210 Trade | EpiCentre

[dcharlotte]

3 hours ago, southslider said:

Cities with abundant street retail usually also have abundant street parking. Charlotte typically lacks both.

Not true. The highest and best use of roadway space is to move people, not store cars. 

If you open up a store that is 20 feet wide you can have three patrons park in front of your store at any given time. Considering you will probably have at least two employees working there you've already used up almost all of your parking.

Edited November 18, 2015 by dcharlotte

[mfowler12]

Is there a uptown retail thread somewhere? - my Captain obvious two cents on uptown retail.

Option 1 - Current State - It seems the trend is to build new apartments, condos, mixed use office and the hope is to mandate retail on the ground floor.  If we get the retail - maybe a restaurant, definitely a dry cleaners and possibly a subway chain. All useful options but not in the sense they create a retail destination or even contribute to the idea of retail being uptown. The cost of acquiring land, building, etc makes it difficult or near impossible forboutiques and other diverse retailers to join in. National retailers, unless they are food, will most likely not go it alone and open a standalone. Conclusion: Even with great zoning requirements and developers buying in with design, i just don't think this option is going to get us there.

Option 2 - Uptown Mall - in my mind, building retail in uptown may not be achievable through organic piecemail projects. Our building stock just simply isn't available, which means it would be new construction and back to the rent cost issue noted previously. It will take national retail chains. Levine missed this more than anything with all his land over in first ward as he had the space available to make a real multi block walkable retail mall. Any other available land where someone could do this? 2nd Ward?

Option 3 - County/City participation - to avoid those high construction costs, is there some city/county land that could be leased or sold at below market rates to help a developer bring this uptown? this goes back to my premise that retail has to come in a huge chunk.  Municipalities give land away to sports teams all the time (which i'm ok with it), but this could help local businesses start and locate in a retail hub in uptown and bring the destination and diverse retail options we want.

 

PSA - option 3 is not meant to stoke a political argument over the government use of land. :)

[Deleted.]

3 hours ago, mfowler12 said:

Is there a uptown retail thread somewhere? - my Captain obvious two cents on uptown retail.

Option 3 - County/City participation - to avoid those high construction costs, is there some city/county land that could be leased or sold at below market rates to help a developer bring this uptown? this goes back to my premise that retail has to come in a huge chunk.  Municipalities give land away to sports teams all the time (which i'm ok with it), but this could help local businesses start and locate in a retail hub in uptown and bring the destination and diverse retail options we want.

 

PSA - option 3 is not meant to stoke a political argument over the government use of land. :)

Considering that the city is begin to relocate some of their property to lower-cost land and selling he high-value land off, I don't think that could/would be an option. 

We really need more retail to make CLT an even better city! 

[CLTProductions]

3 hours ago, mfowler12 said:

Is there a uptown retail thread somewhere? - my Captain obvious two cents on uptown retail.

Option 1 - Current State - It seems the trend is to build new apartments, condos, mixed use office and the hope is to mandate retail on the ground floor.  If we get the retail - maybe a restaurant, definitely a dry cleaners and possibly a subway chain. All useful options but not in the sense they create a retail destination or even contribute to the idea of retail being uptown. The cost of acquiring land, building, etc makes it difficult or near impossible forboutiques and other diverse retailers to join in. National retailers, unless they are food, will most likely not go it alone and open a standalone. Conclusion: Even with great zoning requirements and developers buying in with design, i just don't think this option is going to get us there.

Option 2 - Uptown Mall - in my mind, building retail in uptown may not be achievable through organic piecemail projects. Our building stock just simply isn't available, which means it would be new construction and back to the rent cost issue noted previously. It will take national retail chains. Levine missed this more than anything with all his land over in first ward as he had the space available to make a real multi block walkable retail mall. Any other available land where someone could do this? 2nd Ward?

Option 3 - County/City participation - to avoid those high construction costs, is there some city/county land that could be leased or sold at below market rates to help a developer bring this uptown? this goes back to my premise that retail has to come in a huge chunk.  Municipalities give land away to sports teams all the time (which i'm ok with it), but this could help local businesses start and locate in a retail hub in uptown and bring the destination and diverse retail options we want.

 

PSA - option 3 is not meant to stoke a political argument over the government use of land. :)

Yeah there is a thread in the Coffee House for uptown retail.....also, guys how about this hotel!!!!

Side note: Indy, Denver, Portland and Austin all have 2 or more Residence Inn's in their downtown area. What the hell???

[tozmervo]

Regarding the beginning of construction on the epicenter hotel - http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article45995110.html

Expect slow-moving traffic uptown near the EpiCentre complex, especially during rush hour. The right lane of East Fourth Street is closed between South Caldwell and South College streets for construction of a new hotel at the EpiCentre. The lane is scheduled to remain closed until September 2017.

[CLTProductions]

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/27290/update-red-eye-diner-is-coming-to-the-epicentre-to-feed-you/

 

first look at the new diner coming to the Epi.  Love this look, it's gonna kill it

[dcharlotte]

An "old school diner" is about the least imaginative concept around. I guess this is what those who frequent Epicenter desire however standard it may be. It will save them a car trip to Waffle House late at night. 

