Guest Cities: Greensboro

After hearing various people tell me about good things going in in downtown Greensboro over the last few years, I made a day trip over to our Piedmont neighbor yesterday to see what they were talking about. I last visited Greensboro ~5 years ago, and I remember being frustrated by the fact that it was a Sunday, and the only food establishment I could find downtown was a Chik-fil-a (or however you spell it; I'm not looking it up.) So I went with curiosity, but with admittedly moderate expectations.

I was impressed. Really impressed.

The formerly abandoned historic structures at the southern end of Elm St. downtown have filled with galleries, eating establishments, performance venues, etc. Although it was, again, a Sunday, the few food places that were open were doing a brisk business with people-filled outdoor seating.


Some of the beautiful historic architecture on Elm St.

Two pieces of new construction impressed me quite a bit: the Center City park and the Southside neighborhood redevelopment.

The park is in the center of it all, and they really got all of the elements right. The size and the enclosure from the surrounding buildings gives it an intimate feel, despite it being a large space. It provides the right amount of structure and form mixed with open grassy areas, planting beds, and trees. People were out on a Sunday - some plugged into the outlets for laptops at the seating areas.


The fountain and surround, looking northeast.


An urban transition to the busy street with street trees.


Seating areas.

There are a lot of great lessons for Durham here about what makes a successful space.

The other project that really impressed me was the Southside neighborhood. You can read a bit more about the project here. But essentially the story boils down to this:

- Late 19th / early 20th century neighborhood very near downtown, but devastated by urban renewal, teardowns, and abandonment. The city says "what an opportunity." Develops traditional neighborhood design guidelines. Brings a bond before voters for $5 million. Rehabs housing and builds infill housing that matches the neighborhood. Neighborhood revitalized.


A mixture of old and new housing.


The neighborhood commercial area.


A view from the back of the under-construction "Cityview Condominiums" towards the revitalized train/transit station and the downtown beyond.

It's hard for me not to see the parallel with Cleveland-Holloway here or Little Five Points. This is the kind of opportunity that Durham could be taking advantage of, especially considering the amount of vacant land that they own. But this kind of endeavor requires 1) vision, 2) will, 3) planning, and 4) implementation of best practices for neighborhood building. We have the parts in Durham to do something like this - a project which has won national awards. And this is Greensboro - not some distant locale. If Greensboro can do this, why can't we?

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 9/3/2007 - 9:50pm

Shannon and I have good friends that live in Greensboro (near UNC-G). We were impressed as well when we visited them last Spring.

Your latest update has me wondering...When do we move to Greensboro? The commute to RTP shouldn't be that bad...or should it?

Since we probably won't move anytime soon, I hope the City is working on a comprehensive plan for the urban core areas. Maybe Frank Duke's replacement will embrace the challenge?

I have noticed that one problem with the City may be lack of coordination between departments. My conversations with OED, NIS, and Planning inidcate little discussion between deparatments occurs.

Jon T.

Submitted by Gary (not verified) on Mon, 9/3/2007 - 10:10pm

Thanks for your comment Jon.

Well, G'boro has an impressive multimodal transit station (a historical Southern Railway depot with a new addition.) Perhaps we could take the train at some point.

Absolutely true on the communication - (#5!). While there are good ideas floating around in the COD, it seems that no one is teaming up with anyone else to take a comprehensive approach. I can hope on Frank Duke's replacement, but the fundamental culture needs to shift in the city - where we demand a purposeful, coordinated, comprehensive approach from our elected officials, who demand it from city staff.

GK

Submitted by Phillip (not verified) on Tue, 9/4/2007 - 12:32am

Glad you mentioned the train. That's the best way to visit Greensboro from Durham. They have a beautiful bus/train station, and it brings you right downtown. You're within walking distance of the downtown streets you talked about as well as UNC-G.

Submitted by Andrew (not verified) on Tue, 9/4/2007 - 12:35am

Jenny and I went to Greensboro for our first wedding anniversary earlier in the year. Nearly everyone we told looked at us like we were crazy. But we had a great time and I, too, was really impressed with what they've done.

I spoke to one of the workers in Two Chicks Art (or was it "Two Art Chicks"?) about their building, South Elm, and GBO in general. Greensboro seems to be about 5 years ahead of Durham, but I can totally see what Central Park could/should be soon (in addition to your hopeful Five Points prediction, and coincident with Kevin's recent post on 808 Washington St).

I'm excited about the model Greensboro sets, and more excited that my brother (a PA boy all his life) just moved there today! We'll all have to take some more road trips.

Or rail trips. I sort of miss my SEPTA R3 train!

--ASE.

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