Help us put a fork in the Downtown Greenway construction by 2018!

Downtown Greensboro Restaurant Week Begins on Monday!

"Dine at any of the seven participating downtown Greensboro

restaurants between August 24 - 28th! Restaurants are offering a special Downtown Greenway themed pre-fixed menu item for $20.18. 

25% of the item will go back to the Downtown Greenway! 

Share the fun using the hashtag #dgsoEATS 

B. CHRISTOPHER'S

B. Christopher's is open for dinner, Mon-Sat (5-10pm). 

Slow roasted short ribs with horseradish mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and a red wine reduction.  And, homemade local peach cobbler and vanilla bean ice cream.

UNDERCURRENT

Undercurrent Restaurant will be serving this 3 course tasting menu for lunch and dinner Monday - Friday, 11:30am to 2pm, 5:30pm to 9:30pm

The $20.18 menu special will involve three tasting size courses:

First Course: Roasted Poblano-Tomatillo Gazpacho, Pumpkin Seeds, Cilantro Crema

Second Course: Panko Breaded Joyce Farms Chicken, Green Guilford Mill Grits, French Beans, Green Tomato-Bacon Relish, Herb Buttermilk Cream

Third Course: Honey Green Tea Ice Cream, Lemon-Anise Cookies

1618 DOWNTOWN

1618 Downtown is open Monday from 11am - 3pm and Tuesday through Friday 11am to 10pm

Monday 8/24: 2 for $20.18; any two lunch items for $20.18

Tuesday 8/25: Any two burgers for $20.18

Wednesday 8/26: Any two pizzas with two 6oz draft beers $20.18 all day

Thursday 8/27: Any two salads with two 3oz glasses of Rose $20.18 all day

Friday 8/28: Two orders of wings for $20.18

CRAFTED ART OF STREET FOOD

Crafted Art of Street Food is open from Tuesday to Saturday 5pm - 10pm

Any two snack options along with any two small portion options for $20.18. From regular menu only. Does not include daily specials.

TABLE 16

Tuesday to Saturday from 5:30pm to 9:30pm.

Each night of Restaurant Week, Table 16 will offer a different food and drink feature geared towards mid-summer, at a great value, all priced at $20.18.  Each day on Facebook, they will post the menu inspiration.

LARUE

Monday to Saturday from 12 pm- 10 pm and Sunday from 12- 4pm.

LaRue will feature a chef tasting appetizer plate for 2 people for $20.18.

M'COUL'S

Monday to Thursday from 11am-12am, Friday & Saturday from 11am-2am, and Sunday from 10am-10pm.

Greenway Menu: Seared pork tenderloin medallions, ginger carrot puree, broccoli raab, lemon, rosemary, & sea salt roasted potatoes, topped with fresh fig chutney."

- A Press Release

Demolition beginning, new downtown apartments coming

Demolition begins Monday on the old North State Chevrolet site at 451 N. Eugene Street in downtown Greensboro to make way for the Greenway at Stadium Park apartments, according to a press release sent out today. Construction is scheduled to start in September and the 70 "exclusive" and "luxury" apartments are supposed to open next summer.

The four-story apartment building will be sandwiched between the Greenway at Fisher Park apartments — a relatively new complex built by the same developer —and the Greensboro Grasshoppers stadium near the northern edge of downtown. The Stadium Park apartments will share some amenities with the Greenway at Fisher Park apartments but will boast some additions, including a second pool.

The portion of the downtown greenway (the inspiration for the complexes' names) along Smith Street, between the to complexes, is partially completed and more work is scheduled by the end of the year. Construction has already begun on the nearby northwest cornerstone of the greenway, and the area has seen other recent changes including the addition of Deep Roots Market and the relocation of the Boston House of Jazz to 125 Summit Avenue in downtown.

There's more action going on in the area, and we'll post an update once we have details.

Cornerstone in, bowling alley out for Greensboro greenway

Construction on the "tradition" cornerstone for the Downtown Greenway, located at the corner of Smith and Prescott Streets in Greensboro, looks like it may begin shortly. With white poles in the ground and three pieces of heavy machinery appearing in the last week, the small lot that will help anchor the greenway is beginning to see some action. 

After visiting Greensboro to gather input at the beginning of the year, Cambridge, Mass.-based artists Mags Harries and Lajos Héder returned to unveil their plans for the site (which will include a gazebo and a small orchard). The cornerstone is tentatively scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. 

Harries and Héder's plans weren't the only ones announced for the western stretch of the downtown greenway —  in April YES! Weekly reported on the possibility of a small bowling alley adjacent to Westerwood Tavern. Today, venture partner Mike Bosco confirmed the bowling alley is a no-go. 

"We had a deal and then it fell through," he said.  "From what I can tell the city was ready to sign off on it."

The bowling alley's initial stumbling block was an issue with the fire code, but Bosco said after that was worked out, they weren't able to come up with a lease agreement with property owner Dawn Chaney. The lack of agreement, he said, "came out of left field."

Chaney said she has plans for the space but wouldn't provide specifics. Chaney also owns a white building next to the bar, and added that she has concrete plans for developing the building and is excited about what could be coming. The bowling alley would have been a short walk from the greenway cornerstone, along what is now a strip of rarely used train tracks running parallel to Prescott Street. 

After curving east along Smith Street and by the future cornerstone installation, the greenway will cut north for a block in front of Deep Roots' new location before running east again on Fisher Avenue. In the other direction, it will serve as a convenient path from the Westerwood neighborhood to College Hill and Warnersville neighborhoods. Check out the full map here. 

We'll post updates on Chaney's plans for the neighborhood as soon as they are available.

