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![[DEDI]](http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/projects/dedi/site_plan.gif)
Yes, it's yet another urban development with no name! (Or more accurately: that steals it's name from it's location. See: East 54, The Franklin, McCorkle Place, etc.) It's hardly the most important thing about this development, but it still bugs me to no end. Doesn't anyone else think that we are losing character when we fail to properly NAME our places?
Anyway, I'm glad to see this is finally getting underway. After years and years of participating in planning meetings that led to the creation and eventual approval of this plan, I will NOT be stopping by this information session tomorrow. And neither will the dozens of Chapel Hillians who will proceed to complain loudly about the project as soon as the first shovel hits the dirt. Sigh.
Here's WCHL's story today for more background:
Public Information Officer Catherine Lazorko says the Town of Chapel Hill has organized a public information meeting about the 140 West Franklin development.
Representatives from the town and the developers will be on hand to answer questions about the project, including an overview of the construction, a timeline, information about good construction practices, and the various phases of the project and the logistics involved.
Construction is slated to begin in August and last about two years.
140 West Franklin is a mixed use development to be built on the town-owned Parking Lot 5 near Franklin, Church and Rosemary streets. The building will stand eight stories tall at its highest point.
The preliminary construction proposals called for the closure of one lane of Franklin Street and the complete closure of Church Street, which connects Franklin to Rosemary. Lazorko says this should not concern residents.
The meeting will take place Thursday at University Presbyterian Church from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
- http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=15296
Comments
Conventional wisdom suggests
Conventional wisdom suggests developments are named after what they displace, but I guess no one wanted to go with "Parking Lot Estates" or "Asphalt Towers".
Why not give it a nickname?
If not everyone is engaged yet then there's still time to nick name it. Why not ask for a few suggestions, then put it to vote here on OP? We all know WCHL & DTH & maybe the Carrboro Citizen and others monitor this site anyways.At NCSU half the places on or around campus are known by their nicknames rather than their real names. Why can't the community add the character. What would you like to see it called? Is there any history to that area? Anything significant about the way its being done to earn it a nickname? What kind of public art will go there, and could that play into it?Its right there around Northside and north of Franklin, maybe call it Northend (we don't have anything else by that name around here do we?)? Or Northern Heights? Maybe that'd help bolster a sense of community between the new residents and existing community neighborhood. That they are getting rid of a parking lot makes me think of the reverse of that song they paved paradise and put a parking lot. Could call it Paradise, but I don't think anyone would get it. It looks like it'll be downtown and tall, playing so while I agree no one would want to call it asphault towers, maybe DownTowers? Eh. Sounds pretty dumb, but that's what brainstorming is for. The Rosemary Residences? Someone more familiar with this project should be able to come up with some better ideas than I can. I think if you make it into a most votes contest it might draw some attention and get a nick name that might stick. Might be worth a shot.
When the apartments were
When the apartments were going in beside the (new) Breadmen's, it was a huge open pit for what felt like a LONG time. That was certainly known as "The Pit on Rosemary" for a while, but it was too topical and doesn't make any sense now. Depending on what happens with Univ Square, some of these suggestions (even referring to the old asphalt) might be short-sighted as well. I always heard the tall green building (aka The Pickle) in Durham was designed by some guy named Stoner. So for a while that was known as Stoner's Boner. A similar view of this project would suggest Foy's Folly might be a better name.
Given the misty artwork
Given the misty artwork that's planned for the place...http://www.140westfranklin.com/news/chapel_hill_adding_public_art/...how about calling it Foggy Towers or Cloudy Condos?
At least we aren't tempted by geographic acronyms
Just don't try to call it NOFA (North of Franklin) or SORO (South of Rosemary). Or EAAV (East of Aveda)? I'd rather stick with 140 West.
How about...
WECARIBOU (West of Caribou Coffee.)
Did someone just say Weeaboo?
Look to the Bluth Company
What do you think of when you hear the name "Sudden Valley"?--Salad dressing, I think. But for some reason, I don’t want to eat it.Right. But Paradise Gardens...?--Yeah. Okay, I can ... I can see marinating a chicken in that.
haha... that show is so great
I do hope the nickname suggestions/poll thing takes off.
With my apologies to Yankee Stadium
"The House that Strom Built"
How about instead we call it
How about instead we call it "The Winnebago That Strom Lived In While Hiding The Fact That He Planned To Move Away From Chapel Hill Until After The Deadline That Would Allow The Voters To Choose His Replacement" for short. Or if we use an acronym it'd be TWTSLIWHTFTHPTMAFCHUATDTWATVTCHR. That would be too long though. Let's just use ICKY instead.Thanks for the reminder though. This coming Thursday is the one year anniversay of Bill's dastardly deed. I'll be sure to commemorate it.
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If Prince can use The Artist Formerly Known As Prince then
we can use The Piece Of Land Formerly Known As Parking Lot #5. Or POLFKAPL-5 for short. The L at the end makes it balky so let’s
pretend the last P stand for Parking Lot and call it POLFKAP-5.
Or maybe we can just call it Prince since The Artist
Formerly Known As Prince is no longer using that name.
How about calling it “140 West” in a language other than English. Find a language where it sounds nice and is
pronounceable. We could consider both 1
40 West and 140 West, although I suspect 1 40 West would be shorter and therefore
more desirable. Then again, maybe
shorter isn’t a priority around here since when the name of the highway running
north out of town was changed, for some inexplicable reason the meaningless
part (last part) of it was changed from 1 syllable “Road” to 3 syllable “Boulevard.”
Or maybe we could call it BADPOCT. It would stand for the Building About to be
Defaced by the People Opposed to Critical Thinking. Then again that wouldn’t be unique since so
many things in town could be given the same name.