can argue with temperatures in the mid-70s? In case you are reading this and don't live in the Charlotte area, we are in the middle of the worst drought in about 50 years and possibly the worst drought in recorded history. The drought is seriously affecting the lawns and agriculture but otherwise it has also brought day after day or perfect weather.

I visited a friends house on Lake Norman yesterday and what was previously lake in front of his now grounded boat dock, is an island. Its amazing how high the island rises in front of his place! The best benefit of this new formed island is that the geese seemed to enjoy the island over my friends lake side grass.

I wonder if this drought is a product of global warming or if it is part of the natural cycle of weather on planet earth? What do you think, is this global warming or is this just the natural cycle?

I will say that at this point people might actually enjoy the rain if it comes?

Biltmore Estate Wine

We're drinking a bottle of Biltmore Century Red Wine tonight. We actually bought the bottle on a trip to Asheville and Biltmore estates over a year ago. The Biltmore Estate is a great place to visit. Its the closest to a European castle that American has. Its not really a castle but the largest house in America. I highly recommend the land tour if you go to visit. It is very cool to see the Engineering accomplishments of the 1880s.

Anyways, the wine is good. We actually opened the bottle last night and I though that it was too bitter. But after a night of air out, it tastes great tonight. Visit Biltmore if you get the chance.

Found New Off-Leash Walking Trails

Have you ever wandered down Birkdale Commons Parkway away from the village. In case you haven't it has two side walks, a bike lane, and it is a wide street. At the end of the street is the Glens at Birkdale. If you keep walking through that 55+ community, you'll wind up on Babe Stillwell Road (thnk Charlotte's web). If you take a left, Babe Stillwell curves around a corner before dead ending into the McDowell Creek Water Treatment Plant. The Creek sits on a bout 1000 acres that I believe are preserved from development. Off to the left and right are trails that anyone can walk down into fields and the woods.
These trails are a great area for our dog to run around in. As the weather gets cooler and the ticks and snakes go into hibernation, we love to get outdoors. Our dog loves it too.
To and from the village this walk is about 3 miles and usually takes us about an hour because we walk slowly along the trails off Babe Stillwell.
I'll have to take some pictures to add to this post.

Housing Slow Down

So what do you think? How will Charlotte and Birkdale fare with the housing slow down?

Charlotte's Housing Slow Down

As we walk the neighborhood we can't help but notice that it is taking longer for houses to sell in Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer reported that Home Sales have drop significantly and that new housing starts have declined by one third year over year. At the same time the average house price rose 7% in the past quarter. My thoughts on the housing slow down are that I am glad I bought in Birkdale. Although houses seem to be taking longer to sell here they are at least selling. One house on our street Sold By Owner within three weeks of posting the sign. Two other houses also sold on the street. Speaking with recent and prospective buyers it seems that the slow down here is because people elsewhere (NY and California) can't sell their houses there to actually move here.
It seems that things outside of Uptown, the Lake, and Birkdale village aren't looking so good. Many of the run of the mill sub-divisions (the ones without a built in attraction) are battling foreclosures and acres upon acres of new houses. Moss Creek is a new sub-division along NC 73 and down the road (about 7 miles) from Birkdale that is being hit hard. As the sub-division is still being built the builder has offered significant enticements to new buyers. That has hurt the resellers already on the market so they have been forced to lower prices. Now, who wants to buy in a sub-division where current owners are losing money on a house they recently bought. We just had two friends who lost their $5000 deposit in Moss Creek after they pulled out of the pre-construction contract. They figured that it was cheaper to loss the $5000 up front that it would be to ride out the market where recently purchased homes are down about $15,000. In a sense, Charlotte has so much vacant forest and farm land that the new home potential is what has held down prices here and is what will also hurt existing home owners as the market declines.
Of course, the decrease in new home permits tied with the fact that Charlotte is still one of the top "move to" destinations in the country may mean that existing home owners could come out ok. Also, what all this means for Birkdale is that it seems the consensus among new home buyers (or maybe it is the hope of existing home owners) is that Birkdale Village is a safer bet that the surrounding sub-divisions because Birkdale itself is an attraction. Prices may not rise as fast as they have in the past but at least homes will continue to move as they have been all summer.

