Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The fact that some people come to this board with a different perspective about traffic does not make them "selfish" or "defeatist" or anything else, and I'm kind of disappointed to see that tone toward people with a different perspective here.
Hey Chriscross309,
I've seen the traffic at times other than the holidays and I do have qualms, and I doubt I'm alone. I don't want to give away my personal history, but I feel that I have seen successful retail districts in more crowded locales with better traffic flows. (Sometimes, it's more about control, options, and overall design than volume. Ease of navigation can be a big factor, too.) A lot of people obviously don't have an issue with it, but I would think that any retail development would want to attract as many customers as possible, and I agree about being careful not to cause problems for places that are already there.
I'm glad that there is a project meant to help. I'm not familiar enough with it to have my own opinion as to whether it will, but I consider your opinion that it will a good sign.
Whoops, posted before I meant to. I was also going to mention that I recently (maybe a month ago, a little over) thought about going to Southridge for something and, for several reasons, didn't. One of the discouraging factors was that there was no way to get to the desired location without having to get through the masses of people going to Wal-Mart, and I remembered what that parking lot looked like in August. I have nothing against Wal-Mart or its customers. I just regard some of their parking lots as a big pain to drive through, and it's not even all of them. In another community I've lived in, I was very happy to shop at Wal-Mart - since it was another one of those parking lots, I parked way in the back, closer to another store.
Last edited by Yac; 01-26-2017 at 04:43 AM..
Reason: 3 posts in a row merged
Hey Chriscross309,
I've seen the traffic at times other than the holidays and I do have qualms, and I doubt I'm alone. I don't want to give away my personal history, but I feel that I have seen successful retail districts in more crowded locales with better traffic flows. (Sometimes, it's more about control, options, and overall design than volume. Ease of navigation can be a big factor, too.) A lot of people obviously don't have an issue with it, but I would think that any retail development would want to attract as many customers as possible, and I agree about being careful not to cause problems for places that are already there.
I'm glad that there is a project meant to help. I'm not familiar enough with it to have my own opinion as to whether it will, but I consider your opinion that it will a good sign.
I'd agree that there is certainly better designed shopping areas. But in most of those places, space isn't as big of an issue. Southridge far exceeded its original goals, and has since then sucked the majority of the retail away from downtown and cramped it into one local. There is going to be traffic flow issues when you are dealing with limited space and poor "visioneering". I would say though that I have seen retail areas that have far more shopping and restaurants in a more dense space with less access. Places in Pittsburgh ring a bell. I simply don't feel that this new development will effect current traffic in a negative way. I personally am not bothered by the traffic (except during Christmas), but I can understand why people would be skeptic of more development. My natural inclination is for further development of other areas of the city such as Kanawha City or South Charleston proper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EBennet42
Whoops, posted before I meant to. I was also going to mention that I recently (maybe a month ago, a little over) thought about going to Southridge for something and, for several reasons, didn't. One of the discouraging factors was that there was no way to get to the desired location without having to get through the masses of people going to Wal-Mart, and I remembered what that parking lot looked like in August. I have nothing against Wal-Mart or its customers. I just regard some of their parking lots as a big pain to drive through, and it's not even all of them. In another community I've lived in, I was very happy to shop at Wal-Mart - since it was another one of those parking lots, I parked way in the back, closer to another store.
The ingress and egress from Walmart specifically is terrible. If I am simply wanting to go to Walmart I will drive to the Cross Lanes one, and I live on the East End. It is cleaner, less crowded, and easier to access.
Yeah, one of the places I was talking about was extremely spread out, and another was simply not as large in the first place. Neither had the multiple elevations to deal with. I haven't been to Pittsburgh as an adult. I hope you're right about that new development, and I hope that Wal-Mart doesn't choke the life out of the movie theater behind it. In the community where I shopped, there were a lot of different ways to get in and out of the Wal-Mart parking lot, so anyone not interested in trying to drive through the crowd in the front didn't have to.
I'm not familiar with South Charleston proper. In Kanawha City, are you thinking about east of the Kroger? I do think that Kroger draws some good traffic, and that that new ClickList thing I hear about might give people more energy and time to shop other places while they're over there.
It seems like there's one road in Southridge - maybe Corridor G? - where people are flying straight through and maybe setting the speed of the road to be a little much for a place where people may be looking for where they need to turn and slowing down to make those turns. A road designed to help shoppers make their way through the whole complex without necessarily spending a lot of time on that road might help if it's feasible. (Is there one place where you have to cross an unusually large amount of space to make a left turn?) Better signage would be a huge help, too, I think. It seems like a lot of places there are unnecessarily difficult to find, and there's at least one very easy way to attempt to turn into shopping and wind up in a dead end and a bad can't-get-there-from-here problem. (Never got lost that way, but could see how easy it would be.) I also have wondered before why shopping centers like that don't experiment with sponsoring buses during the holidays. There's not always a lot to be done about access when there are steep inclines between establishments, but it could be made into someone other than the shopper's problem at times with especially large demand. Maybe some stairs and/or a pedestrian bridge could help the stores cross-pollinate a bit, too.
Looks like the site plan for Little Creek Village has been changed. Instead of a 29,000 sq ft grocery store, that building was divided into two spaces. Also removed was two "strip" sections that were located beside the fast food restaurants, and replacing it is one larger 20,000 sq ft store. In addition to that, it appears the development already has tenants in mind, as they have highlighted spaces that haven't been taken yet in red. This is progress.
Looks like the DOH has signed off on the project and the article says that soil testing and Town Halls are next on the agenda. It also confirms 2 anchors at 20,000 square feet each and 15 smaller outlets. Perhaps the biggest item in the report is that the city of South Charleston plans to annex the center.
Well, there is some news! I am interested to see what stores/restaurants will come with this project. They said construction will start no later than next summer, but I'm skeptic only because this is the same company that is doing Tanyard Station in Barboursville. They have yet to demonstrate an ability to meet deadlines.
*Added
In other news in the Southridge area, I heard a rumor from a source at Bible Center Church that they have sold some of their property and there is plans for a retirement community to be built in near the church and Yorktown Subdivision.
Looks like they projected opening date will be in the summer of 2019. That seems like a long ways away, but its nice to have the update and the news of interested retail. I could see some unique brands brought into the area.
Looks like they projected opening date will be in the summer of 2019. That seems like a long ways away, but its nice to have the update and the news of interested retail. I could see some unique brands brought into the area.
I noticed that distant opening date as well and thought it a bit out there. I assumed it had to do with the negotiations to move in new brands. The trend across the nation has been to close unprofitable stores and centers and in that environment, companies are less likely to set up new locations.
The actual hardscape and center construction is little more than a single summer from start to finish so extending this out to 24 months when there is only at most 6 months of actual constructions hints at something other than the building process. I really think the only other issue might the permitting process but usually that is all dealt with before we even get to this stage.
It could also be the financing by the developer causing the project to be "stretched out".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
), but I can understand why people would be skeptic of more development. My natural inclination is for further development of other areas of the city such as Kanawha City or South Charleston proper. 
