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Optimist Park / Belmont Projects


dubone

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http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../15/story4.html

it seems that the $66m Norfolk Southern Intermodal Yard plans are continuing to move forward, which could free up 40 acres in optimist park, where the current operations are staged.

The deal also has big implications for the emerging residential districts just north of uptown, adjacent to Norfolk Southern's existing rail yards.

City leaders love the idea of converting about 40 acres now used by Norfolk Southern's intermodal group into potential commercial and residential uses, Orr notes. The switch would reroute thousands of trucks from congested uptown roads.

Norfolk Southern's main rail yards in north Charlotte would remain in place.

i'm sad to see confirmation that the rail yards will remain, but the land area devoted to trucking and the intermodal facility in optimist park would be a major boost to the area if converted to TOD or other use.

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i inquired of crosland as to the status of the alpha mill project, as their website originally said summer 05 for construction, which is almost over....

they said they closed on the property last month and are now waiting from the national parks service for the historical tax credit approval. construction will begin within the next 2 months.

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i inquired of crosland as to the status of the alpha mill project, as their website originally said summer 05 for construction, which is almost over....

they said they closed on the property last month and are now waiting from the national parks service for the historical tax credit approval.  construction will begin within the next 2 months.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh, that is good news. I was getting scared that this project wasn't actually going to happen. Maybe you should tell them to remove the "For Sale" sign from the top of the mill. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Groundbreaking was held on a piedmont courts revitalization/hope VI project yesterday. The new project will be named McAden Park Apartments.

Construction of various aspects of the Belmont Plan will take place through the end of 2009, but the first homes (i believe those at the 16th street intersection mentioned earlier in the thread) will be ready for move in a year.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/new...al/12699838.htm

These apartments are a $125m investment which is almost 3/4 from private funds. Although it uses the Hope VI model, that program has been relatively phased out by the current administration, and the grants are now only $20m, or ~1/6 of the project.

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Where exactly is the first building going up at D. I am unsure by reading the article. It talks about it around a field in the Central Ave area. I thought this was right below the First Ward neighborhood. I am totally turned around on where this is at. BTW does anyone know what kind of structures we are going to be looking at. Will they be dense 4-8 story complexes, or small residential towers north of 12 stories???? Just curious. ;)

A2

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i emailed the guy in charge of this project a few months ago and asked if there were any details or docs, but never really got any. I'm sure there are remnant of info in the Belmont Area Plan and old news articles.

Piedmont Court is situated just across 277 from first ward and north of 10th street. The investments/improvements, however are being scattered throughout optimist park and belmont neighborhoods. Most of the reason for that is that much of piedmont courts is currently in a floodplain for little sugar creek.

As far as the field off of Central... i have no idea what they are talking about... check out the sats of the area (piedco is the area around Siegel, McRae and Willis). The track and field in that sat is part of Piedmont Middle School and is not part of this project. But i'll post if i find out the specifics.

http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?c...le=h&lvl=16&v=1

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I am not sure if it has anything to do with location of the new apartment complex described in the article, but there is a McAden St a couple blocks north of the current piedmont court. That could be related to this...

http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?c...le=h&lvl=17&v=1

but then again, McAden might just be a historical reference or something and be located somewhere else.

http://www.cmhpf.org/neighborhoods/belmont-et-al.html

(That second link shows the historic properties in the area)

there is a ton of info in the belmont plan

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Planni...elmont+Plan.htm

but i think it was adopted before specifics were known for the federal-related project.

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There is a cookie factory in belmont behind piedmont middle that makes it an absolute joy to live in first ward, and i'm sure in the revitalized belmont and other nearby areas.  I remember when i first moved to town, we had a friend move to ballantyne and gloat that it was the fancy part of town, but when we visited it would smell like peppermint from the wastewater plant down there... but when she visited us, it always smelled like chocolate chip cookies :).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, you can smell those cookies in Plaza Midwood too. Yum.

There are still some people living in Piedmont Courts.

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i wonder if the city will replace the street signs in belmont that have bullet holes in them as part of infrastructure improvements. :).

that tends to be mildly scary to see.

Also today's news about transportation project delays is actually positive news related to this thread, as both the Little Sugar Creek Greenway and the Norfolk Southern intermodal yards moval are part of the federally prioritized list. Much of the Little Sugar Greenway through Belmont/Optimist Park is slated for construction in 2006 (i believe). I just hope they hurry up and connect the section that goes beneath the railroad tracks.

http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?c...le=h&lvl=18&v=1

Right now you can't get through except on Davidson Street, and if there is a train stopped there for the conductor to have a smoke or whatever trains stop for... then the only way to get through is caldwell.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I saw some guys out at Piedmont Courts this morning. It looked like they were taking soil samples, but I can't be sure. They could have been placing stakes for surveying purposes.

The point is, they were doing something. Hopefully it's a sign that demolition will begin soon.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Expect to see movement soon on the Alpha Mill project on 12th St. They were just issued a demolition contract for part of the building. Don't worry, the Historic Landmark's Commision signed off on the demo. I guess they are getting rid of the crappy add-ons to the original building.

Yay!

Also, this might have been mentioned, but the storage building by Opt12 is now painted purple and pink and the building across the street on 15th has been painted with stripes. It is lovely. Opt12 is scheduled to be completed in February.

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Expect to see movement soon on the Alpha Mill project on 12th St. They were just issued a demolition contract for part of the building. Don't worry, the Historic Landmark's Commision signed off on the demo. I guess they are getting rid of the crappy add-ons to the original building.

Drove by this morning; the demolition appears to be underway.

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The City Council Agenda for last night had this project as an agenda item. Also, there was a link to the project plan (first page is blank, but scroll down to second page to see plans). These were dated 2002, so not sure if this is new to anyone, but I thought I would put it in anyway.

http://www.charmeck.nc.us/NR/rdonlyres/e3y...2g/11140508.pdf

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Good find, swh! I can rarely find PDF details for stuff going on by the city.

For me, the first page is not blank, but rather a map of the proposed new grid street, which will be halfway between the tracks and 12th St.

It doesn't give details on whether Caldwell will become bidirectional. But given that they will reconstruct it with such a wide cross section, probably both Brevard and Caldwell will be widened and converted. Caldwell would carry the bulk of Parkwood traffic to 12th Street for either 277 or 12th to Brevard.

Hopefully, they will return the name 13th street to the new street, and either rename the current 13th Street as 14th or some other name.

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Thanks! I'm glad to see the full Optimist Park Plan is finally back online. A few months back the link was broken, so I contacted the planning department and was told that I could swing by and purchase a copy if I didn't want to wait for the link to be repaired.

http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/eq26n...istParkPlan.pdf

Free is better. Page 29 has a nice table of land use recommendations. It's amazing how much vacant land there is just outside of center city.

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What is the plan for the CATS facility in Optimist Park? I had assumed that the South Blvd facility was going to replace it, but i found this website today, and it looks like they are going to need both facilities.

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/A.../PR+2_23_05.htm

this is an excerpt from the website below (press release)

The new South Tryon Bus Facility is CATS

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