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

[canyonjumper]

Wow Jon! It amazes me to see the progress of the suburban sprawl of Covington from the first update to now. It's nice to know that the big box stores haven't totally taken over yet; I always like to see a small town/ suburban feel. I started an MD today, Cascadia, So I hope you check it out (link in my signature). Anyways, great update, and hope to see more from Covington. 

                                         -Jordan

[Bobbi]

Nice update!

[calibanX]

I love Covington JB. I'm particularly fond of the maps you place from time to time. That last one is great. Excellent work.

Geoff

[MattyFo]

WOW! That region shot is incredible......so is everthing else though.  I always wanted to make a region just like that but find so hard to get all the agricultural land to develop and look realistic.  GREAT JOB!!!!  BTW where did you get those houses??? they make for a very realistic suburb, especially for a North Carolina based city.

[amapper]

You know, that screen shot reminds me of a city journal several years ago bu the name of Carthage (I believe), which was a real inspiration to me. Your MD does the same thing. Totally enjoyable!

[Battlecat]

Cool update!  The layout looks very good and you've chosen some excellent custom buildings for the neighborhood!

[Tomas Neto]

Awesome city, It seems to be real!!! Fantastic!!! 

[dsrwhat316]

A very nice update, Jon! I admire the fact you build your cities or towns to the lay of the land, something I don't do well 

I don't mean to pry or seem needy, but what's the status on those FAR buildings you were working on a few months back? Given your building style, they would be a valuable asset to your towns. I'd love to see them released sometime in th future!

Okay, back to lurk mode...

~ Dan

[Sciurus]

This is just wonderful!!

Guillaume

[Jmouse]

What a fitting start for Covington in its new - and permanent - home!

The map is top notch, and one of these days, I'd love to learn the art of cartography. Your choice of BATs is flawless once again and worthy of further study. I still haven't figured out why all of them fit together so well, though. It must have something to do with the construction style, but that doesn't fully explain the theory or why it works so well.

The way you explain each area of growth is fascinating. It hints at the incredible degree of planning which goes into each development. There is nothing haphazard about Covington's evolution. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to find out you spend more time on planning than you do building! First-class update this time, Jon!

Later...
Joan

[JBSimio]

Ethan:  Thank you!  The new method (if I choose to go that route) would be to replace the interchange with RHW pieces.  I just haven't really played with the idea much yet.

Jordan:  Thanks!  I'll be checking out Cascadia here shortly...

Bobbi:  Thank you!

Geoff:  Thanks!  I like the new maps a lot myself.  They're very time consuming to make, but I think the end result is worth the effort.  Here's another one for you...

MattyFo:  Thank you!  The farms took a lot of time to get filled in, but I feel it was time well spent for everything it adds to the region shots.  Most of the houses you see are by Mattb325.  He has so many choices that including a link would be pointless.  Just look up his name on the LEX... I find the easiest way is to click on "Collection Ranking" at the left side and then just click his name near the top of the list.

Amapper:  Thank you so much!  I think I remember Carthage (if I'm picturing the correct one) and that is quite a compliment to be given.

Battlecat:  Thanks!

Tomas Neto:  Thank you as always, my friend!

Dan:  Thanks!  Please don't go back into lurk mode... it's always so nice to hear from you.    I kind of got distracted from the FAR buildings to be honest.  I think the reason I haven't gone back to them yet is I feel like I need a pretty good number for variety's sake before I can really start releasing things.  I should just suck it up and start making some though... they generally don't take that long.   

Guillaume:  Thank you!

Joan:  Thanks!  There is a pretty large spectrum of buildings in my plugins.  I think the only consistency is that I tend to stick with primarily American styles and also don't veer to far into the ultra modern look.  It's true that I do plan a lot of Covington to a degree.  I generally know where I want certain things to end up and then just hope the game cooperates with what I'd like it to do.  It doesn't always work out that way though, and I've had several areas wind up being completely different from what I had hoped for.

Update Time!!!

57.01


Today's update takes us back to the south east side of Covington.  You may remember from of these roads from the update which centered around The Barrens neighborhood.  If you don't remember, (and I frankly wouldn't blame you) then you'll find them conviently labeled on the new map anyway.

57.02


Along the southern edge of The Barrens is another one of those older villages that has now been swallowed by the suburbs.  Covington actually has several of these little districts scattered around the outskirts.  You may remember Hudson Landing... there is another old "downtown" area up in Harmony Hills... and you get the idea.  Knob Hill was once a small cluster of shops serving the nearby farmers around the area.  Much of the village has been lost as Covington spread around it and very few of the historic structures remain.  The small chapel, Weatherwax Pharmacy, the local post office, and a couple older houses are really all that remain from the original town.

57.03


East of Knob Hill is the newer Riverside High School.  The school was built about 15 years ago when Randlemann High became too crowded.  The new building has plenty of space for the growing neighborhood as well as the athletic facilities which every good high school needs.  Riverside's football team is always competetive, due mainly to the unusual method of practicing against deer.  Some parents feel this might be going too far, but the coach has refused to back down so far.

57.04


Along Riverside Drive, another large commercial area starts back up just south of the high school.  A large industrial area around Lee Street separates this commercial strip from the Harmony Hills shopping center, but the larger shops and restaraunts pick up right where where they left off to the north.  An auto mall anchors the corner here along with the Texas Roadhouse restaraunt.  Electronics seem to be the other big seller here as Circuit City and CompUSA both built stores here to compete with the local big boys...