Let me find something that looks exactly the same within 100 miles: https://www.google.com/maps/search/diner/@34.8389289,-81.9425598,8.25z

[uptownliving]

The midnight diner people have proven they can run a good restaurant, I'm glad this is coming to uptown as midnight diner seems to be perpetually full, sometimes with even a really long wait for a table.

[CLTProductions]

13 minutes ago, dcharlotte said:

An "old school diner" is about the least imaginative concept around. I guess this is what those who frequent Epicenter desire however standard it may be. It will save them a car trip to Waffle House late at night. 

Let me find something that looks exactly the same within 100 miles: https://www.google.com/maps/search/diner/@34.8389289,-81.9425598,8.25z

Who said they were trying to be imaginative? They are filling a huge void in uptown. 24/7 quality diner food. Every city has one. Were you looking for an uber high concept tapas restaurant or a perhaps a fine wine shop? This makes a lot of sense for this location and will do extremely well

[CLT2014]

Nothing wrong with 24/7 comfort food and breakfast in Uptown. This is a good location for a casual diner and fills a void in the city center. I like it.

Edited November 23, 2015 by CLT2014

[Temeteron]

I agree that Uptown needs a 24/7 diner, however, if they replicate the atmosphere that of Midnight diner, it will end up having a not so appealing crowd. When midnight first opened it was such a great spot to go, not only for the food but also for the atmosphere. The past couple of years it has gotten very ghetto at midnight diner, to the point where they have a sign on he door that says "No guns allowed" and there is always yellow tape to separate the line from entering and exiting. Also, cops are always present; which can be a good thing but the fact that they are there makes you wonder and feel uneasy regardless. I think it might have to do with the music also. There's always loud hip hop (usually being played from the jukebox).  And parking has gotten worse. I think at least at epicenter they won't have to worry about parking since there is already enough people there. 

Edited November 23, 2015 by Temeteron

[CLTProductions]

Yeah the atmosphere around there isn't desirable any more that's for sure. I don't think being in the Epi will improve that. As much as I think this is a great thing for uptown. Vi have a feeling it will be pretty ghetto here as well. 

[SgtCampsalot]

The more 24 hour spots along rail transit the better.

[15895]

People calling this ghetto are probably the first to complain how sterile Uptown can be. We need more middle class amenities; not expensive sushi bars. To live in center city.... You either need to be below poverty or affluent. It's not very middle class friendly. Though, I feel like we're heading in the right direction.

[CLTProductions]

4 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

People calling this ghetto are probably the first to complain how sterile Uptown can be. We need more middle class amenities; not expensive sushi bars. To live in center city.... You either need to be below poverty or affluent. It's not very middle class friendly. Though, I feel like we're heading in the right direction.

Sterile and ghetto aren't the same thing lol. I am excited for this. Leave it to Charlotte to overdo something it doesn't have any of.  We go from 0 non chain breakfast places to 4: this, Amelie's, Bella fresco cafe, 4th ward bread co v2.0

[Deleted.]

34 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

Sterile and ghetto aren't the same thing lol. I am excited for this. Leave it to Charlotte to overdo something it doesn't have any of.  We go from 0 non chain breakfast places to 4: this, Amelie's, Bella fresco cafe, 4th ward bread co v2.0

I'm not complaining, with all the other projects going on, extra breakfast places make Uptown feel less like an office park in Ballantyne. 

Sure an old-school diner isn't orignal or that creative, but it's still a great edition to EpiCenter. And if the designs are executed well, then it's will be an even better edition. 

[CLTProductions]

Oh I don't think it's a bad thing at all. The more the merrier. 

[15895]

9 hours ago, Jayvee said:

Sterile and ghetto aren't the same thing lol. I am excited for this. Leave it to Charlotte to overdo something it doesn't have any of.  We go from 0 non chain breakfast places to 4: this, Amelie's, Bella fresco cafe, 4th ward bread co v2.0

I know. I'm saying... We need places like Redeye Diner to desterilize uptown. More Redeye, less Essex.

Edited November 24, 2015 by AirNostrumMAD

[CLTProductions]

Tower crane is going up for the hotel in mid-December....awesome

[Deleted.]

9 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

Tower crane is going up for the hotel in mid-December....awesome

More cranes!! I love it! 

[CLTProductions]

Hotel construction is getting ready to rock. Also Rooftop 210 finally finished their enclosure after starting it over a year ago

[Spartan]

They closed the lane on 4th street (and shifted the bike lane!) over the weekend. I'm glad they kept that bike lane during construction.

[southslider]

^The bike lane appears to be even barrier protected after the CTC. So is this Charlotte's first defacto cycletrack?

Edited December 3, 2015 by southslider

[Spartan]

Ha, I guess technically you could call it a one-way cycle track.

[CLTProductions]

Got word the crane will start going up tomorrow for the hotel, and will be fully installed by next week. Merry Christmas !!