Biltmore Park

This post is in response to a comment from my first entry. Cathy, commented that Crossland is building 'Biltmore Park' near Asheville, NC. She had asked some questions about traffic and vadalism:
Cathy,
Birkdale is a great place to live. Seeing your neighbors at the gym, the cafe, the restaurant, or simply strolling the village provides a wonderful sense of community. Ironically, Birkdale has definitely increased local traffic outside the village, however, the traffic increase is significantly less than if Birkdale was a normal mall or shopping center. Since a few thousand people live within walking distance thats a few thousand less car trips required. I personally walk to the stores and even to the supermarket for quick items. As for the vandalism, I feel perfectly safe here. We do have lots of teenagers in the village on weekends but they would be present at any mall and they are not rowdy or disruptive as I have seen in other places. We do connect to two separate major thoroughfares but not many people cut through the residential section of the village. I don't think its very convienent to do so. Perhaps, the biggest complaint that people make about Birkdale is its lack of parking. On Friday and Saturday nights when the live music is playing there is usually a line of cars circling looking for a space. It doesn't concern me because we walk to the village but I do know that the tight weekend parking has deterred my coworkers from coming to Birkdale. In the end, I love living here. Other than uptown Charlotte there is no where else that I would like to live. For us, it is the perfect blend of suburban and urban lifestyles. It seems that many people agree with us because Birkdale houses are priced at a premium compared to the surroundng subdivisions. Also, the houses here have appreciated faster and seem to be holding their value better in this downturn. I hope that Biltmore Park does as well as Birkdale.

Going Green

We're been reading a lot lately about going Green. Its in the paper that the Charlotte is looking to go Green and we've been trying to figure out exactly what that means. Apparently, that means using technology and alternative building materials and methods for conservation of resources and minimizing the human impact on the planet. There are some really neat products out there that actually cost the same or less than many of our existing products or they offer such energy and water savings that they pay for themselves in a matter of years. We've learned about Green Roofs, Rainwater Harvesting, Grassy Pavers (asphalt replacement things), Solar Hot Water Heaters, Solar Arrays, Insulation Materials, etc.
Check out these cool local (mostly local) websites that we found on the subject:

Brea Water Systems
Green Roofing
A Information Site
Discovery Place's Green Roof
Grassy Pavers

This is neat stuff. I wonder if computers and the Internet were the boom of the last twenty years will Green be the boom of the next twenty?

We're Back

So we recently had a baby which allowed for much less time on the Internet. Well, now we're getting back into a routine and I'm hoping that we can post here more often. I will say that as hot as it is outside right now (we're breaking heat records in Charlotte this week - 104 Degrees), I am looking forward to when our son is old enough to be running around the fountain with the kids in the center of Birkdale. It looks like a lot of fun and it is amazing how packed that center can get with moms and kids. I jokingly tell my wife that the water fountain is like the dog park but for kids.
Other than this past week we've had a great summer. It wasn't too hot, mid-80s mostly. I was personally expecting the heat to be much worst here during the summer. I guess that we are far enough back from the coast and close enough to the mountains that we are usually spared the extreme heat and humidity.
Anyways, if you have young kids and are coming to Birkdale, definitely have them bring their swim suits because that fountain looks like a blast.

Brixx's Beer Special

So we sat outside at Brixx last night with a group of friends and enjoyed Brixx's Saturday night $2.50 beer special. It was a German Lager that I can't remember the name of. Every Saturday night Brixx has a different beer special. Its a great deal and considering that their list of about 30 import beers are all great it is a fantastic way to try out new beers. I also had a vegetarian pizza that was great as well. I have two slices left which I think I'll enjoy once I'm done writing here.
Birkdale's live music band was great last night too. They played a good mix of 80s rock. We really enjoyed the live music and wound up sitting outside until about 11pm. The live music ends at 9:30 PM which seems a little early but I guess that since people live right above the shops it makes sense not to keep them up all night. What we were amazed by is how little of the music we were able to hear as we walked towards the main strip. We figure that since the speakers are pointer towards Sam Furr that the houses behind the village don't get much of the music.
What was nice about last night is that we didn't get to Brixx until about 8:30 PM. Since it was so cool out Birkdale was lively but not packed so we got an outside table right away. Even cooler, is that Brixx has these outdoor gas heaters that throw heat down on the tables so even though it was a little cool out we were quite comfortable. I'm thinking of getting one of these Resnor heaters for my back deck. I wonder how much they run and how hard it is to tap in to the existing gas line?

