Colonial Pipeline Tank Goes Kaboom

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Anyone who lives in the Piedmont Triad is familiar with Colonial Pipeline's tank farm hard by I-40 in Greensboro.  I drive by the tanks at least twice a day during my commute to and from the office so I've had ample occasion to wonder what would happen if one caught fire.  We found out this weekend when one of them was struck by lightning and went up like a roman candle, and from what I've seen the Greensboro Fire Department did a stellar job containing the blaze.

Something interesting I learned while monitoring WXII's Kenny Beck's coverage via Twitter: one tank contains 200,000 gallons of oil, which helps put the Gulf Oil spill in perspective. If the current low end of the estimate of 42 million gallons is correct then that would be like taking 210 of those tanks and dumping them in the Gulf.

Ready for the Raining of Frogs

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I do believe the end of the world is nigh since Esbee has affiliated herself with a project that has a Facebook group.  She's looked down her nose at Facebook and Twitter for as long as they've existed so I can only believe that someone sneaked this into the mix behind her back.

BTW, Local Dish Winston-Salem features contributions from the uber-coolest ladies online in the Twin Cities.

Lake at Lissara

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A front page article (subscription required) in this week's Triad Business Journal profiles the Lake at Lissara project in western Forsyth County, just outside the Lewisville Town Limits.  I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know much of anything about this project even though it's virtually a stone's throw from my house.  From the article:

Four Triad developers are teaming up to create a 112-home subdivision on 255 acres in western Forsyth County that will feature a large man-made lake and could reach $50 million in total investment, making it one the largest residential projects in the county since 2008…

By summer, builders and individuals can purchase lots ranging in size from one-fifth of an acre to 30 acres. Wilcox expects the homes to eventually sell for $300,000 to more than $1 million over the next seven years…

To create Lake at Lissara, the developers purchased six parcels of land for around $4 million from six different families, Wilcox said. Godfrey’s firm, Westview Development, previously owned 100 acres of the land slated for the subdivision.

Wilcox estimates total build-out costs, infrastructure and home construction to be $50 million. Once the land is plotted and recorded next month, Coldwell Banker Residential Mortgage will begin selling home lots ranging from $70,000 to about $300,000, Wilcox said.

The goal of the project is create a unique subdivision dotted with waterfront homes, sprawling estates, views of Pilot Mountain and a 64-foot-deep lake where homeowners can swim, sail and fish. The lake itself stretches some 3,000 feet end to end and has an estimated three miles of lake frontage.

From the standpoint of Lewisville I'm not sure this is a great development. There's a pretty decent impact on infrastructure since the quickest access to US-421 is through town, and that section of town already experiences a great deal of traffic volume. On the other hand, since this development is in Forsyth the town won't recognize any tax revenue from it, and considering these are going to be high end properties that would be a decent chunk of change.  Maybe the town will get a little indirect bump if the development helps raise the value of surrounding properties, but I don't think it will be enough to make up for the infrastructure hit.

Update: More from the Winston-Salem Journal

Food Fight Between Winston-Salem and Greensboro

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Here's the deal: the organization I work for (Triad Apartment Association) has kicked off its annual food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank of NW NC.  For the past several years we've hosted an event at a Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball game and invited the public to bring cans of food to contribute to Second Harvest.  This year we've stepped it up and are hosting an event at the Winston-Salem Dash game on July 12 and the Greensboro Grasshoppers game on July 14 and we're holding a contest to see which game will raise more food/money for Second Harvest.

As part of our efforts WXII has agreed to partner with us and both Mayor Joines (W-S) and Mayor Knight (GSO) have filmed public service messages that will run on WXII as part of our efforts.  Obviously we're most thankful to the mayors, the Dash, the Grasshopper and WXII for working with us on this effort.

If you'd like to participate you can do so in several ways:

  • Attend one of the games and bring food or financial donations ($1 = 12 cans of food)
  • Drop off cans of food at one of our participating apartment communities (see the map below, or the list on the TAA website).
  • If you'd like to mail in a donation you can send it to TAA at 3407 West Wendover Ave., Suite E, Greensboro NC 27407. Checks should be made out to Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC
  • An added bonus: if you want to donate a couple of bucks just write "Shave Jon's Head" in the memo field of any check, or on a cover note with the donation, and if we get $1,000 with that note then I'll have my head shaved.

I hope to see you all at one of the ballgames!

Winston-Salem/Kernersville Drop Off Locations

View 2010 TAA Food Drive W-S Drop Off Locations in a larger map

Greensboro/High Point Drop Off Locations