Charlotte has its ‘Uptown,’ but High Point does Queen City one better by branding North Main Street ‘Uptowne.’ The Rhino’s Paul Clark recently took a stroll:
Walking down Main Street downtown, you get a curious feeling. Historic buildings line the street, all full of high-rent furniture showrooms and associated businesses, most of which are empty and shuttered for 50 weeks out of the year.
With a little imagination, you can picture downtown as it existed from the 1800s to the 1970s, visualizing the businesses, shoppers and cars that once gave it life. Although the flesh of the old city is gone, its bones remain. The buildings are still there, and in many cases it’s easy to spot their original uses. This showroom used to be a bank; that one a firehouse. All gone.
…..The fact that the Uptowne name is new, and that most people still call the neighborhood North Main Street, makes conversations about Uptowne confusing, even for its supporters.
“We’re trying to create that downtown feeling uptown,” said Wendy Fuscoe, executive director of the High Point City Project. “Which is our new downtown. It’s Uptowne.”
We’re glad we got that straight, Wendy.
Note that plans for further revitalization of Uptowne include “a matching redesign of the facades of its businesses and a modification of its streets to slow or limit vehicle traffic.” Sounds like the ‘beauty police,’ up I-85 in G’boro, which has been thwarted.
