Charlotte in 2013

[Guest]

Can I add something...I know I'm not lucky enough to live in Charlotte but I admire the spirit of the city. How about an iconic statue of the city namesake or a huge crown at a strategic gateway to the city. I like the soccer league team idea also. Living in Europe for 4 years my perspective has changed so much of what a city should be and feel like. What would take Charlotte to the next level and set it apart from peers would be to identify those stroll streets and organically grow them in to neighborhoods. The last idea I have is just a piggyback on what most of you have already asked for and that is retail located in the city center. Notice I didn't specify uptown because retail doesn't have to be amongst the towers. It can be pretty close though. If Charlotte can get the retail close to the core and grow those streets of shops that create a buzz then that would be as big an impact than a 900 footer. Now if was a 1000 footer then just forget what I said.

Such a statue already exists. The Captain Jack Statue in Elizabeth is a great gateway to the city. Its also HUGE

[carolinagarnet]

I would add that there is a fairly small statue of Charlotte of Macklenburg (original spelling) in front of Wake Forest's Uptown building.

[tozmervo]

Uh, damn. That photo is phenomenal!

[ajfunder]

The Queen Charlotte statue outside the airport is a nice piece to welcome visitors (although I believe it was just temporarily removed with the start of the parking deck demolition).

Alex

[grodney]

For 2013, I'd like to see a simple low-end food joint (such as a wing place -- think DDPeckers) open in NoDa or SouthEnd and serve ONLY Charlotte beers.  I mean, I love visiting the breweries, and the food trucks do a good job, but I love the thought of someplace to grab a casual bite and have 12-15 taps of local beer.  Vinnies on South would have been a good spot for this, but I'm sure there are others available.

[Guest]

http://files.charlottecentercity.org/2012_SoCC_Web.pdf

 

The State of the Center City was just published! And a lot of interesting things!

 

There was a quote from an interview with Charlotte Observer that had a nice little gem in it!!!

 

 

Smith actually is already having conversations with developers, he said. But he declined to share details.

He did say future office development will likely look different that it did in previous decades. Banks once bankrolled much of the new office space. In the future, he said, look for private developers to pay for new projects.

Also, he envisions smaller buildings ranging from 200,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet because lenders are not likely to finance very large speculative buildings.  Office space is also likely to expand beyond Tryon Street with projects cropping up along or off Trade Street.

Click here to read the State of the Center City report.

[HopHead]

^That's some great news. I could definitely see lenders not wanting to finance any ambitious spec buildings either. I'd like to see some ~20 story office buildings that will provide some infill. I don't think uptown needs any more 700-850 ft buildings anyways. The skyline has it's signature towers already. Perhaps we'll hear something announced this year after all. 

[Urbanity]

The state of the city report was interesting particularly as it highlights that the overwhelming (eyeball guess of 80-85%) of retail in Center city is restaurants  nightlife, spas (haircuts, manicures), fast food and grocery/pharmacy.

 

At around 65K people living  in the "center city" area though we still fall significantly short of major goods retailer needs which I swore I read once requires a area (live-in) population of about 200K.   That said the movement is in the right direction!

[15895]

http://files.charlottecentercity.org/2012_SoCC_Web.pdf

The State of the Center City was just published! And a lot of interesting things!

There was a quote from an interview with Charlotte Observer that had a nice little gem in it!!!

Hm. Not too many parcels along trade I envisioned with an office tower in the near future. But its gonna be awesome having office towers spreading west and perhaps east.

[Urbanity]

^^Actually Trade from the railroad tracks to S. Popular has a few.  I would also suggest that the "park" (plus parking lot behind)  at trade and S. Church is but a space that will eventually see a tower.

[Guest]

http://www.hbginc.com/projects/multihousing-and-mixed-use/charlotte-lofts/#.UQWDQaWmA_U

 

Ran across this project. Can't find a timetable on this one, I'm doubtful its a thing anymore.

 

"The design of the new seven-story building blends seamlessly with the historic context of the surrounding urban community." Sounds like SouthEnd to me.

[nonillogical]

I must be getting pretty cynical because my first reaction is "pfft, yeah right" when I see such a thoughtful mixed use project with 27,000 sqft of retail. The inclusion of condos is the bigger indicator that its probably no more, though. Hopefully I'm wrong, wherever that is supposed to be, because it looks great.

[Guest]

I must be getting pretty cynical because my first reaction is "pfft, yeah right" when I see such a thoughtful mixed use project with 27,000 sqft of retail. The inclusion of condos is the bigger indicator that its probably no more, though. Hopefully I'm wrong, wherever that is supposed to be, because it looks great.

You aren't the only one who had that reaction. The inclusion of Condos is definitely what raised a red flag for me too. Its just interesting that it was included as an actual project instead of an "on the boards" project. 

 

One thing to take into account is the building is designed for a very specific looking parcel. With the back half of the building at a 45 degree angle. Looks a lot like the parcel that Park and Kingston is going. 

[RiverwoodCLT]

Rebirth of the 300 South Tryon office/residential tower

 

 

Rebirth of the 631 North Tryon office tower

 

 

Rebirth of the Poke Site at W Trade & Graham

Action on north College

 

 

Portman Plaza Under way

 

 

These would make a nice addition to Uptown skyline

[rjp212]

The Stonewall and I-77 photo was an April Fools joke...

[AuLukey]

I'd be ecstatic over just 300 South Tryon were it to ever reemerge.  That parking lot is one of the last things destroying Tryon's feel of being totally urban.  Especially since it's between the Bearden Park and Wells Fargo Plaza.  It's my favorite rendering that never happened.