Day Four and Counting

Today is the fourth day that we are waiting for Time Warner to come and hook up our Cable Internet. No kidding, but they've missed three appointments over the past week so far. I'm amazed that we don't move to the top of some scheduling priority after the third missed appointment. But, alas, here it is on day four at 10:55 with one hour left in the four hour window (8-12). The wife is very upset but the husband doesn't mind as we are now at $80 in credits for the missed appointments and today we found an unsecured wireless Internet that we just used to check email and write into the blog since we moved.
In case anyone is thinking of moving or changing their telecom services here in Birkdale or Charlotte we've found the best combination to be Direct TV for TV ($58 for two DVR connections), Time Warner for Cable Internet (High Speed Internet), and Sun Rocket for VOIP ($9.95 for unlimited calling). We originally had Bell South for DSL and Telephone but we could never get our bill below $80/month and often it was over $100. So we canned them and all of their fees and the combined Time Warner Internet/Sun Rocket Phone means that our combined bill in never great that $53. The other cool thing about Sun Rocket is that it allows us 200 free international calling minutes. It occasionally has some bad connection issues but most of the time it is just as good as a regular phone and costs a heck of allot less.
Well, Time Warner's install team finally called and they just turned into Birkdale Village.

Birkdale Village Live Music

Does anyone know when the music starts in Birkdale Village? Last year I thought it started the last weekend of April and went through the last weekend of October. What's strange is that we haven't seen any advertisements or fliers for the music yet this year. I searched the web and all I come across are other blogs talking about enjoying the music at birkdale. The The Adventurers Club was interesting because it claims that Birkdale is a great place to have a Rock concert. I'm not sure if I quite agree but maybe it depends on the definition of Rock. Any way about it though the live music is great and is very popular. We really enjoyed sitting out listening to the music, drinking wine or beer, and people watching. Its amazing how lively the village is on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

The best show we experienced last year was actually right after a rain storm. The rain storm was about one hour before the music started and everyone fled. So we sat outside at Brixx and enjoyed their Saturday night beer specials ($2.50 a beer) while listening to the music without having to feel rushed because they didn't need to turn over the table.

Well, as soon as I find out the schedule I will post again and link to it.

Pool Opens May 12th!

Great news. The pool is opening on May 12th. We got our 'Birkdale Villager' newspaper today and the main feature seemed to be the pool opening. We're excited even though we didn't make it to the pool even once last summer. I guess we spent all our free time on the lake. This year will be different though. We intend to enjoy the pool and the sun.
Its great that the pool is opening early. Last year we wondered why the pool only opened from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It made no sense given the nice weather that Charlotte has at least from April through October. I guess that having the pool open only for summer vacation for schools makes some sense. But they could at least have the pool open say on just evenings and weekends. This year they seem to be doing that by having the pool opened only 3:30 to 7:30 on public school days. The article also says that we have to get a pool tag, which is required for entry. Last year's tags are still good to go.
Well, enough rambling. We're looking forward to the pool opening.

Are there too many homes for sale?

As we walk the neighborhood, we can't help but notice the number of houses for sale in the village. They seem to be growing faster than the weeds in some yards around here. I did a quick search of the MLS on the Keller Williams website returned 19 homes for sale within Birkdale Village. That seems like a lot - It's actually about 5% of the homes in the village (there are 400 homes in just the village in case you are curious). Many people are probably trying to lock in their solid real estate appreciation gains of the past year or two. I'm thinking the village has experienced a 12-20% increase in property values in the past year. So I wonder if this is just the time of the year that everyone plans to move as school gets out and everything looks its best as the flowers and tress blossom.
I remember thinking last spring that there were many homes for sale and they all sold. I'm thinking that if between now and June we clear this backlog of homes then property values will spurt up again. If these houses sit for a while then we have probably reach a plateau while the rest of the surrounding area catches up.
Another concern that I have is the number of investors that seem to be buying homes in Birkdale to rent them out. I think that this drives up values in the sort term but at some point all of those investors have to get out as well. But I also know that most landlords in the village also live in another village home so that goes a long way towards ensuring that the landlords care about the community.
I also know that there seems to be many people moving here. In fact, have a family member and a friend both moving to Birkdale Village before June 1st - there goes 10% of the available housing stock. It seems that whole clusters of families are moving south together.
Well, I'll write more about this topic as it develops. I'm hopeful that Birkdale will continue to appreciate and remain the vibrant place that it currently is.

