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Messages - chittlins

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2266
Random Talk / Re: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
« on: January 25, 2012, 06:56:33 PM »
Your friend has done a good job. They are popular walking trails. The sculpture along them is wonderful. There is something new to see along the pathways each season. Summer and Fall are wonderful times to walk them.

I was mad when he left Fayetteville's parks department.

2267
Construction/Rumors / Re: Celebration City Developments
« on: January 25, 2012, 06:54:53 PM »
The snowpark thing like that being talked about for Nashville sounds best. It could tie into OTC quite well, some of the structures used for half pipes and stuff could double as a skaters park in the summer. Add a couple of board walk type rides and charge a per ride fee without the hassel of a general admission. Have a couple of national restuarant chains locate there with adult beverages  and hush my mouth, a dance club.

Notice what I'm going for here, something for that 21- 40 demo that's missing.

The problem with Branson as a shopping destination is that there's no way to be any different than the cities that it's trying to attract people from and not enough of population base that's all it's own. No one is going to buy bedding esembles down at Belk's while on vacation and it not have the deep discount illusion that an outlet mall gives. Everything down at the Landing is already right in my back yard here in NWA. That goes for the half Bass Pro as well which I think the olny real purpose it serves is to sell Big Cedar timeshares.

I miss the Bud store though.

2268
Random Talk / Re: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
« on: January 25, 2012, 11:16:10 AM »
I'm going to brag a bit. Those trails are the responsibility of childhood friend of mine. He's come a long way from maintaining the little league fields in Marked Tree 8)

2269
Snowpark in the future for Old CC site? ;D

2270
Construction/Rumors / Re: Celebration City Developments
« on: January 25, 2012, 10:57:30 AM »
Just read up on the developement planned in Nashville planed between Taylor's and Dollywood. A water/snow park. If they can pull off a snowpark in Nashville, they sure as heck could in Brandon. Watch this, could be the future of Celebration City.

2271
Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2013 Project
« on: January 25, 2012, 10:49:20 AM »
I would still like to see the Ozark Wildcat moved to SDC or put to use very soon.

2272
Branson Talk / Re: Red Roof Mall Closing
« on: December 13, 2011, 09:05:55 AM »
Tanger has consistantly expanded and from living here in Fayetteville, marketed better with sending out coupons and such. If Simon gets the worthwhile stores to relocate(Carter's comes to mind) and attract a few new ones that's not located in Branson. You might get two. I've noticed that Coleman has moved Tanger to that strip mall by the Amish place.

If the city of Brandon developed a sports complex designed fro larger scale tornements for adults and kids for softball, baseball and soccer where the red roof is and promoted it right would be a great way to fill rooms and tables

2273
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Craftsman Downsizing
« on: December 13, 2011, 08:51:50 AM »
Wilson and Wilson decoys was one that's gone and has been for a very long time. They did have a Carver there in the fall of 2010 was part of a festival. Bought a Gadwall decoy from him to give to my brother back in Memphis.

2274
Branson Talk / Re: Red Roof Mall Closing
« on: December 10, 2011, 08:52:24 AM »
I see Simon's logic. Brandon Meadows is better situated, laid out better, has a movie theater( here kids watch a movie while momma shops). Only reason I thought it never took off was that it was the third of the bunch and likely commanded higher rent per sq. Ft. I've seen lots of stores come and go at all three. Brandon Meadows does have the VF outlet which is a plus. I read recently that outlet malls were doing better in the economic environment and that some retailers made product just for outlet stores. Here's some brands I'd like to see.

Mossy Oak
Columbia
Woolrich
Sierra trading post

2275
Branson Talk / Re: Crystal Bridges American Art Museum in Bentonville Ark
« on: November 28, 2011, 07:22:57 PM »
It's open and it is a sight. You'll need to call and reserve a time to go.

2276
Heck,

Welk has set up shop pitching weekend stays and free shows in exchange for a time share pitch inside Bud Walton Arena at Razorback basketball games. The Welk time share units are nice, I've seen one but not on a sales pitch, It's got a long way to go to close to fully developed. We stayed at the hotel last winter to let the kids use the indoor waterpark.

2277
Other Parks / Re: Schlitterbahn Kansas City Thread
« on: August 30, 2011, 07:40:15 PM »
^^No, we're not even to the half way point with the waterpark.  They also still have to build all of the entertainment district (think San Antonio River Walk), resort hotel and retail district.  It will be amazing when it is completed.

So the economy hasn't scaled them back any? That's quite the area going in out there.

2278
Branson Talk / Re: Bass Pro's Undoing
« on: August 30, 2011, 07:35:53 PM »
The Wonders exihibits never made much money and got axed under the corrupt King Willie administration. Sometimes they tried to incorporate it with the Memphis in May honored country.  Sometimes you bite the bullet and do this anyways. Memphis is actually in the process of possible renovating it's convention center as part of this redevelopment project. The Convo is way past prime and holds nothing of significance anymore. The have already redone what we used to call the Auditorium North Hall and is home the Symphony.

I consider the Memphis Zoo rather top notch.

I hope the new Beale St. Landing and revived American (Delta) Queen cruises to be based there make it.

I hope that someone finally redevelopes the old Tennessee Brewing Co. complex. It's got a great grand staircase.

