ck

Look at the history of Amazon. This is not a pie in the sky number - not to mention they have a significant number scattered about already and could see consolidation into a new hq. just speculation. As far as west coast, I agree it doesn't offer much benefit. I wouldn't consider the presence of macy's or kroger to be a significant factor. Other tech companies would be more relevant. Even more so, the presence of reputable colleges that pump out talent is likely higher on the list. I agree that article distorts the picture.

Maybe just the opposite will happen. Considering how stressful and demanding working at the Seattle Death Star actually is, and how high the attrition rate is there, I expect a stream of ex-Amazon employees will soon be crawling over to 84.51 with tears in their eyes. Poor little yuppie over-achievers gotta work somewhere, you know... :roll: I think you have a distorted view of what working there is actually like.

Great to see Long St getting built up!

:) -- I very much want to see development too, but I have to do a double take every time I look at the renderings to make sure that really is downtown Columbus in the background and not Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dublin, or Orlando. It just doesn't make any sense. It's like they took the retirement towers in victorian village, threw a coat of gold paint on them and called it a day. In fact, that's who I imagine will be strolling around those ponds every day.

It's hard for me to buy that nobody had any expectations for this and nothing would be done if we don't do this. Sure, we have waited a long time, but the area is being surrounded by high quality, dense, urban development. Its value is absolutely on the rise and I think as the peninsula plan takes shape, the white castle development gets completed, NRI does their thing, and the north market area gets built out - the more it's going to be obvious the value the area holds. It's basically next to the best features Columbus has to offer. Regardless of whether this was on the collective radar before or not, it's valuable land. We keep talking about constraints, but it's really an elevated highway and a few railroad tracks, hardly insurmountable. There will be less and less opportunities to have a completely clean slate to be creative and do whatever you want in the downtown area. This is one of the few left. Why settle? The demand will continue to grow. That said, I'm being vociferous about this because I did have some wild ideas about what could be done and the proposal is basically the antithesis of them. I don't expect what I was thinking to become reality, but for god's sake, retention ponds?!? We can do a lot better. Also, I do kinda like the northern parcel with a few tweaks. The triangle just kills me. I'll stop commenting on this now :)

Haha, well... Few more pictures - From the dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170809/massive-plan-for-arena-district-includes-residences-hotels-shopping From Reveal Visuals:

I view the train tracks not so much as a constraint but an opportunity. People are interested in trains. Build pedestrian bridges where people can watch them go underneath. Have buildings right alongside so you can see them out your window. Use the small opening between the 2 elevated tracks on Nationwide as a tucked away entrance into a distinct neighborhood. I think this could be one of the best neighborhoods in the city once the development west of it comes around too. Such a great out of the way & unique location with some fantastic views of downtown - just needs a little creativity.

Perfectly described. It sits touching the arena district, just a toss away from SN, victorian village, grandview yard, and the up and coming peninsula - and on its west side is more planned development. This is a highly desirable area now but moreso in 10 years. The only obstacle here is access and there are a lot of ways to cross railroad tracks. It seems like a wasted opportunity with the design definitely looking like 90s Dublin being planted downtown. It'd be nice if it was walkable and added a new connected neighborhood to the area. What's shown now is an island.

The rectangle patch looks ok I guess. The triangle patch, please no! Don't waste this prime space with 2 mid-rises and a parking garage. ugh... I've been dreaming for years of what could be done with this space. Very disappointing.

I'd love to see rail too, but I wonder if it's the only option? Right now Columbus is still very car oriented - The only parts that are really breaking from that mold are Campus down through German Village, and Franklington through Old Towne East. That's a pretty small footprint (maybe parts of grandview and hilltop fall into that too) and although rail would be great for it, aren't there other non-car solutions to transportation? What about cable propelled systems? Lower cost of entry, wouldn't be good for huge distances, but maybe works well for just connecting a few neighborhoods. Rail seems like it's a long way off - even if we agreed to start today, we'd be looking at a decade before we get results and much longer before we have true saturation. Not to say we shouldn't keep going that route (especially inter-city service) but if there's too much resistance, maybe look outside the norms... not to mention, doing something unique would help differentiate Columbus - something desperately needed for a landlocked city in the midwest/great lakes.

I get where you're coming from, but it's going to be hard to ask people to always be original. We are creatures that learn through imitation and that's alright. If something applies to a particular situation, why not use it? If only the first person to do something could ever do it again we'd all be in a heap of trouble. That said, I really enjoy your posts even when I disagree with them. You just let it out, and it's fun to watch. But getting on people for doing or saying something someone else did is going to be a very frustrating battle for you, one that will inevitably lead to hypocritical situations.

I hope nobody thinks they're achieving glory based on anything they say in this forum

yoicks indeed!

Beijing is big:

Haha, it's true. Very few are wearing masks and overall it's pretty nice. I've been told next month they'll start getting heavy smog. Oops, spoke a little too soon:

Haha, it's true. Very few are wearing masks and overall it's pretty nice. I've been told next month they'll start getting heavy smog.

Hello from very hot Beijing:

I hadn't seen these renderings posted before - from https://800northhigh.com/

Europe 3.931 million mi² USA 3.797 million mi² I think most people when thinking of Europe tend to focus on UK, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Italy though - and for good reason. It's certainly the power and cultural center of the region. But the point is a good one, Europe is physically larger than the US. That said, it's comparing a continent to a country. If North America was compared to Europe, NA is 2x as big. Or just a bit bigger than Russia as a whole. Australia ~3/4th the size of US. Another telling statistic: Europe ~473 cars per 1000 people USA ~820 per 1000 people Chicken or the egg?

<3 Planetariums - cool addition to the city

Man Philly moving from 13 to 2 isn't right. I don't know that I like a "lottery" that can allow that to happen. I haven't thought this through completely, but it seems typically we want to aim for parity and allowing the chance for someone outside of the top 10 to take one of the top 3 spots doesn't help achieve that. Once a year simply isn't frequent enough to have this all even out in the end, so we are really chasing the "lottery" aspect of this and saying some people are going to strike it rich. Oh well

Easter in Vienna

Prague

Czech virtual reality :)

St. Vitus cathedral in Prague