Cool Slide Show Addition

So tonight I added a cool slide show to the right side of this page. I found it on slide.com. It looks pretty cool and it displays pictures of the Birkdale area. Its too bad that I can't figure out how to save the pictures from the slide show to my computer. This slide show also has pictures of Exit 23's Presbyterian Hospital and Rosedale shooping center. Ah, well, they look good too. If you go to the link then you can also view slide presentations of other interesting areas in Birkdale.

For the Love of Maps!

If you've read a few articles on this blog you must realize that I absolutely love maps. I think hybrid and detailed maps can tell a powerful story about a community and its neighborhood. I love seeing sattelite or aerial photoes overlaid with street grids and points of interest of development names.

Ironically, this will probably be one post in which I don't post any maps.

Ideas for the Empty Stores

Have you noticed that Pike's has gone out of business in Birkdale? As a group of us were sitting out at the wine bar tonight we were musing about what would be a good fit for that location. Someone also pointed out that the space on the corner behind the old Pike's is also vacant. So with two spaces to think about here is a listing of our ideas about what would be a good fit for these locations.

The Front Side Prime Corner Slot: We all agreed that this would probably do best as another Red Rocksy type restaurant. The new owners definitely need to make more use of the outdoor seating possibilities. Pike's did not use its prime location real estate well enough. That corner gets the most sun in Birkdale and only Brixx uses the outdoor seating. I also suggested that they could transform the street side windows into sliding ones that open up horizontally which will allow the indoor and outdoor spaces to flow together. It was also suggested that a restaurant call 'Restaurant X' from Davidson could move in. Restaurant X's Irish owners serve a great fare. We also came up with a BY style bakery/deli. I know that the bagel bin is great but it would be awesome to have that in Birkdale vice driving over to Northcross. Plus, the bakery could sell all sorts of other breads and really good meats.
As for the space behind the former Pike's, someone suggested a performing arts studio so that parents could drop their children off and enjoy the time in Birkdale. Perhaps, this could be the bakery location? How about a personal training studio? A massage/spa place? We all felt that since it was off the main street that it would be tough for a retailer or traditional restaurant to survive in that space. We also though that it was odd that the store front has been under construction continuously for at least the past year. Who knows, maybe they've had a succession of tenants drop off after they already started remodeling.
Well, whatever fills these voids we hope that they do well and offer us all some new service and yet another reason not to drive somewhere else when we don't have to.

Upper McDowell Creek Master Plan

The attached map from The Huntersville Herald was really cool. I like how it lays out the area and color codes the future plans for the area around Birkdale. The only question that I have about this map that I haven't seen written about anywhere else is what the 'future development' is that is in the top left corner of the map. That would be the area along Catawba Ave in front of Robbins Park. I was always under the impression that Robbins Park would cover all of the land from McDowell Creek to Catawba.

Here's an except from Jason Pauling who's email I included in a previous post:

"Greenway master plans show proposed Upper McDowell eventually connecting to the Torrence Creek /Lower McDowell Creek greenway. Pauling said this will probably not happen for another five to 10 years, however. Plans to extend it in the north to Jetton Road extension may occur within a decade or so. It all depends on land acquisition. The county is currently working on plans to extend the Torrence Creek greenway from Cedarfield to Rosedale, and west from Cedarfield to Beatties Ford Road. That work is expected to begin next year and be completed sometime in 2008."

Robbins Park

This Robbins park Map. Notice at the bottom of the map the road connection to Birkdale village. I believe that this is Pennington that it will run into. Also, it looks like the road will run across McDowell Creek over to Stratford forest.

The Huntersville Herald

Does everyone get that local paper in their mailbox on a weekly basis? I'm talking about The Huntersville Herald which usually has a run down of local development projects and upcoming issues with the school board, town boards, police departments, and sports. I mostly like reading about the new developments and new roadway plans that the towns are considering. I would put the Huntersville Herald on par with the Charlotte Observer's Lake Norman section published on Thursdays and Sundays. The Charlotte Observer has better color layouts but The Huntersville Herald goes into much more depth on each specific story. Post a comment below about which newspaper you like better for your local news source. Even better, if you know of another informative local source, then post a comment about that as well.

