The South will rise again
It's good to see that the city of Greensboro has acquired most of the land it needs to revitalize the South Elm/ Lee area.
Overshadowed by higher-profile projects, that corner of town has been neglected for years ... and it shows.
The next step is environmental clean-up, then the sale of the land to a developer.
The area's makeover will provide a lift to nearby neighborhoods, help discourage crime and vagrancy and provide a more attractive front doorstep to downtown.
It's also a prime example of how a failure can spawn success.
Part of the site originally was targeted for the minor-league stadium that eventually became First Horizon Park.
But problems in land acquisition, the extent of the contamination and even resistance from City Council members stalled and ultimately killed that idea.
The council eventually saw the light, and so now, may South Elm and Lee.
Comments (8)
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I think the perception of the area had more to do with the ballpark not being built there than the contamination. But Its great that they are finally doing somethig with that land. I do question why the city has not kept the sidewalks around Lee and Elm free of weeds and grass. You can see tall grass growing through the cracks. I think the city can at least start with basic maintance in the area.
Posted on August 17, 2007 1:16 PM
Good question, Tim. There's also a park that's supposed to be created in front of Musikgarten off Lee.
They've cleared the land but right now it's just vacant and almost as unattractive as before.
Posted on August 17, 2007 1:20 PM
The problem with Lee Street is that it caters primarily to the tatooing and pornography markets, which makes it unattractive to family-style entertainment. With the new super-secret development, which I'm still convinced will be the world's largest tatooing emporium (even despite Allen's utopianist derision of the idea), perhaps we can turn all the tatoo parlors into coffee houses, loft apartments, wine bars, and other yuppie-friendly environments.
But the big problem is the railroad track, which effectively isolates Lee Street from downtown, UNCG, etc. You need some kind of greenway to connect the two.
Posted on August 17, 2007 5:34 PM
That's where the greenway project comes in, right, Brian?
Posted on August 17, 2007 6:56 PM
Yeah, I think it has potential, given a broken-windows style policing. If the wine-bar crowd is scared to walk on it after dark, its value will be severely diminished.
Posted on August 18, 2007 8:49 PM
But $40 million still seems to me too steep a price tag. You could do a lot with $40 million.
Posted on August 18, 2007 8:53 PM
Heck yeah, I could do a lot with $40 million. I could do a lot with a measly $10 million.
But since it's a government project, you have to assume they'll waste half of it.
Posted on August 21, 2007 1:47 PM
Actually, it's not a government project. At least not primarily.
Posted on August 21, 2007 2:58 PM