Lattica, Hemstead :: The River City

[topcliff 1]

it looks tropical. anyways, that's a good first BAT! i tried making a pedestrian bridges and it was two tiles, not to mention boxy.

[hairmetal4ever 0]

I have the seawalls from STEX but can't make them look that good or the land above that flat. Got any tricks or tips?

[sloppet 3]

nice b.a.t. ! can't wait for the beginning of this CJ!

[wks2003x 0]

Welcome to

Lattica, Hemstead

The city journal has officially kicked off, and it's even a week early!

 

jimbob10, jacqulina, topcliff: Thanks!  I'm glad you like the BAT.  It even makes an appearance in this CJ.

hairmetal4ever: I usually plop roads (but only one tile at a time...don't connect them) to get flat areas.

sloppet: Thanks and you can wait no longer!

 

Everyone, the wait is over.  Once again, I welcome you to Lattica.  May this city live a long and prosperous life.

 

 

 

Lattica :: A New Beginning

 

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Along the shores of the winding Chastain River, a city was born.

 

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In just half a century, Lattica is beginning to transfrom from a charming town to a progressive city.

 

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Downtown and its primary highways were layed out.  City planners didn't wait around.  They anticipated future growth and made room for it.

 

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Broadway will link commuters from Lattica's future suburbs to the downtown square.  Toll Booths were constructed but they were also removed later after their costs exceeded profits.

 

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Planners envisioned a bustling and dense downtown with a majestic skyline.

 

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These are the first constructed buildings in Hemstead.

 

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Lattica's population exploded to an impressive 30,000 sims and shows no signs of slowing down.

 

Lattica Today :: Downtown

 

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Sure, city planners envisioned a majestic skyline.  But they'll have to settle for this for a while.

 

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Downtown Office Park

 

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Lattica Mall

 

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Downtown Lattica is bisected by the beautiful Chastain River.

 

Lattica Today :: Lattica International Airport

 

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Latticans were surprised when the announcement came that their small town would get an international airport.  Business owners were ecstatic.  City leaders thought the new airport would bring them one step closer to their dream of a prosperous city.

 

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Lattica International Airport has fast and easy access to downtown.

 

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Cars on I-10 speed past the airport.

 

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The airport offers a long-term parking lot North of the east terminal.

 

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The airport means more business for Lattica.

 

Lattica Today :: Hemstead State University

 

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City officials knew the only way to help Lattica rise above hard times would be to establish a university.

 

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Hemstead State University features a large, park-like urban campus.

 

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HSU is already well-known for its school of medicine and its school of business.

 

Lattica Today :: Central Park

 

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Sims need somewhere to relax and unwind.

 

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Central Park borders the city's beautfully sculpted Riverwalk.

 

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Many college professors and students live in the Central Park area, since the area borders the northern edge of the HSU campus.

 

Lattica Today :: Digital Park

 

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Where are all those intelligent degree-holding sims from HSU going to work?  Digital Park, of course...Lattica's high-tech non-polluting industrial park.

 

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Part of Digital Park's attraction to HSU students is its location just to the south of campus.

 

North Lattica :: Lattica's First Suburb

 

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Lattica's housing demand is remarkably low.  Planners hoped a suburban community would attract more families to the city.

 

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North Lattica has amazing views that overlook the Chastain River and downtown.

 

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Lattica Commons is the area's first suburban strip shop.

 

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North Lattica is somewhat of a controversial part of town.  Planners want to redevelop the area into another commercial hub similar to downtown, which would displace alot of families.

 

 

What's next for The River City?

As planners try to figure out what new attractions will help the city grow, North Lattica is already in store for some major changes.  Developers are looking to the southern part of the city to add more suburban communities.  Lattica's still young, and the city could shape up into anything.  Will it make it as the next Caspen or will it remain just a college town whose glory days are in the past?

[topcliff 1]

nice! wonderful! fantazmagarikal! i don't know what else to say! and that bus stop you did looks great!maybe you'll design some of the offices in the skyline. one never knows...

[RadioheadFan 1]

Awesome work! I like Lattica Commons, very suburbish, and also your use of the BSC Trail Park lots. Great update.

RHF

[wks2003x 0]

topcliff: Who knows?  Maybe one day I will start creating more BATs.  In the meantime I guess I'll hafta stick to amateur city journaling.

RadioheadFan: Thanks.  I'm glad you liked Lattica Commons.  Unfortunately it's gone...suburban North Lattica is being reconstructed as the hip and elegant Uptown area.  Don't worry though, I see many more suburban strips in Lattica's near future.

 

...so what's been going on since the last update?  Let's see...

 

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Downtown Lattica got its first tall building after local sims demanded more office space.

 

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I-10 faced more construction.  The part that faced the airport was reconstructed.  One single massive bridge now spans the Chastain River and the airport.  The new bridge was named the 'Davidson Memorial Bridge'.

 

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Lattica is starting to be called by some The city of a thousand bridges.

 

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Lattica's new Windspear Arena and its accompanying Omni Hotel unofficially secured Lattica's status as an up-and-coming midsize city.