The Herald's websites says that it is published by 5 PM each Friday, which figures that it gives them the entire work week to get it finalized. The Herald is a Mecklenburg Newspaper Group, LLC and is mailed for free to residents of Huntersville and Cornelius. Everyone else pays $35 per year for a subscription. I'm guessing that the newspaper is soley advertising supported since it is mailed out free and its website is plastered with ads for advertising in the paper. I'm amazed that a free ad support newspaper that serves such a relatively small community can survive.

Since finding their online website, I've been reading most of the articles on the papers website related to developments around the village. Right now I'm reading a complicated story about the future developments of Cornelius' planned Robbin's Park which is currently next to the Greens at Birkdale but which could be swapped to a further location. Anyways, if you want to read up on really local news then The Huntersville Herald is a great source.

A Time to Sit - Starbucks, Wine Bar, or Cafe Mia

This is my favorite time of the year for sitting outside. I especially love the mornings which are still crisp and slightly cool but which warm up slowly when the sun arises.
Morning. Here in Birkdale my favorite place to sit outside in the mornings is at the Starbucks. The coffee is ok but what I really enjoy is the people that Starbucks attracts. It is energizing to see so much life in one place and to see people starting their day on such a nice morning. Its amazing how many business meetings take place over a cup of Joe at Starbucks. What is also amazing is the number of people willing to brave the wind, dew, or just about any elements in order to sit outside. I myself prefer sunny days but this past Sunday I even saw a woman sitting out under the overhang during that slogging rain storm we experienced.

Noon. Although I haven't had too many noontime meals in the village we mostly prefer Brixx (Brick oven Pizza) or Red Rocks (Not sure how to classify this one) for their lunch time fare.

Evening. Choices here vary depending on what we seek. If sitting out to enjoy wine is our desire then the Wine Bar is the place to be although we often have to wait a bit for outside seating and then fight for chairs to boot. If we desire beer then I highly recommend Brixx with its various foreign beers. You can't beat the Sampler beer platter which lets you sample four exotic beers at a reasonable price. Or even better is its Saturday night $2.50 beer special. We've sat outside many a night in the summer at Brixx listening to the live music. Lastly, our favorite ice cream, coffee, and conversation stop is Cafe Mia. Marco and Mia, the owners, and, yes, he is Italian, and double, yes, the cafe is named after his wife, Mia, have a wonderful selection of Gelato Ice Cream. It truly is delicious. They also have great Italian coffee which is way better than Starbucks. (On a side note they recently started serving a breakfast and a lunch but we haven't checked it out just yet).

So those are our choices. Of course there are more that we like at Random times: Jason's Deli (Good place for a dog too to sit out with you), Galway Hooker, Eez, and lastly just the plain old benches in Birkdale are nice too.

Living in Birkdale and thinking of an MBA

I have many ideas for topics to write in this blog and one that I have been discussing with various people that I meet on our twice daily dog walks is the quality and differences of local MBA programs. Not counting numerous online programs available the local region offers three quality MBA programs within commuting distance: UNCC, Wake Forest, and Duke.

UNCC
UNCC offers the most flexible MBA program close to Huntersville. This program allows students to take classes at their convenience - weeknights, weekends, or weekdays. There is no fixed schedule (unlike the next two programs) and you can take up to five years to complete the program. I am not sure of the cost but I think it runs about $18-$30K


Wake Forest
Wake Forest is a top 30 ranked school and has a Charlotte Business School campus dedicated to Charlotte. Currently it is located in South Park right across from South Park Mall. In a few years they will have a dedicated uptown campus that should make commuting there much easier for use North Meck residents. This program starts and finished within 22 months which offers the chance to bond and network with a group of classmates.
Wake has an evening and a Friday/Saturday format and they begin every August and January. An Executive MBA runs about $56K.

Duke

Duke is a top 10 ranked school and has a few Executive programs available. I realize that this is a 2.5 hour drive from Birkdale/Charlotte. However, Duke has a Cross Continent program that meets once a quarter for a week straight and then follows up the second half of each class with an online portion. It is a lock step program like Wake Forest. What's neat about this program is that you would only drive to Duke 4 times a year and before each class transitions to the online phase you actually get to meet your classmates and spend a week networking. Additionally, one week of the program is spent in Europe and Asia respectively.

An Executive MBA from Duke runs about $96K.



