Plaza-Midwood Projects (Central, Commonwealth, The Plaza)

[KJHburg]

Here is the Business Journal article on the sale of Central Square shopping center

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/09/12/prime-property-in-plaza-midwood-coming-soon-to-the.html

and the Charlotte O

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article235012682.html

this is a game changer for PM and all of intown Charlotte outside of the 277 loop.

[archiham04]

doesn't she also own Midwood Corners?  Any rumblings on that property?

[Nathan2]

1 hour ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

The real question is what will the parking situation be  There's no end to the groaning on Nextdoor about the notorious over zealous booting of cars in that lot.

Free public deck would be a boon for the whole area...

I'm not sure about free, but I sure do hope there won't be any surface parking lot. Walking around plaza you feel like the neighborhood is choked by cars. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

Heck, pay deck is fine, I won't be parking there anyway  but yes, either way there should be minimal surface parking. 

[Niner National]

I hope we can get something similar to  railyard or Portman in southend. Maybe not as tall but transformative and high quality. Just apartments would be very underwhelming.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Niner National said:

I hope we can get something similar to  railyard or Portman in southend. Maybe not as tall but transformative and high quality. Just apartments would be very underwhelming.

you could fit 5 Rail Yards

[SpiritOf76]

Is it possible fir sunny side to be extended over the tracks or could at least that serve as a pedestrian crossing ? What are some ideas for street grid on this property?  This is exciting 

[PMrez]

1 minute ago, SpiritOf76 said:

Is it possible fir sunny side to be extended over the tracks or could at least that serve as a pedestrian crossing ? What are some ideas for street grid on this property?  This is exciting 

My understanding is that the rail company (CSX?)  will not allow anything to go over/underneath any of their tracks. I suspect there are exceptions but in general that's what I understand their stance is.

[SpiritOf76]

What to save ? Green dots I feel are worth saving; red=destroy and gold, I’m not sure...Are they worth saving? Is their any historic worth to the neighborhood in the billiards or deli building or even the shopping mall? If slated fir destruction, would any building on this site bring a similar reaction from the neighborhood as the possibility of losing  Dairy Queen, has? 

[lancer22]

Whoever buys this (Crescent/Edens or Crescent/Asana) is going to scrape this whole thing, put up their retailers of choice, about 400 apartment units, parking deck, and maybe some creative office. No way this thing can support a large office development - ingress/egress is a nightmare.

 

[JacksonH]

26 minutes ago, SpiritOf76 said:

What to save ? Green dots I feel are worth saving; red=destroy and gold, I’m not sure...Are they worth saving? Is their any historic worth to the neighborhood in the billiards or deli building or even the shopping mall? If slated fir destruction, would any building on this site bring a similar reaction from the neighborhood as the possibility of losing  Dairy Queen, has? 

I totally agree with your suggestions.  And something I've long thought: below, where I'm CLUMSILY building onto your image (I'm bad at this stuff):  Where the CVS is, and the top part of the parking lot in your image (the area I've shaded in blue); turn that into street-facing retail space.  The purple area can be turned into a parking deck.  And that strip I've shaded green, make it a pedestrian-only access from Central.  Drivers, therefore, would access the parking deck from the back.  

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by JacksonH

[nakers2]

I rushed over here as soon as I heard the news. I knew it would happen eventually, but considering the recent sign update I figured we had a few years on this one! I hope they incorporate the CVS in the new development, either as a new store, or somehow make the current building more pedestrian friendly, primarily for selfish reasons but it is nice to have a close by convenience store/pharmacy.

[Guest]

I drew this before I understood scale, in 2006, by the looks of it. I will redraw this now that I know how the world actually works. I stand by the street grid though. Though this would absolutely end up with the demo of those historic buildings. Any parking deck would need better egress/ingress. 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Guest

[Seaboard Fellow]

2 hours ago, PMrez said:

My understanding is that the rail company (CSX?)  will not allow anything to go over/underneath any of their tracks. I suspect there are exceptions but in general that's what I understand their stance is.

CSX would not be opposed to any form of grade separation at this location as long as it meets CSX design standards. 

-CSX Guy

Edited September 12, 2019 by Seaboard Fellow

[southslider]

^their standard being double-decker containers?

[Seaboard Fellow]

2 hours ago, southslider said:

^their standard being double-decker containers?

Yes, 23’ vertical clearance above the top of rail. This is an important intermodal line, with more growth expected in the near term. 

Edited September 13, 2019 by Seaboard Fellow

[hokiehigh]

19 hours ago, archiham04 said:

doesn't she also own Midwood Corners?  Any rumblings on that property?

I think she does and I hope that she will sell this property soon too!   

[ertley]

8 hours ago, Seaboard Fellow said:

Yes, 23’ vertical clearance above the top of rail. This is an important intermodal line, with more growth expected in the near term. 

Would it be practicable to instead make a passage *under* the line? I agree 100% with Spiritof76 that the historic buildings absolutely must be saved, and building a Sunnyside extension over the tracks would block the westernmost building with a bridge's approach. A tunnel underneath the tracks would solve that problem.

I don't care what they do with the northern and eastern 2/3 of the property, in terms of demolition, but those three old buildings are so unique, and they can become the interesting center of a new, TOD multi-use development that no new construction could improve upon, IMO, in terms of character.

And since there's a planned Silver Line station at Pecan, I absolutely can see its station on the south side of those historic buildings, with a nice pedestrian-centered space between the station and them, with your larger new buildings behind them and Central.

This is a golden opportunity for the city to really set the parameters for an amazing station/experience for the Silver Line.

 

[Nathan2]

Should this lot be rezoned TOD? Plan for the future as the silver line will eventually run right next to the property. A pedestrian oriented alley or street would be cool through the center of this lot surrounded by shops and apartments and end at the light rail station. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

Give us some height. A nice 10-12 story condo would be dreamy.

[QClifer]

that entire site has incredible skyline views if you go up 3 stories

[archiham04]

On 9/12/2019 at 5:07 PM, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I drew this before I understood scale, in 2006, by the looks of it. I will redraw this now that I know how the world actually works. I stand by the street grid though. Though this would absolutely end up with the demo of those historic buildings. Any parking deck would need better egress/ingress. 

Gordon street intersection is a little close to Central.  The CDOT traffic nazis will likley requrire a larger distance to improve safety.  It might also make a better block off central. Maybe change that gordon row into a service alley to avoid a megablock development...

[archiham04]

On 9/12/2019 at 4:34 PM, lancer22 said:

Whoever buys this (Crescent/Edens or Crescent/Asana) is going to scrape this whole thing, put up their retailers of choice, about 400 apartment units, parking deck, and maybe some creative office. No way this thing can support a large office development - ingress/egress is a nightmare.

 

They have a traffic light at Clement, a fourway stop sign at Commonwealth (probably soon to be a light),  at least four additional curb cuts, and hundreds of feet of street frontage.  I get that it is a little helter skelter right now, but in the grand scheme of things, ingress/egress seems pretty manageable to me.

[lancer22]

10 minutes ago, archiham04 said:

They have a traffic light at Clement, a fourway stop sign at Commonwealth (probably soon to be a light),  at least four additional curb cuts, and hundreds of feet of street frontage.  I get that it is a little helter skelter right now, but in the grand scheme of things, ingress/egress seems pretty manageable to me.

Large office users would never go for this because there's no clear way to get to it from the highway is what I was trying to say 

[SpiritOf76]

is A traffic light at commonwealth and pecan seriously being considered?  I hadn’t herd of anything official