Covington - Update 61 "Chestnut Hills and South River Bend"

[Earth quake]

It's a excellent update.
These suburbs are really nice and the rural aera, as usual, splendid.

[Battlecat]

Congratulations on your upcoming move to the Hall of Fame!   

You've certainly earned it with your excellent attention to detail both urban and rural.  Looking forward to many more excellent updates in the future!

[calibanX]

High Point is beautiful JB. I love the aerial view. It shows off your always excellent road networks. Nice job as always.

Geoff

[dsrwhat316]

Congrats with your Hall of Fame election, Jon! 

Having not been here for quite some time, I still can see you are enjoying using the FAR and Wide Radius Road Curves very much. Your overview shots of the sprawl always are amazing to look at.

~ Dan

[Ennedi]

Congratulations Jon! 

The Mayor's Diary Hall of Fame Committee and the Staff

PS. We simply think it will be the most apropriate place for Covington 

[Tomas Neto]

Congratulations Jon!!! 

[mattb325]

Bravo and congratulations!!!!!

It is about time this was in the hall of fame 

It's always a pleasure coming here and looking through the wonderful images ^{methinks you use my houses better than me} 

[threestooges]

Amazing regional and rural shots as always, and the suburb development was really interesting to see. Great progression shots, and it was neat to see the surviving farm house. It took me a minute to figure the subtle change in road layout between some of the pics to place it right, but it was an interesting development to watch. Waiting to see how much more sprawl there will be. 53.07 is a great looking downtown area. Plenty of parking and open space too. Seems like a nice little small town center. Not a bad way to enter the Hall of Fame. Good way to enter the tail end of your time in OSITM. Congratulations Jon, you've earned it.
-Matt

[Earth quake]

Congratulation Jbsimio for your entry in Hall of Fame.

Just go on your fantastic work.

[tooheys]

Jon, congrats firstly on a great month in OSITM, bit more importantly, your induction into the HOF 

Well deserved 

Dave

[danielcote]

Nice! I still say you should fix that wanky looking plaza infront of the city hall. It looks kinda wierd.

[ecoba]

Congrats, Jon. The induction is certainly well deserved. 

Ethan

No, it's not the same exact post in Alex's MD. Your name is Jon!

[calibanX]

Certainly well deserved. Your work is superb JB. Congratulations.

Geoff

[kwakelaar]

Congratulations on your (soon to happen) move to the HoF, it is well deserved. Your style of playing and presenting Covington is unique,and always enjoyable to follow.

[JBSimio]

Tomas Neto:  Thank you!

Battlecat:  Thanks!  I don't do the construction pictures very often, but I enjoy them when I remember to. 

Ethan:  Thank you!  I keep ignoring High Point and we should really visit there more often.  I'm glad you like the city.

Joan:  Thanks!  The hospital is one of SimGoober's... and can be found on the LEX in the appropriate SG collection.  Sorry that I forgot to grab the link for you, but it shouldn't be too hard to find.  By the way, was this your guess for the "next" area of development?

Fabian:  Thank you so much!  We will be seeing more development against the farms as Covington finishes filling in, so you can look forward to that if you like. 

Earth quake:  Thanks!

Battlecat:  Thank you!

Geoff:  Thank you!  I've always been fond of the US 29 bypass around High Point.

Dan:  Thanks!  FAR has definitely changed the rural areas a lot here.  I'm still debating just how much of the city I want to tear up before making the switch there as well.

Adam:  I'm very honored... thank you!

Tomas Neto:  Thank you!

Mattb:  Thanks!  I owe a lot of things to your wonderful houses.  I'm always so happy when you start teasing us with new additions.

Matt:  Thank you!  I've always liked downtown High Point as well.  Sometimes I think the central parking lot may be a bit too large for the surroundings, but it will stay for now.

Earth quake:  Thank you!

Dave:  Thank you so much!

Daniel:  Thanks!  I'm not sure how you can "still" say something you've not said before, but OK.  I like the plaza behind city hall and High Point doesn't have the budget to tear it up and replace it anyway. 

Ethan:  Thank you!  (I'll let the cut and paste slide this time) 

Geoff:  Thank you!

Kwakelaar:  Thank you very much!

Update Time!!!

Back to Hudson Landing for a minute...  (I had hoped to start this update with a map again, but it was taking way too long to get that part together.  Sorry about that!)

54.01


Last time we looked at Hudson Landing, we saw the northern end where a few of the older houses still survived.  Moving west from the old town center, it quickly begins to look like suburbia all over again.  Hudson Elementary was built around 1974 when the area began to grow.  The old tobacco drying plant can be seen in the background patiently waiting to learn its future.

54.02


Just a random look at one of the subdivisions nearby.  There have been a lot of these lately, but there aren't very many in this update... so let's just move on.

54.03


A bit further east, we get close to the US 220 expressway.  Much of this area is filled with suburban apartments.  Apparently, people who live in apartments don't mind the noise from the nearby traffic as much as home owners would.  Or maybe the apartments are just insulated and sound proofed better.  I'm not sure what the theory is there... but apartments near freeways just seems to be a common theme around Covington.