I pray for continued growth, support and success of St. Jude



2279
Branson Talk / Re: Bass Pro's Undoing
« on: August 26, 2011, 12:05:31 AM »
Here's an article from the wayback machine. It fails to mention the amusement park slated for the north end of Mud Island:

A monumental controversy may be at an end : Memphis is settling in with its $65-million auditorium pyramid.
AMERICAN ALBUM December 16, 1991|GARY MOORE | SPECIAL TO THE TIMESYou can't call it the Great American Pyramid any more. Now it's just The Pyramid.

This city's new steel blue, 32-story sports arena beside the Mississippi River is shaped like a colossal Pharaoh's tomb, but as it opened for business last month, even its original name lay shrouded in controversy.

"It's been the focal point of this city for three years now," said Pyramid marketing manager Larry Enis as he recalled the communal euphoria--and letdown--that accompanied construction of the six-acre, 20,000-seat pleasure-tetrahedron.

Peering down at Enis as he spoke was an authentically noseless replica statue of Ramses II, adorning The Pyramid's entry ramp. "It's had its ups and downs," Enis said of the $65-million Pyramid. "But now it's up."

The Pyramid thus has become another fixture in the Egyptian theme that has beguiled this city since 1819, when it was named in memory of an ancient Egyptian city on the River Nile and cast itself as the jewel of the "American Nile." There are hieroglyph motifs at the zoo and an ancient mummy at Memphis State University. So in the mid-1980s when MSU needed a new basketball arena, a recurrent Memphis dream was revived: Why not build a Great Pyramid?

As 15,000 people poured in for The Pyramid's grand opening to hear the country music group the Judds, and then five days later when MSU won a game beneath the high-tech, million-dollar scoreboard as another large crowd looked on, there was jubilation and muted fatigue. At one time, The Pyramid was going to be much more than the brushed-steel shell that finally emerged.

In September, 1989, more than 100,000 cheering Memphians had lined the bluffs as fireworks illuminated a helicopter that dropped a 600-pound shovel for The Pyramid's groundbreaking.

This was to have been the birth not just of a new megalith but of a new Memphis, according to The Pyramid's promoter and manager Sidney Shlenker, who then owned the Denver Nuggets basketball team. Formerly chief executive officer of the Houston Astrodome, Shlenker promised to add other attractions to the Great American Pyramid. There was talk of "an Egyptian boat ride through the underworld of the dead," a rock music museum, a college football hall of fame and a Hard Rock Cafe.

The intent was to increase tourism to this city-county area of more than 800,000 that is best known as the "Home of the Blues" and as the site of Graceland, the estate of the late rock 'n' roll king Elvis Presley.

Instead, Shlenker ran into financial problems--his defenders blamed bad economic times, his critics said expectations had been unrealistic--and filed for bankruptcy. Shelby County Attorney Brian Kuhn said creditors are seeking $15 million in unpaid debts from Shlenker, who left town, taking the name "Great American Pyramid" with him, citing his copyright. Mortified city fathers took over the project, renaming it "The Pyramid."

But the arena had problems even before Shlenker showed up. Local officials had decided to build the project not high on the river bluffs as admirers of monumental architecture had hoped, but down on a mud flat that was sneered at by many, including City Council member Mary Rose McCormick, as "a hole." The Pyramid peeks up from 60 feet below street level, hunkered against a web of high freeway ramps where the I-40 leaps the Mississippi.


I've been a big fan of finding  a tribe to buying Mud Island and putting a casino there to make it viable. It's lost money since day one in spite of a fantastic little ampitheater. Heck Memphis lost the Memphis Belle.

2280
Branson Talk / Re: Bass Pro's Undoing
« on: August 25, 2011, 11:39:14 PM »
Most developments in Memphis ultimately fail. I'm somewhat from Memphis. I lived there in my high school years and my Mother and Brother are still there. I send lots of time there. The city is horribly ran. Well, at least for the last for the last 20 years. It was kinda tongue in cheek and kinda not.

The Pyramid was a horrible boondoggle. The observation deck has never been open to the public. The acoustics were absolutely horrible and the seats incredibly cramped. It was once supposed to get the Dick Clark thingy. It actually has a good amount exhibit hall space in it that's never been used and thats where most of the Bass Pro. It never made a profit. Memphis hired a con man to initially develop it named Sidney Slinker. He once owned the Denver Nuggets. Memphis thought it was going to get an NBA team 15 years before they did and the arena they built for it was outdated for the one they landed. The FedEx Forum is a fantastic multi purpose arena. (I'm going to rub it in, my brother's company has a suite).

It's hard to find all the initial promises of the Pyramid Development but here's a snip from Sidney's obit:

That same year, he turned his attention to the Pyramid, a 20,300-seat arena in Memphis, Tenn. City officials hired him to manage the pyramid-shaped arena and develop it into a world-class attraction, complete with a rock 'n' roll museum, a Hard Rock Cafe and amusement rides.

"It's going to be a monument like the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower -- a signature for the city," Shlenker told the New York Times. "The difference is, this will have something inside it."

But in 1991, Shlenker was ousted as manager of the Pyramid after failing to obtain financing for his share of the project. The companies that he was involved with on the project later filed for bankruptcy protection.



My favorite memory of the Pyramid is calling the hogs at intermission of a Grateful Dead show. Half the place was watching the Ark/Unc semifinal game via the tv's in the suites.

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