Jump to content

FreeMore Projects (West Morehead, Freedom Drive, Bryant Park)


cooperdawg

Recommended Posts


  • 1 month later...

WBTV ran a story regarding a 2-3MM facelift of Bryant Park. The proposed plan showed a lot of promise with one large disclaimer - it would take private funding of 30-40% to get it off the ground. Has anyone here had any experience in raising these funds for something similar. It seems like a lot of money without some major corp sponsorship or something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ I would love to start a crowd-sourcing investment firm to tackle these types of projects. 

 

Model would work something like:

 

1) People make small $100-$1000 investements in fund.

2) Investment Fund makes the private funding available for park 

3) Investment Fund gets all rights to revenue generation (concessions, hosting events, advertising)

 

Haven't run any numbers on this, so not sure if $1mm in private investment could ever turn a profit, but as a general business model, I think this will be the way of the future for all kinds of public infrastructure investments, and I think the private investments in the form of crowdsourcing should be preferred solution (perhaps even up to 49% investment from institutional investors, as opposed to 100% individuals).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Heard a rumor that the warehouse next to the Crane building on W. Morehead, currently occupied by a mechanic, is coming down to make way for a 3-4 story apartment building. I have no reason to trust this source, but FWIW they said they saw a rendering and "saw no parking" (which I told them was impossible and take to mean either a wrapped deck or well-hidden podium with something fronting Morehead). It's a decent sized site even if just that 1 building, but they were under the impression that we'd be seeing demolition starting soon all the way back to Bryant st. and the back parking lots, so maybe some of the other buildings on the block are in play, which are abandoned but I thought would be re-used?

 

Anyone have some means to dig up more info? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's owned by Southern Apartment Group, which is Lindsey McAlpine's company. They sold the piece on E. Morehead just off of Kenilworth to Forestar for apartments. They own back to Bryant St. which is about 3 acres total. I didn't see any filings with the project for approvals, but saw it's been approved for the Brownfields program, which always helps get projects out of the ground with the tax benefits you receive. Also more likely to see some retail along Morehead since you can't put resi units on the ground level of a contaminated site. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unconfirmed, but I was told 190+- townhouses and 50+- single family homes in the 175-250K range. Survey work is underway. Construction should begin soon. Not sure if they will need any type of variance since subdivision approval of Bryant Park. This should be a very sellable product. It's very affordable being 1 mile from the square.

According to folks in Camp Greene, work on the Ryan Homes and the apartments on Millerton are scheduled to begin this fall.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Sitework started on Bryant Park Apartments.  Located near the intersection of W Morehead St & Millerton Ave.  It's a 5.75 acre parcel.  This is adjacent to the 29 acre Ryan Homes property.  The design is a cluster of 4 story brick and stucco buildings -- suburban style.  Top floor units should have great skyline views.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Any word on the Biltmark property progress? I'm working on estimating all the potential future pop for the area for a super cool local retailer studying the area and it would be great to know what the scale is. It's the only proposed project I don't have a unit count on.

 

Also regarding the McAlpine property- I don't think he'd have to file anything because of the overlay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any word on the Biltmark property progress? I'm working on estimating all the potential future pop for the area for a super cool local retailer studying the area and it would be great to know what the scale is. It's the only proposed project I don't have a unit count on.

 

Also regarding the McAlpine property- I don't think he'd have to file anything because of the overlay.

It's in PRESUBMIT Status. 250 Units plus possible live/work/retail units.

 

Looks like architects are DRG Grp and Watts Leaf

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks ricky_davis_fan! It will be interesting to see if the live/work/retail units happen. Charlotte hasn't been kind to those kind of units- the Hill/McNinch ones struggled as did Abbott.

That was in the initial pre-submit/inquiry, but judging by the developer/architect, I am highly doubtful live/work/retail will happen. I can honestly say that if I actually live in Charlotte (I live in Brooklyn) I would definitely take advantage of Live/Work Units.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The interesting thing about the Live/Work units is it's very difficult to make them the right size. The fragmentation in the creative class sectors would in theory support all the freelancers / independent contractors in the world but our need to co-work and collaborate with others drives people psychologically away from working in a space like this, and most aren't large enough to handle even 5 workers like my firm. It makes them too large/expensive and the cost equilibrium is off.

 

In other news Ryan Homes did a presentation today to the board of realtors on their Camp Greene project (finally!) with renderings, etc. and want to get a model ready for February.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Ark Group is no longer planning on doing any significant renovation to that 1-story warehouse building at W. Morehead and 77. They put some awnings up on the exterior garage doors and are simply selling the building now. Source is that my office was looking at it as a new space to relocate to. It was fine on the inside, plenty of potential, but we probably won't take it, so hopefully somebody will move in with a more creative plan for it. Not sure why Ark lost interest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Dunkin Donuts is making some progress at Freedom and Morehead - they installed signage this week, but without any real exterior rehab to the building. I wish i had more info on a projected opening date. Glad to have walkable coffee for us Wesley Heights residents, but we'll still have to navigate the drag race crossing created by the Freedom drive exit from 277.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right next to it?  A Charter School....there is also an apartment project going up within a block of there off of Morehead.

Yeah its not the apartment project, its on the same side as CSoL and looks like it may have taken up part of their parking lot. Again hard to tell from my vantage point, I'll drive by there soon to get a closer look. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah its not the apartment project, its on the same side as CSoL and looks like it may have taken up part of their parking lot. Again hard to tell from my vantage point, I'll drive by there soon to get a closer look.

Invest Collegiate received its final approval from the N.C. State Board of Education in March and will open in late July with about 275 students, from kindergarten through sixth grade, in three modular buildings at the intersection of Suttle Avenue and Isom Street.

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2013/05/new-school-plans-to-develop-campus-on.html?page=all&r=full

Edited by WesleyHeightsWay
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.