Grad School Prep
Before you consider any of the above MBA programs or many other grad school programs you'll likely have to take the GMAT, GRE, LSAT, or MCAT. UNCC's Continuing Ed Department has a great preparation program that is definitely worth the money. It is cheaper than Kaplan or any of the commercial classes but the instructor is awesome. I took the class and it was great.

Do you know of any other programs that I have not researched, then let me know.

The Village at Lake Norman

Friend or foe? Will the potential Village at Lake Norman compliment or compete with Birkdale Village. The Huntersville Herald and Urban Planet both have interesting facts and thoughts about the proposed development. 900,000 feet or retail, 300 living units, a new Hwy 77 exit 26, Westmoreland expanded to 4 lanes - Wow! These are some big numbers and changes for what is currently a country road!

The debate online seems to center around whether this will create a traffic nightmare or is this the density that Charlotte needs to have to accommodate the influx of new residents. I'm in favor of the latter, density, only if it means that other lands are set aside for preservation and green space. What is the likelihood of large amounts of green space being preserved? Probably close to Nil. So what I think will happen is that we will have the density and around it we will have the typical sprawl and in the end we will be stuck with horrendous traffic. Sorry if that discourages anyone from moving here but, hopefully, the three towns community can figure out how to build more roads and expand the current greenway plan. Someone on Urban planet made an interesting comment:

"This would mean the Lake area would have Exits, 23, 25, 26, 30, 32, 33, 36. Anywhere else in the state, this would be it's own metro area."

Wow, I did not think of it this way. That is allot of exits in one short stretch of highway!

On the other hand it would be really cool to live in between two awesomely planned mixed use communities and to be able to walk between the two on the McDowell Creek Greenway, click to read previous post. I imagine that if they could incorporate enough commercial space then people could truly live, work, play here North of Charlotte. As soon as a plan for this development comes out then I will try and post it here to this blog.

"When you add in Bryton and the Langtree mixed use new urbanist developments, this means that 2,100,000 sq ft of upscale retail space has been announced for Huntersville, Davidson and Cornelius. If you add in some smaller TOD projects on the proposed rail line, this number rises to about 2.5 million sq. ft. This is an amazing amount of retail if all of it is built "

Another great comment from Urban planet. I also wonder how many Birkdale developments are possible along one stretch of highway. I just remembered that Bryton is being planned between Exits 18 and 23. That too will be a massive mixed use community. It will definitely be interesting to see how this all develops. Of course, I would rather see more Birkdale's then the Harris Blvd strip mall after strip mall style development. If you never go to Harris Blvd then you are probably lucky because it has lots and lots of lights and lots of strip malls.

Of course, my load officer also made a comment that as traffic gets worse people will want to live in mixed use because then they don't HAVE to drive anywhere if they don't want to. Ok, so now that I am wrapping up this random thought debate, I want to add a caveat for any friends from the DC, NY, or Boston metro areas. The traffic here is NOTHING compared to what is normal in those metro areas! We are many years away from being that bad. But I guess that everything is relative.

Birkdale vs Northlake

I attended a BBQ this evening at our friends new house in Wesley heights just West of Charlotte. Most people at the party live north of Charlotte and we were discussing the relatively new Northlake Mall off Exit 18 on Hwy 77. The party was predominantly women (seems to be a Charlotte thing I'll have to write about in a future post). Most agreed that they were not particularly fond of the new Northlake Mall. However, they all expressed concern that since many of the same stores were at both Northlake and Birkdale that Birkdale would eventually suffer.

Thankfully, the Charlotte Observer reported the following:

With Northlake mall now six months old, it's showing no signs of harming its nearest major competition, Birkdale Village. Some retail observers thought the proximity of the open-air Birkdale to the Northlake traditional enclosed mall, along with the fact that several major stores are duplicated in both spots, might lead to a shakeout.
But there's plenty of demand to go around, experts say. "There's really not been any negative impact from the mall," said Darryl Cater, spokesman for Inland Real Estate Group of Companies Inc., Birkdale's ..."