57.05


... and that big boy is Sam the Record Man. Locally owned since the beginning, (which was back when they still sold records, as the name might suggest) Sam has become a Covington phenomenon.  He opened his first store downtown and has since grown to include five other locations around the city.  (There is also talk of a possible new store in High Point, but that's not part of our story today.)  Despite the constant and relentless tactics by the big box chains, Sam the Record Man is still the best place in Covington to buy music and the company continues to do extremely well, proving that there are still some "mom and pop" stores that will never roll over and die for the corporate giants.  How do you like that, Wal-Mart?!?

57.06


Just across Riverside Drive is another large parking lot for the Riverwalk Trail system.  Great strides (no pun intended) have been made to fill in the gaps as the biking and hiking trails continue to follow the river around the south and east sides of Covington.  This parking area is one of several that offer direct access to the trail system.  Although, this does beg the question... Am I the only one who finds it strange that people would need to drive somewhere first just in order to go for a bike ride or a walk?

57.07


The Riverwalk Trail has even been extended north around the industrial area.  Trees help to block the factories and lend to the parklike setting along the paths.  Work on this section is still in progress and will hopefully connect with the northern sections sometime within the next year.  Currently the trail stops at the railroad bridge just north of here and doesn't resume until we get back up to the Fox Point apartment buildings.  The crossing at Lee Street is also a temporary one until a pedestrian tunnel can be built under the roadway.

57.08


Just south of Deep Cut Creek Road along Riverside Drive, the commercial areas continue to thrive.  Restaraunts and car dealerships continue to be found everywhere down here.  The Santa Clara retirement community is a beautiful building designed to resemble something much older than it actually is.  Blue Cross of the Carolinas also has a large proffesional building here for a wide range of health care needs.  While not actually a hospital, the building does act as a one stop facility for dentistry, smaller family doctor's offices, and minor out patient type surgeries.

57.09


As is often the case in Covington, the large commercial areas give way to suburban apartment complexes.  Just off Knob Hill Road, this complex looks frighteningly similar to the one we saw over near I-85 a couple updates back.  I wish I could give you some sort of explaination for these similarities, but I don't really have an answer to be honest.  Conspiracy buffs are convinced that one person owns all these apartment buildings.  He in turn hires the same architect to design every single one, and then uses the same contractor to build them all.  This theory does little but breed resentment among other local contractors who seem to think that they are getting cheated out of potential work, even though nobody can seem to identify the mysterious contractor who is (allegedly) getting all these jobs.  Unfortunately, there is absolutely no evidence to back any of this up so, I say again, I don't have an answer to this one... sorry.

57.10


The western edge of Riverside borders the city's large landfill area.  You may recall that walls were built along Randlemann Road in an attempt to hide the unsightly piles of garbage.  Noting a distinct lack of success with that project, the city decided to try something else on this side of the dump.  Hoyt Park is a fairly large buffer between the industrial and landfill areas on its western side and the residential areas in Riverside.  Although the park does little to hide the ugly areas, the property values along the eastern edge of the park have increased significantly.  The city would like to try the same idea now in The Flats, but there isn't as much room there and the idea is proving to be a bit more difficult.

57.11


Fronting Hoyt Park is what may be my new favorite apartment complex.  These townhouses were all designed to resemble the historic Susan B. Anthony house and represent a historic ideal that few newer constructions achieve.  Several lots are still waiting to be built, but I just couldn't hold this update off any longer.  And no... you don't really want to know how long it took me to grow all of these together.  Let's just say there's a reason it isn't finished yet. 

57.12


And there you have it...

Thanks for reading!!!
JB

[Battlecat]

Very nice indeed!  I like those townhouses in the last shot, they look amazing!

[canyonjumper]

Nice update Jon! I'm always amazed at the quality of your maps. I'm just wondering where you got the city hall (52.08) and the large brown building in the upper left hand corner of pic 52.08. Thanks Jon, and again, great update 

                                         -Jordan

[Bobbi]

Nice update!

[Tomas Neto]

Fantstic update again!!! 

[kwakelaar]

From time to time I need to make a comment, just to let you know I am following your work here. It has been some time ago now, but I always enjoy lurking in this MD. Many great looking shots again, and I especially like the first one with the remains of the original village and the roads meeting at this point from all the different angels. Also the new historical development is an achievement worth mentioning, it seems a like quite a charming neighbourhood.

[wallasey]

The map and region view is exquisite! Keep up the good work!

[Jmouse]

I remain quite fascinated by your maps, Jon. It's so interesting to see a good-sized segment and get a better understanding of how the neighborhood streets interact with each other. There aren't as many intersections with the main transport network as I'd have guessed. But the system seems to work quite well, and it looks so very realistic on paper (if that makes any sense!).

By now, Covington seems like a real place to me, although better than real in some ways. 57.02 is a nice mixture of the old and new, a scene undoubtedly repeated many times over across America. I've always liked that school in 57.03, and hope I'll have a chance to use it one of these days. I like the way you used a fence in 57.04 to separate the neighborhood from the commercial area. That's something I probably wouldn't have tried because I'd have already convinced myself it would look awful! I like the way the shopping center is laid out, too - simple but very efficient.

The Riverwalk Trail system was/is a wonderful way to use the scenic riverbank, proving once again that things don't have to be complex to be effective.

This has been an unusually pleasurable update to view, study and comment on. I'm always happy to see a new one, but I do like to take my time, come back several times and look around before posting.

Later...
Joan

[calibanX]

That's a very nice map JB. You've captured Google's style quite well. I always enjoy looking at your pictures because with your winding roads there are very few straight lines. Keeps things looking interesting.

Geoff

[Nanami]

Great MD! And also the last update, nice too!

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