 

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North Lattica is being transformed into the city's upscale urban area, also known as Uptown.

[jacqulina 162]

love the parks i like your writing style love the detail

[RadioheadFan 1]

Wow, looking really good! I like your use of Windspear Arena as the staple of an up-and-coming town, and I like your work with the bridge. Keep up the great work!

RHF

[Sparks1176 1]

This is a fine CJ you have going.   The city is a nice piece of eye candy.  Keep up the good work! Look forward to seeing more.

[wks2003x 0]

jacqulina: I'm glad you like central park.  I'm still not completely happy with it but it works for now...I may work on it a little more later...the riverwalk is still pretty nice though.

RadioheadFan: Yep, Windspear Arena's gonna put Lattica on the map! The Davidson Memorial Bridge is going to be a famous landmark as well.  New York has the Statue of Liberty.  St. Louis has the gateway arch.  Lattica has the Davidson Memorial Bridge!  I'm hoping the bridges give a sense of uniqueness to the city.  I dunno about you, but Caspen seemed to lack character to me when stacked up against Lattica.  I'm honored that you've been following this CJ from the beginning.  By the way, very impressive CJ you've got going.  I love the interactivity and the storyline.

Sparks1176: Thank you very much.  I appreciate the comment.  Welcome to Lattica and I hope you enjoy it!

 

Everyone: Things have been a little slow since I'm in the middle of final exams, but expect a new update this weekend and many more to follow.  Lattica's growing (slowly but steadily) and new things are coming up.  There's a new baseball stadium downtown and the city is slowly expanding southward.  Uptown is starting to look pretty good as well...and you'll see it all in the next update.  See you all then!

[oroen 0]

Holy mother of Darwin, I love your viaducted freeway!!!

[helomoto 28]

Truly an amazing CJ

[ScottFTL 29]

That viaduct bridge by the airport is amazing. I also like Central Park. This is a promising CJ - looking forward to more updates. Great work so far!

[wks2003x 0]

oroen: I'm glad you like the Davidson Memorial Bridge.  Welcome to Lattica!

helomoto: Many thanks to you.

 

ScottFTL: I appreciate the encouragement, so the following update is dedicated to you...

 

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Following the construction of the Windspear Arena and an agressive tourist promotion, Lattica's population has boomed to over 70,000 sims.

 

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Suburban North Lattica has been transformed into Uptown, a hip and ritzy side of town.

 

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Uptown's elegant high-rise condos, upscale shops and hip clubs make it an ideal place to live for Lattica's more affluent younger sims.

 

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The older generation of sims lives downtown.

 

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Downtown is quickly becoming more urbanized with its rapid growth.

 

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The new Hemstead Sports Complex was built to house Lattica's top-performing professional teams.

 

Stay tuned for more updates...

[____----____ 37]

holy sea walls !!!!

this cj is looking pretty cool intersted to see what developes

 

ALeking

[sloppet 3]

great updates
! this CJ is going the right way!

[jacqulina 162]

wow that looks amazing great update

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Lattica looks great, and that bus stop looks cool.

Though, I have one (well, two) gripe: you have way too many avenues in such a small area. I know NY does that, but it doesn't look right in SC4.
And:
Don't overuse the seasonal trees.

quote>
This one is my favourite.

[RadioheadFan 1]

Great work! I espcially like the shot with the Atlantic Plaza and Wilkshire Building, looking like a very vibrant, interesting place to be. Keep up the great work!

RHF

[Montu 0]

Wow, The uptown section looks really awesome and realstic. i love what you have done with it!

I was wondering where did you get that tower in picture 4 on the far left, the one with the letter lattica on the bottom of it. Thanks

Keep up the great work you are doing!

[jacqulina 162]

just so beautifull

[Simworld 056132 1]

Just so petty I don't know what to say!https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif width=15>

[wks2003x 0]

aleking: Thanks and welcome to Lattica!  I hope you enjoy the rest of the city journal.

sloppet, jacqulina: Thanks very much for the encouragement...you guys have been following my journals for quite some time.  I appreciate you much.

 

Shadow_Assassin: I'm glad you like the city and the bus stop.  About the avenues:  there's so many because they're all near the city center.  I'm hoping it looks better once the city sprawls out more.  And I'll try not to get too happy when plopping the seasonal trees.

 

RadioheadFan: You have no idea...Uptown is the most happenin' place in the whole city, haha.

 

Kumba: That tower is the PDA Headquarters building.  You can find it in the STEX.

 

Simworld 056132: I'm glad you like my little city.  Welcome to Lattica.

 

...and now onto another mega-sized update...

 

Lattica Passes 100,000 Mark

 

Lattica's population skyrocketed as sims flocked to this new and growing city.  Many think the low taxes, great schools and numerous jobs are responsible for the rapid growth.

 

Majestic skylines are quickly becoming a reality as demand for downtown living is so high that sims decided to build up instead of out.

 

Soon one of the tallest residential towers in all of Simnation will be built in the heart of downtown Lattica.