I for one hope that Birkdale maintains its strong appeal. Northlake may not be much now but with both a Lowes and a Super target opening right across from the mall it might become more attractive in the future. I personally think that it is a shame that the city of Charlotte let them build Northlake like they did. At first the developer went to the town of Huntersville which turned the developer down. So Charlotte being the great neighbor that it is let the developer build the mall right on the city/town limits. Why isn't Northlake Mall a mixed use development itself. I mean that Hwy 77/Exit 18 is the epitome of poor planning and sprawl at its best. On one corner there is Harris Corners Parkway a commercial office complex. On two corners are currently or soon will be big box stores. And, lastly, there is the mall. I did the math assuming that 1500 people work in Harris corners they will have to make 180,000 car trips a year through the intersection just to get lunch. Why doesn't the mall have commercial buildings above it. Workers could walk down to the food court or shop in the mall, parking could be consolidated since workers work on weekdays and malls are crowded on weeknights and weekends, and land around the mall could have been preserved for walking trails or something.

Well, enough ranting about better possible land uses and back to the original thought of this post. Will Northlake threaten or compliment Birkdale? Is there room enough North of Charlotte for both and all of the other retail that is planned for the area? I personally think so - except maybe in the dead of winter. Let me know what you think.

While searching for information about the developments around Northlake I found this interesting Urban Planet website that describes how Northlake Mall came about and has many local reactions to its development.

Here's Northlake Under Development:

Peter Gordon's "City Lite" Blog

Peter Gordon's blog has an interesting article that described Birkdale and others like it: Legacy in Plano near Dallas; Atlantic Station near Atlanta; Santana Row near San Francisco. This blog sight relates a WSJ article that talks about New Urban developments that are modeled after traditional downtowns. The gyst of the article is that Birkdale style developments are becoming more popular. Some places like Bishop Road are so large and complete that some residents never need to leave since that place also includes a business park.

As a kid I used to wonder what it would be like to live in a large mall. At the time a new mall had opened near our house and it looked so cool. Now I despise traditional malls as loud, noisy, traffic nightmares. I guess that someday people will live on Mars on indoor malls. In retrospect what attracted me about malls was the action and the sense of life. I think Birkdale and developments like it offer the sense of life with the ability to enjoy the outdoors and to do more than just shop. This is an interesting quote about Birkdale style development vs the traditional mall:

"Only one mall has opened in 2006, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York City-based trade group. By contrast, more than 60 so-called lifestyle centers -- outdoor shopping areas with plazas, fountains and pedestrian streets -- are planned to open this year and next."

I wonder if that one mall was Northlake of Highway 77, Exit 18?

Saturday Morning Bootcamp

Ever wonder who all those people were running up and down Birkdale Commons Parkway or running through the village on Saturday mornings carrying random things like 10 lb bars and backpacks? Well, they're all a part of Mike Scotto's and Terry Vaughn's Bootcamp experience.

Its a unique outdoor fitness challenge. Mike Scotto started it indoors at the Birkdale Fitness Center (Fitcare) last spring and it was called High Intensity Team Training. Terry then took it outdoors and since starting his class in September we've had great Saturday weather ever since.

The class usually starts about 9:30 AM in front of the Birkdale Fitness Center and lasts about an hour to an hour and a half. This is a great self paced work out that will leave you feeling challenged and fulfilled all weekend long. Plus, its a fun group of people. Terry and Mike usually mix the classes up between runs, sprints, and muscular workouts. We had an out of town visiting friend take the class with us and she was cursing us for a week afterwards. Of course she ran track in high school and wanted to strut her stuff - you don't have to push that hard first time out (Diethra, thinking of you).

The more then merrier so come on out. And if you see us running by cheer us on to work harder and to push ourselves.

Check out Terry Vaughn's website:

http://www.highintensityteambuilding.com/index.php

McDowell Creek Greenway

Birkdale will eventually be connected to the Mecklenburg Country Trailways system. McDowell Creek which runs right behind Birkdale is part of that plan. Above is the map of the Birkdale Village piece of the trail that will incorporate our current pond walkway and will run right behind the movie theater. Here is the link to Mecklenburg County's McDowell Creek Page and Map:

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Park+and+Rec/Greenways/Upper+McDowell+Creek.htm.

This section of the Greenway will initially run 1.5 miles from West Moreland Road to Sam Furr. It will connect Birkdale, Stratford Forest, the future Robbin's Park, and the Alexander Chase neighborhood. The design is largely complete and they should start construction this summer.