Corporations put up $1 million for greenway

Greensboro civic leaders announced a $2.5 million capital campaign today to assemble private funding to continue construction of the Downtown Greenway, with three large corporate donations propelling the project towards its goal. Chuck Cornelio, president Lincoln Financial’s retirement plan services, announced that his company will donate $500,000, while Lorillard Tobacco Co. and VF Corp. each pledged $250,000.

“It’s all really about economic development,” Cornelio said. “Greenways around the country have been successful in creating a $5 to $10 return on investment for every dollar spent. Our first obligation is to our shareholders, but corporations are creatures of he places they live in. I think it’s very important for corporations that employ a lot of people to give back to their communities.”

The total cost of the four-mile loop around downtown is estimated at $26 million. The $2.5 million capital campaign is part of an effort to raise a total of $8.5 million in private funds. A number of local foundations have already contributed a total of $5.9 million.

Susan Schwartz, co-chair of the Downtown Greenway Campaign Committee, cited the an apartment building project at the old North State Chevrolet site and the planned relocation of Deep Roots Market, each of which will be built adjacent to the greenway, as key developments.

“Before you know it, we’re going to have that northern Phase III completed," she said.

Greensboro voters approved a $7.5 million bond for the greenway in 2008, and Mayor Robbie Perkins said the city will be releasing $2.1 million in funding in coming months, coupled with a $2.8 million federal grant. The city is reimbursing Lomax Construction to the tune of $217,812 to relocate a storm sewer line for the apartment buildings, and Perkins indicated that the city might need to support the Deep Roots project as well.

“It will get done,” he said of the loop.

Northern leg of downtown greenway to be unveiled

Action Greensboro hosts two open houses to roll out Phase 3 of the Downtown Greenway at the Old Bingo Hall on Smith Street on Thursday from noon to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. Phase 3 is the northern section that runs from the intersection of Fisher and Eugene streets south along Eugene Street and then west along Smith Street to Prescott Street. Phase 1 of the greenway is already open in the Warnersville neighborhood. The greenway will eventually circle downtown and connect at its northwest corner with the Yadkin & Atlantic Greenway. Renderings of the Downtown Greenway are available for review here and here.

Next phase of Downtown Greenway rolled out

Aycock resident Kasandra Hart discusses the Downtown Greenway with greenway technical committee member Brian Higgins.

The city of Greensboro and Action Greensboro rolled out maps of the next phase of the Downtown Greenway during an open house at noon today at the downtown library. Residents who work during the day will get an opportunity to look at plans and ask questions tonight from 5 to 7 p.m.

Phase II begins near the intersection of Lee and South Eugene streets where the completed section through Warnersville leaves off. The greenway follows Bragg Street through Ole Asheboro and then turns northward and runs along Murrow Boulevard between Southside and the Bennett College neighborhoods, past the post office and Cumberland Courts on the eastern flank of downtown before turning west and passing through Aycock and Fisher Park.

The section that runs along an existing spur line of a railroad between Westerwood and the Cedar Street area will be the last to be completed. Chandler Concrete, which is located on the future Battleground Rail Trail, has not relinquished its property and still sporadically uses the rail line, several people told me.

Residents and business people with whom I spoke were almost uniformly positive about the project.

Brian Heagney, a friend who lives in Aycock, said he walked to the open house.

"I'd like to have a great walking route to the other side of downtown," he said. "I'd like to be able to ride my bike up that spoke along Battleground Avenue. I think that people would find that things are really a lot closer than they might seem."

He is also interested in the possibilities for Murrow Boulevard, which the city is considering reducing from four to two lanes, with the balance given over to green space.

"What I'm really stoked about is the Murrow Boulevard bridge, especially that section that goes over Church Street where you can see the railroad tracks," he said. "We were talking as a neighborhood that that could be so beautiful, whether you have public art there or what. You don't really notice it when you're driving over it, but when you slow down you notice that it has this nice arc; it's a great piece of engineering. You could have a performance space there, maybe for First Friday."


Fellow Aycock resident Kasandra Hart said she walks about two miles a day, both for exercise and as a means of transportation.

"I think it's good having the bike lanes, the walking trail and the green space," she said. "I walk all over town."

Phil Barnhill, director of operations for the East Market Street Development Corporation, said he hopes the greenway will improve business on the corridor.

"Ideally, you would bring people who haven't had the opportunity to come down here," he said. "It should present some opportunities for business, particularly those near the Murrow Boulevard portion."

Dabney Sanders, an employee of Action Greensboro who serves as project manager for the greenway, said she considers the recent controversy over the public art benches to be an unfortunate byproduct of election season posturing. She said Action Greensboro made extensive efforts to get community input from Warnersville residents, and is doing the same in this new phase.

"Our responsibility is to educate folks if they're not familiar with greenways," she said, "whether it's about alternative modes of transportation, or you're interested in your physical health. It's a great way to connect socially with people. It is, of course, a real boost to economic development."

The controversy in Warnersville erupted over the summer when some residents contended that the public art benches facilitated acts of prostitution and other derelict behavior. Sanders said she considers concerns about public safety related to greenways to be more perception than reality, but the city and Action Greensboro has appointed a public safety committee to consider whether and where to use lighting, security cameras and call boxes, and to educate the public on matters such as carrying a cell phone and listening to iPods at a reasonable volume to be aware of one's surroundings.

"We have studied trails from across the country," she said. "They have proven to be very safe places. They're safer than our homes. An area that may look a little seedy where there may have been criminal activity, if you get a little lighting suddenly it's not a place where that person wants to commit crimes anymore."

Session 2 of the public workshop to receive community input for the design of Phase 2 of the Downtown Greenway takes place at 5 p.m. today at the Greensboro Central Library, located at 219 N. Church St.