2190 replies to this topic

[sleightofhand]

nonillogical, on 22 August 2011 - 08:10 AM, said:

There are window cling graphics up for a place called "Bubble Lounge" on the large 2nd floor space above Vida. I guess I haven't been to the epicentre on a friday or saturday night in a while to see how big the crowds are, but do we need another one of these?

Friday and Saturday nights especially are insanely crowded. We've got room for 5 more "Bubble Lounge" establishments in my opinion. Its gotten to the point where my friends and I avoid uptown on a Saturday night. My friends that work in the service industry refer to it as "amatuer night".

[nonillogical]

^more power to them, then. I was just hoping it would be a somewhat different take rather than what appears to be a Suite clone.

[Urbanity]

To both nonillogical and sleightofhand's points.  I lean toward;s nonillogical's gut reaction of "do we really need another...: as I think Charlotte has more than its share of such places;however I was just at Epicentre on Saturday night (Vida for dinner) and sleightofhand is absolutely right in that there seems to be more than enough room for another club or two of the same vein.


On a related but different note, I've only been in Charlotte since 2008 and it amazes me how much downtown has changed in that short amount of time.  When I first got here there were people on Tryon/5th street area for the most part - now the whole city just seems alive with a constant flow of people on weekends.

[Spartan]

I have to agree, Urbanity. As much as I personally dislike the Epicentre, it has done wonders for pedestrian traffic on weekends, and not just at night. It's even starting to spread with the Charlotte Plaza building allowing ground-level retail to open up to the exterior.

[The Escapists]

There is a lot of potential for "spreading" too: Usually I enter Epicentre via Tryon/The Square at 101 Independence/Omni. This allows me to park on Tryon street parking, and enter through the Overstreet Mall - then across the pedestrian bridge by Einsteins. That one ped-bridge could do wonders to spread shopping across the blocks (if only the Overstreet Mall had anything worthwhile in it). Think of the possibilities of 101 Independence opened to the Square with a destination...

[Spartan]

If the Overstreet Mall didn't have anything in it, the streets on neighboring blocks would have more businesses and shops worth going to. Charlotte lacks a consistent corridor of shops and restaurants in uptown.

[ah59396]

The AHL team and affiliate to the Carolina Hurricanes, YOUR Charlotte Checkers, just opened a brand new office and retail store on the 4th floor of the Epicenter.  I think this a great addition to the retail shops already in place and will hopefully bring more exposure to the team and some new shoppers uptown.  They had a great showing the other day for Carolina Hurricanes "fan fest" and the exhibition (NHL Preseason) the other night against the Winnipeg Jets pulled over 10,000!

[49er]

Spartan, on 06 September 2011 - 07:19 PM, said:

If the Overstreet Mall didn't have anything in it, the streets on neighboring blocks would have more businesses and shops worth going to. Charlotte lacks a consistent corridor of shops and restaurants in uptown.

True, but Charlotte tore down all the buildings that had street level retail so at this point closing Overstreet wouldn't change a whole lot to get back the street vibe of continuous shops. I was Downtown for the Panthers game and was encouraged to see how projects like the Ale house/Panera at Charlotte Plaza are beginning to correct some of the mistakes from the past. A lot of the 70's and 80's buildings had so much wasted lobby space that these conversions just seem natural.

[ricky_davis_fan_21]

210 Trade Investments is in talks with a major hotel chain to develop a hotel where the tower was supposed to go... The only thing that can derail this is the ongoing court battle. I would love for something to be built here! I just think its so weird to have two hotels in the same development!

[AirNostrumMAD]

Do you have a source?

[tozmervo]

^ http://cltdevelopmen...g-to-hotel.html

[Urbanity]

Maybe Ghazi and Reese will team up and propose a MLB stadium built over the Brookshire...

Oh come'on you know I ain't the only one to think that!

[dubone]

And they'll team up with Daniel Levine and it will be a 13 Trillion Dollar Development that will get a new master plan every 2 years, declaring it to be 2-4 years away.

[dbull75]

For the life of me I can't understand why they would consider adding another hotel in a few block radius that already contains a Ritz-Carlton, aLoft, Sierra (soon to be Hyatt), Omni, etc. There needs to be more residential here. A 25-30 story apartment building would kill in this location.

[cltbwimob]

Maybe a W hotel and residence would work.

[norm21499]

The Epicenter can support a 50 story skyscraper.....I dont know if a 50 story building can be built, but I can imagine the building would have to be pretty tall cause any developer would not want all of those load bearing supports to go to waste if they can support a tall building. I cant imagine that anything less than a hotel/resident building would be built at this location.

[AuLukey]

dbull75, on 07 April 2011 - 07:05 PM, said:

The thought that the tower is now back in play is great news. What's even better is the fact the Epicentre is continuing to fill spots. A gym, salon, spa and newsstand will be nice additions as it will help diversify the businesses there so it's just not a "bar hotspot" Thurs-Sat nights. Putting in those types of things can certainly justify making the tower a residential building which means added foot traffic. Will be interesting to see how this plays out...

I'm not sure how long this has been in the works, but the plans for Golds Gym look to be finalized:

http://www.ldiline.c....cfm?proj=24077

[dbull75]

A Gold's Gym at Epicentre? How can they NOT put an apartment tower in the 210 Trade spot now (sans lawsuits)? This is the exact type of amenity that residents would want to use.

[ah59396]

While their at it, slap in a tanning salon.  The Suite crowd will happier than a pig in...well you know.

[mad_park]

Will the Epicenter Gold's have only upper body weight equipment? Most of the inhabitants there have bar bodies. http://www.urbandict...p?term=bar body