54.04


Just across US 220 near the Atwater Road exit is another middle class development.  These townhouses actually command a fairly high price because of their proximity and connection to the river front.  Although you can't see it here, the bike path system actually connects this complex to the riverside trails.  They also happen to have pretty nice interiors... and garages... and fireplaces.  It's really not a bad place to live.

54.05


Just across Atwater Road is the bike path.  These houses have been under pressure for a while by people who desperately want to put some high rise condos here.  Fortunately, anyone who can afford one of these homes isn't generally too concerned with money and not all that tempted to make a quick sale.  The city has also started expanding the riverfront bike paths in places.  At this time, the system is spotty and incomplete, but the progress is reassuring and I'm sure everything will be connected eventually.

54.06


Before we head too much further from Hudson Landing, I thought a wider view would be nice.  Looking upstream, you can see where the Riedsville River (to the left) joins Coldwater Creek to become the Cone River.  The farms on the southern banks seem fairly safe for the time being and offer some very nice views for those who live across the water in Covington.

54.07


Further west, we cross Freeman Mill Road just before it crosses the Cone River.  North of the new expressway, Freeman Mill Road is still the route for US 220 into downtown Covington.  The entire road used to be the main highway south to Ashboro until the expressway was built.  Here we see the intersection where Holden Road ends at Freeman Mill.  Not surpisingly, the corner supports quite a bit of commercial development.  The Century Theater on Freeman Mill is a big draw on the weekends, but most of the area is filled with small offices and professional services.

54.08


Just off of Freeman Mill Road is one of three apartment complexes that fill in the wedge between Us 220 and Interstate 85.  This one is the largest of the three and one of the nicest, in my opinion.  A small park in the center of the complex offers a bit of tranquility hidden amongst some of Covington's busiest thoroughfares.  Walls also surround the complex, blocking most of the noise from nearby commercial buildings.

54.09


Next door is the strangest of the three complexes.  Why anyone would pay such high prices for a high rise apartment overlooking a freeway is beyond me.  Across I-85 is the Holden Industrial Park, so there is no view there either.  But somehow, the development has been a success and these apartments are almost completely full.  I guess it just goes to show that you never can tell what people with money will do...

54.10


The last complex is just off Holden Road near the exit from I-85.  This one isn't quite as nice as the others anymore, mostly due to neglect.  The apartments themselves are quite spacious and the buildings are in good shape.  Maintainence just leaves a little bit to be desired here.  Maybe some fertilizer for the grass and some sealer on the parking lots would spruce things up.  I'll have to call the company and see what can be done...

54.11


And this concludes our tour of southern Covington for tonight...

Thanks for reading!!!
JB

[threestooges]

I think High Point's parking lot is a fine size for the area. Try parking in downtown LA sometime and you may even hope it would be bigger. Just tell me they charge less than $15-30 a day for it. The higher density side of Covington is interesting. Apartments near freeways seems perfectly natural, but it is strange to see those high wealth towers there like that. There are actually a couple that have sprung up down here too that are right by a freeway off ramp. Not sure what the appeal is for it though. You've made an excellent selection of apartments, and you use them well too. I have yet to grow the fancier ones from 54.08, but I've grown several of the ones from 54.04 and 54.10 and they seem to fit whatever area they spring up in very nicely. Curious about the trees in the shipping yard in 54.09. I've heard of weeds growing in the cracks, but those must make driving in the lot interesting. They match the color of the trucks nicely though. The region seems to be filling up nicely too. Looking forward to seeing what you have planned next.
-Matt

[ecoba]

PHEW! I'm safe...

Anyway, we were in South Covington today. (Did you mention that, because, I only found that out at the region shot...) I don't think we've seen much of this side of town before, mainly because, this might be newer buildings?    Well, anyway, the neighbourhoods in this part of town are still pretty nice, and even though we didn't see the common medium wealth suburb, we saw apartments! I don't see many other apartments other than the ones in your MD. That is to say, your apartments.

...come on Ethan, make some sense...

^^I do that thing that David (dedgren) does now, don't know how that got started... Well, anyway, I'm really liking that Rverside Bike trail. The park set that you are using for them is really a nice one (SFBT?) and matches with the Covington Terrain really well. (What Terrain Mod do you use, Meadowshire?) I like that movie theater BAT, is it on the LEX? Well, now to stop interrogating you. Those hi-rise condos by the freeway and the indusstrial park are quite a mystery. Maybe the police should do some searching of that building...

Ethan

[rooker1]

Wow Jon,
What a super month in OSITM.  And what a great set of moves for you and your MD.  Out of the Classics Section and into OSITM to only find out when you leave it will be to go into the MD HoF!  Congrats my friend you really deserve it.

Robin 

[Battlecat]

Nice update once again!  You've really got a great diversity of buildings in your region.  Those are very nice little apartment buildings in 54.03.  Where did you snag them? 

[Earth quake]

Excellent update JBsimio.
Your suburbs as usual splendid and these differents pictures are beautiful.

I really like the pic 54.08 because I love this apartement.