Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Birkdale Village Live Music
Pool Opens May 12th!
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.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Are there too many homes for sale?
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
Monday, April 23, 2007
For the Love of Maps!
Ironically, this will probably be one post in which I don't post any maps.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
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.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Upper McDowell Creek Master Plan
Robbins Park
The Huntersville Herald
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
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.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Birkdale vs Northlake
Thankfully, the Charlotte Observer reported the following:
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 ..."
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:
Friday, April 13, 2007
Peter Gordon's "City Lite" Blog
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Saturday Morning Bootcamp
McDowell Creek Greenway
"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.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Best Bagels in Charlotte!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Awesome 'For Sale By Owner' Idea
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.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
The Village Beginnings
Ramsey Creek Dog Park
2 – Turn right at W Catawba Ave
3 – Turn Left at Nantz Rd
4 – Follow the signs for Ramsey Creek Park. The Dog Park is on your left as you enter the Park.
Welcome!
First, a little about us. We live in the village in one of the Saussy Burbank houses. We have lived here for a year and a half after living in Germany for five years. We chose to live in Birkdale Village for two reasons:
1 - She is German and Birkdale is the closest thing we could find to a Bavarian (European) style village. She's adjusted very well during her first year in the states!
2 - We did not want to support suburban sprawl and live in the typical suburban style sub-division.
Since moving here we have come to love the sense of community, its youthful feel, its sense of life, the live music in the summer, Lake Norman, the shops, the movies, and, especially, the future Robbins Park. If you haven't found these walking trails yet you are definitely missing out. We wouldn't recommend them now (in the spring/summer) because of snakes and other wildlife but in the winter, it is definitely a great sanctuary for walking and letting the dog(s) run free.
If you are thinking of moving to Charlotte, we highly recommend Birkdale Village. The community supports people in all of life's stages. There is something for everyone. Lake Norman parties, bars, movies, walking trails, family activities, ice cream, cafes, etc.
Well, enough for now. Please leave comments for things you would like us to cover. We look forward to hearing from you.