I wrote Jason Pauling, Mecklenburg County's Greenway Planner, to suggest that the trail might be better off running beside the village along the gas line that runs between the village itself and the Greens at Birkdale Houses. Here is his great response:

"Thank you for your email and questions. The issues at Sam Furr relate to the fact that we will not be able to go under Sam Furr at this time due to the fact that the box culverts are too small, plus we do not own any land next to the creek and would have a tough time trying to get through the Birkdale golf course. Therefore, the best crossing would be at the intersection of Birkdale Commons Parkway and Sam Furr Road as you have mentioned. We would most likely widen the sidewalk along Sam Furr, which is currently 5-feet wide and separated from the road by a planting strip. We have not researched the possibility of using the gas easement, but I will do that and let you know if it looks feasible. Birkdale Commons Parkway contains sidewalk and bike lanes, and is a good overland connector for the greenway to continue. The next leg of McDowell after that will most likely extend from the end of Birkdale Commons Parkway, back to the creek, and then run behind the Wynfield neighborhood toward Gilead Road, where it will connect to the Torrence/Lower McDowell Creek system."

I also asked about a future possible connection to the northcross shopping center and eventually to the light rail stop at Sam Fur/73 and 115. Can you say weekend morning walks to the Bagel Bin? He replied:

"As far as a connection to Northcross, there is a tributary of McDowell Creek called Caldwell Station Creek that runs behind the Northcross Center. Not sure if it runs all the way to 115, but it gets close. I think that developing a greenway along this tributary is something that would be in the Town of Huntersville and Town of Cornelius Greenway Master Plan. It's a good idea, although getting under I-77 would be a challenge and major cost factor. Check with Michael Jaycocks with the Town of Huntersville Park and Rec. dept. to see if this creek is in their master plan. His number is 704-766-2228. In the meantime, We will be improving the existing boardwalk/bridge crossing at Townley Road, which will provide a connection to Northcross Drive, where there is a CATS Park and Ride lot. By using the greenway and the boardwalk/bridge, you would avoid having to get on Sam Furr Road. Safety of bicyclists and pedestrians, and connections to a number of destinations is our primary goal."

I look forward to the day a few years from now when I could
eventually Bike for miles on the interconnected Greenway system of Mecklenburg County.

Best Bagels in Charlotte!

From New York or at least the North East? Do you miss great bagels? Well a Long Island Pharmacist turned baker has moved to Huntersville and opened The Bagel Bin. It's in the North Cross shopping center - that's the one with Lowe's and Target at the intersection of 21 and Sam Furr. Well, the Bagel Bin is kind of behind Target on the right side while looking at it. I only describe all this because the first time I looked for it I couldn't find it and I didn't realize that there were more stores that continued around the right ride of the shopping plaza.

Anyways, the Bagel Bin is the place for great breakfast food and its only a short distance from Birkdale. We love to start our Saturday morning at the Birkdale Fitness center and then drive over to the Bagel Bin for bagels before heading home to cook up some bagels and eggs. Don't get there too late because they close by 1 PM I think. Also, expect to stand in line for about 15 minutes. Yes, they are worth the wait! Just think, it is their popularity that brought all those people in front of you.

Awesome 'For Sale By Owner' Idea

Check it out: http://8720camberly.com/default.aspx.
It seems that Birkdale Village Real Estate is so hot right now that For Sale By Owner is all the rage. While on one of our twice daily dog walks around the village we saw this awesome house for sale at 8720 Camberly. Even cooler is that the flyer references a really neat website dedicated just to describing the house. It seems like a great idea especially if you're not registered with the MLS and just relying on drive by drivers. Who doesn't want to look at pictures and be able to point family and friends to a website to help make or solidify the purchase decision.
In Birkdale For Sale By Owner works because there's usually so few houses of a certain type for sale that buyers want to see everyone available before deciding. I know that when we bought here (it was December) there were only 3 houses available at the time and of those there was only one that met our criteria for price and square footage. Right now (Spring Time) it seems that For Sale and For Rent signs are blooming like the flowers. Last year at this time I was concerned that there were too many houses for sale and yet they all sold and the prices went up - go figure. Hopefully, this year will be more of the same and supply with stay tight so that the village continues to see property appreciation.
I view property appreciation as a double edged sword. On one hand it prices out people that would love to live in a mixed use community. On the other hand, hopefully, it conveys to both developers and the planning board that people really want to live in great quality of life locations. Now, if developers build more Birkdale Villages, would Birkdale continue to be so special? Ah, what a conundrum.