The Colony

[atlrvr]

See this on the UP Wiki: Charlotte Colony

Well, Whole Foods at Eliazabeth Ave. is all but dead, and now the SP store is likely to be the first store.

Schlosser Development of Austin will be leading the redevelopment of The Colony Apartments into a major mixed-use village fronting Sharon Rd between Colony and Morrison.

It makes sense that an Austin company will get the jump on Whole Food's as they are an Austin company too.

Here is a prelim rendering of the Whole foods (this is fronting Sharon) and that new street going into the middle of the site, parallel with Colonty and Morrison.

Another rendering of the site (this would be the view from above the Border's Books)

And this view is the opposite direction (with SP Mall in the top right and Morrocroft Village in the top left)

The project would include an office tower and a condo/hotel tower (my guess is a Kimpton Hotel)

A rezoning won't be filed until early next year, but construction would start soon after, with the Whole Foods opening in late 2008/early 2009.

[uptownliving]

Wow...impressive. I like how the project actually improves connectivity by adding to the existing grid system there. Will be interesting to see how much the city allows them to build. How many units are at the Colony Apartment Complex right now?

[49er]

this is quietly becoming one of the best mixed use sites in Mecklenburg. The fact that it is a redevelopment and not located on greenfield land is even better.

This is what SHOULD be happening along a transit line, however.

[nyxmike]

What happened to the one on Elizabeth? I thought they moved the Burger King and were going to start construction soon?

Back on topic - This project looks really nice. I hope it goes through. This would of been nice where "C" is located in South End. Now that is a missed opportunity.

[uptownliving]

After looking at their website and reading the CBJ article on this I have come to the conclusion that in and of itself this looks like a great development. However the location is wrong. This basically looks like the Elizabeth development transported to Southpark. If there was a LRT line to Southpark then I would be all in favor of this development. But with them proposing 1000 residential units plus all the retail I can't support it with SouthPark's current transportation system. I think if they were somewhere closer to 500 units of residential then I could support it.

[atlrvr]

I'm for the most part ok with it.....IN THEORY, no resident should ever have to get in their car for any retail purpose, and the fact that this connects to Roxboro (sp?) which is an office park, should eliminate congestion problems assuming that most people who live there work in the SP area.

I'd like them to buy a parcel on Morrison so that they could connect through, but I'm not sure which piece would be most logical.

I think the Colony already has close to 500 units, so the net effect of this development won't be that huge in terms of residential, and at a lower density, I don't think we would see as much road infrastructure that makes this development "work".

It's time for CATS to bite the bullet, and get preliminary cost estimates for a Uptown-SP SUBWAY route. I estimates it in the $900M-$1B range in another thread, but I this type of development to be all but certain, and many other site will likely see similar density (redeveloped Shops on the Park, redeveloped Sharon Corners, South Fair Plaza, and lots of sites along Fairview). Atlanta has the leg up on Charlotte, with Buckhead served by 2 MARTA stations, and traffic there is still a nightmare. I can't imagine what SP is going to become.

All that said, I think the added connectivity proposed by this development probably outweighs the negatives of the increase in density.

[wheatie]

It's time for CATS to bite the bullet, and get preliminary cost estimates for a Uptown-SP SUBWAY route. I estimates it in the $900M-$1B range in another thread, but I this type of development to be all but certain, and many other site will likely see similar density (redeveloped Shops on the Park, redeveloped Sharon Corners, South Fair Plaza, and lots of sites along Fairview). Atlanta has the leg up on Charlotte, with Buckhead served by 2 MARTA stations, and traffic there is still a nightmare. I can't imagine what SP is going to become.

All that said, I think the added connectivity proposed by this development probably outweighs the negatives of the increase in density.

[Raintree21]

Where would the subway stations be between Uptown and Southpark? It wouldn't seem to be an ideal corridor as there is not much commercial property between the two.

What about a spur off of the Blue line to Southpark? It should be more cost effective as well.

[nowensone]

^ Well, they did tunnel underneath the English Channel...

[uptownliving]

CATS did originally look at building the South LRT down Park Rd all the way to Ballentyne...and they stated that if money were not an object that would have been the perfect route. The problem is that land was so expensive along that corridor that they never would have been able to be cost effective to qualify for money from the FTA. And so they went with the South Blvd route.

[atlrvr]

Well, I was preferring a true subway, built under exisiting roads and tunneled in some sections, so there would be limited taking of properities. Of course this would cost much more, but in my opinion, it's the only feasible way.

This what I posted in a previous thread.

Just for fun, I think the best method for doing subway from downtown to SP is to do a cut-cover tunnel running down Third-Providence-Queens to Queens Univeristy, then a true excavated tunnel under Myers Park to Barclay Downs/Morrison intersection, then another cut-cover tunnel under Barclay Down to a terminus somehwhere in the vicinity of Barclay Down/Fairview.

Stations would be at:

3rd/Stonewall

3rd/Independence

3rd/Queens

Providence/Laurel

Providence/Queens

Queens/Selwyn/Sharon/Roswell (Queens Univ.)

Selwyn/Colony

Barclay Downs/Morrison

Barclay Downs/Fairview

The cost would be approximately $925M-$950M, assuming $120M/mile for cut-cover and $240M/mile for excavated tunnel.

[queensguy06]

^What sort of time table did you put on your proposal, altrvr? I really like the idea of subway from downtown to SouthPark, but realistically after all that the city has gone through both privately and politically with the current LRT I can't imagine this is even on the radar right now. There are so many other projects (commuter rail, continuation of the LRT, BRT, streetcar service) that I think need to be addressed well before the city tries to dump $1+ billion into subway from downtown to SouthPark.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

This an amazing looking project. It's good that they're including an office componenet.

[atlrvr]

I think its more critical than the SE or W lines. I agree that this has about -2% chance of happening in the next 50 years. By then, SP will long be gridlocked.

Until that day comes, projects such as this which increase road connectivity is the best that can be hoped for. I just hope that the road are built as public ROW, instead of private.

[nyxmike]

I don't know if a SP to downtown train line is going to do much to help traffic in SP. Maybe if it went furthur south towards South Charlotte/Ballantyne and then North past downtown. MARTA (not the best example) goes either downtown or out towards the suburbs (North and South). You can also transfer from points East and West at Five Points to get to Buckhead. I think SP is pretty hopeless. I would rather see the Streetcars or the Southeast line get built instead.

[DeeMan]

Any new news on this project

[CLT2010]

The firm doing this project from Austin was in town about 2-4 weeks ago scoping the area out.

[A2]

If this is going to happen soon, why are they still signing leases for 12 months+ at Colony???? Just curious...

A2

[DeeMan]

is this going anywhere, any news?