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Berkman Tower and Carolina Theater


dubone

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It would be a shame to lose Carolina Theatre. Charlotte has a real opportunity to do a good thing. If the theatre were somewhere like Salisbury it would have been refurbished years ago. True, Charlotte is a large city with alot going on, but it would be very charming for the city to be able to eat at a great restaurant and then go to a renovated Carolina theatre amid the skyscrapers uptown IMO.

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Just to keep this in perspective.  There isn't anything left to rennovate.  The only part of the theatre that remains is the facade.  It is open sky behind it.

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Oh :( Sorry to hear about that Charlotte...

Well, forget what I earlier said, historic downtown theaters are overrated ;)

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the theater is just a hulking shell. i think vagrants set it on fire in the 80's. The most practical thing really is to tear down the whole site, build something new and reincorporate the remaining facade back into the new development. A pocket two or three level retail center with condos above would complement the Saks next door nicely :)

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Just to keep this in perspective.  There isn't anything left to rennovate.  The only part of the theatre that remains is the facade.  It is open sky behind it.

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So the actual theatre part is gone? About 5 years back I remember touring the inside of the theatre during some event uptown, there was a big drive to preserve it. I just moved back to Charlotte. A bit out of the loop.

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My friend was allowed in a few months ago to take pictures of the architectural ornamention inside the theatre and got some great shots. There is a lot left in that theatre and I think anyone who saw these photos would get behind preserving the theatre. I should see her this weekend and I'll see if I can get some of the shots and post them here. THese are recent so we can at least see what we are currently working with inside the theatre.

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The name Carolina Theatre is too common IMO, I think there's one in High Point named Carolina Theatre too. But it would be great to have like Apollo like talent search at a renovated Carolina Theatre. With the popularity of WSOC-TV "Give Me The Mic, Charlotte" and with local radio stations I think that would be great. Bank of America donated millions to revonate the Apollo Theatre in NYC, I wish they would do something similar for us.

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as much it might seem like bofa should donate similar for carolina theatre as they did for apollo... there is no comparison. apollo is of extreme national cultural significance. carolina theatre, not so much.

it'd still be nice if a public-private partnership can save this theatre, such as through a condo development as is currently proposed.

as far as the name, you are a most of a century too late on that suggestion.

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I don't know if anyone else noticed but Charlotte Weekly ran a story on the Carolina Theatre development. The article isn't online yet but copies are still out if you want to pick one up. In it they said it could cost towards 80 million to fully restore The Carolina to its 1924 opulance. It looks like the Camden deal will get it to the bare minimum required to restore it to where it can reopen (10 millionish)and and after that the theatre can slowly restore itself as money comes along. All in all, I'm now excited about Camden's proposal and hope everything goes through.

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i read that charlotte weekly article. it was very interesting. A few points:

- Much of the removal of the theatre assets was done in prep for the cityfair project, with the lobby being torn down, and many of the ornamentation inside the theatre being removed. the ultimate failure of cityfair, however, probably saved the rest of theatre from demolition.

- Because it lacks the original lobby, it is no longer on the register of historic places.

- The state gave $30m for renovation, but that money was shifted to hurrican relief when the state was in emergency response for (i think it was floyd)

- TIF bonds would be needed for the initial renovation that appatone described, and over time donations would be used to slowly add layers of restored decor.

the coolest part of that story, which i had never heard before, is that vagrants almost burned down the building, but even after a half century of not being used, a rudimentary fire-system worked and saved the building. heat from the fire melted wax, which let the ropes go to draw a fire curtain, whic contained the fire. :blink: I think that is amazing.

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My friend was allowed in a few months ago to take pictures of the architectural ornamention inside the theatre and got some great shots.  There is a lot left in that theatre and I think anyone who saw these photos would get behind preserving the theatre.  I should see her this weekend and I'll see if I can get some of the shots and post them here.  THese are recent so we can at least see what we are currently working with inside the theatre.

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any update, appatone? i'm so intrigued by what it must look like inside.

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http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/loc...D=99141&SecID=2

Apparently crews started removing the facade of the Carolina Theatre yesterday. More from the story:

A financing deal still has to be agreed upon, however, between local government officials and an Atlanta-based developer.

The developer, Camden Management Partners, said it would provide most of the $10 million cost from two projects it is planning: a 25- to 28-story residential tower and an adjacent parking garage. It wants the city and county to chip in about $4.5 million.

The article goes on to say that a 120 day deadline has been set to work out a plan.

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where is this alleged residential tower suppose to be?

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definitely at the open area at the corner of 6th and Tryon, where they are taking down the old facade. It seems like quite a small footprint, so who knows, it may get some fancy engineering and have part of it rise up above the actual theatre.

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By the by, I was talking with someone downtown last week and we walked by the facade as it was being taken down.

I asked if it was just so the facade could be stored for future use or whether it was because something was getting ready to be built there (nothing like acting dumb...).

The response was, "you don't spend money like that for the hell of it..."

This is probably the most interesting, quirky, under the radar project in Charlotte right now....

Could you IMAGINE the price tag on a condo so close to the square, above a theatre, and small in scale (in terms of units)? This could well end up as the most exclusive address in town if it materializes.

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Could you IMAGINE the price tag on a condo so close to the square, above a theatre, and small in scale (in terms of units)? This could well end up as the most exclusive address in town if it materializes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

especially if a saks locates next door.

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