 

Because Downtown is becoming so dense, there have been recent efforts to bring single-family homes back to the inner-city areas near downtown.

 

City hall is an important landmark to the city as it is the first building to be constructed in Lattica.  This area remains the oldest in the entire Hemstead region.

 

Sports fans continue to love the Hemstead Sports Complex.

 

Northpark Drive, near downtown, had to be widened to handle the high traffic volumes of over 4,000.

 

At 8-lanes, Northpark Drive is currently the widest road in the city.

 

New homes along the riverwalk are in very high demand.

 

Construction on Lattica's beautiful new Riverwalk is now complete.  The Riverwalk now covers 100% of the Chastain River shoreline in Davidson County, allowing sims to take a leisurely stroll virtually anywhere.

 

Great news for HSU: Digital Park permanently shut down and sold its land to the University of Hemstead.  The university used to acquired land to expand its campus southward.

 

HSU's new south campus features a school of business and liberal arts as well as a new library, arts center, and more student housing.

 

In an attempt to unify all parts of campus, the universty had University Parkway covered and tunneled to make the campus more pedestrian friendly.

 

Not to be let down by the closure of Digital Park, a new high-tech industrial district was constructed east of the city.

 

Central Hemstead Industrial Park is about four times larger than the old digital park and it is partly responsible for Lattica's big boom in population.

 

Just because it's an industrial park doesn't mean it can't be beautiful.  Landscaping was an important factor in the design and construction of the park.

 

Aviation Boulevard saw new construction after the new industrial park opened.

 

A string of hotels sprung up near the airport along Aviation Boulevard.

 

A new yet-to-be-named road links Aviation Boulevard with suburban North Lattica.

 

Stores, traffic and accidents are the story in the suburban north side of town.

 

Uptown faced a major growth spurt along with the rest of the city, making it the second-most densely populated area (behind downtown).

 

Uptown is certainly the most vibrant part of Lattica...clubs, stores, restaurants and hotels are everywhere.

 

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Some of the best upscale stores are in Uptown.  Plans are in the works for a new mall in the area.  It will be the first mall since the closure of the Lattica Mall several years ago.

 

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Sims live the high life in Uptown.

 

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The new state-of-the-art iMax theater is a major Uptown attraction.

 

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As a potential future hotspot, keep your eye on northeast Lattica, the vastly untouched land is about to see major developments.

 

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Developers are also looking to build up to the southeast of the city.

 

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West Davidson County remains largely underdeveloped. 

Anyone got any ideas on how to bring this side of town to life?

[Shadow Assassin 336]

It's developing well, but as always, there's a few problems:

Don't forget to turn off the grid. It makes the city look nicer.

Get Cycledogg's mayor trees. That way, you get better looking trees in the area.

And you've got too many buildings for such a small city... something you're not telling us?

[Cjah 15]

Wow so many NDEX bats!!!

Varitity in C.J.s is good...

 

Excellent highway system....Its one of the best I've seen...

[jacqulina 162]

awesome night pics great update

[jasperdeman.nl 1]

Wow, you sure have a lot of tarmac in your city ! It looks good, when I think of American cities I think of this stuff (I'm not sure if that is a compliment ).

I'd suggest you download Cycledoggs mod, it looks great and would do your city good.

 

You might want to built some widely spread residential on 'this' side of the river, with lots of green (mighnt not be that American but would look good I think).

 

Keep it up!

[wks2003x 0]

Shadow_Assassin: Does my city really constantly deliver problems??    That's not very reassuring.  At any rate, the grids are off.  I've looked at Cycledogg's trees but I am opting not to use them right now as it would be very difficult to replace all the currently plopped trees with new ones.  And as far as the buildings go: I am planning to develop a fairly large city.  And to make sure that everyone knows: There are some plopped commercial buildings, all residential buildings are grown, yes I am using cheats and mods.  And as far as development issues go (in terms of too many avenues, too many buildings, etc.  remember, I am building a typical American metropolis...these are all common in american cities, even relatively smaller ones).

 

Cjah: I love all the NDEX bats (as you can see).  Last time I checked, my city had 15 (most of which were grown).    I'm glad you like the highway system...I'm notorious for coming up with funky highway systems and interchanges.  Thanks for the support!

 

jacqulina: Thanks!  I'm happy you like the night shots.  Maybe I should take more in the future.

 

jasperdeman.nl: Thank you.  I am building a very American city.  From the several avenues to the highways to the numerous buildings to the strip malls, it's all American.  Maybe cycledogg's trees could make an appearance later (future suburbs or exurbs maybe) but until then, PEG seasonals are going to stick around.  Residential on the westside sounds nice, but it certainly can't be widely spread.  Maybe a slum could work for this?

 

Everyone: Thanks for having a look at Lattica.  Updates may come a little slower in the next week or so...I'm switching to a Mac.  Wish me luck!  In the meantime, SimCity stays on the PC.  Look for another update soon!

[jacqulina 162]

yes that would be great they are so awesome