Now that Prim Stadium is officially official, Winston Salem city planners now think narrowing Broad Street to accomodate mixed-use development isn’t such a good idea.

Needless to say, that doesn’t make downtown developers too happy:

The plan has gotten mixed reaction among developers. Tom Fowler is one of the principal developers of West End Village, a mixed-use development on the corner of Fourth and Broad streets. Two new buildings – a set of town houses and condominiums – have already been built on the corner where the old Modern Chevrolet dealership used to be, and more buildings are possible.

Fowler said he is unhappy that the city is backing off the plan to make the street more pedestrian-friendly.

He said that the city’s original plan was one of the reasons he and his partners decided to build there.

“I want the whole thing to be two-lane,” Fowler said. “The intention was for it to be traffic-calming and pedestrian-friendly, and I think the development that will occur in the meantime makes that even more necessary.”

(City transportation director Stan) Polanis said he understands Fowler’s concerns but thinks that narrowing the street at this time isn’t prudent.

“We don’t want to make these changes and then have to tear them right back out because of the ballpark,” Polanis said.

Give the city some credit for thinking ahead, I guess.