Legacy Union (former Charlotte Observer redevelopment)

[BJKM]

Lots of activity today 

[QCxpat]

Today 9:20 a.m.

Edited February 10, 2023 by QCxpat

[JRCLT]

Today 9:20 a.m.
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This intersection is kinda crazy…

[DonkeyKong]

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, DonkeyKong said:

Lovely, but how is it there isn't a single uptown residential tower under development at this time?

Edited February 13, 2023 by RANYC

[JRCLT]

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I think this might be at it last deck floor? The floors above that formwork should be office floors, so it should start rising faster.

[JRCLT]

Lovely, but how is it there isn't a single uptown residential tower under development at this time?

Under development or…under construction?

[DonkeyKong]

3 minutes ago, JeanClt said:

Under development or…under construction?

Or just at legacy union?

[Reverie39]

Think it's time to convert some of the office buildings into residential, as I've seen a few others suggest here.

[go_vertical]

I have a question for those on here with the knowledge (architects, engineers).  What office buildings here would make ideal candidates for residential conversion? 

Also, does anyone think there may be any property owners in Charlotte that might be considering this? 

[steve_o]

17 hours ago, go_vertical said:

I have a question for those on here with the knowledge (architects, engineers).  What office buildings here would make ideal candidates for residential conversion? 

Also, does anyone think there may be any property owners in Charlotte that might be considering this? 

Isn't the buyer of Duke's Church St building doing this?

[Blakcatfan]

230 South Tryon began its life as an office tower in 1971.  It was gutted and converted to condo's 20+years ago.

Same thing was done to building at 139 S. Tryon, creating the Trust condo's.  

Just some examples where it has been done.  I think there are likely several older towers where this could be done, if a sufficient market develops.

[Madison Parkitect]

To answer a few people:

Yes, the owner of the Duke building is converting part of it to residential.

As far as other buildings go, residential really can't go in a building wider than about 75' because you can't really go further than 30'-35' deep for the units. Once you add in a 5' hallway and double load the units, you get the 75' number. If you go further than that you have to find ways to fill the leftover area with spaces that don't need windows and your efficiency goes way way down.

Modern office buildings have HUGE floor plates that are mostly hung off a central core to open up large column-free work spaces. This is great for a modern open office plan and terrible for any kind of residential conversion. If you can find an older office building with a narrower floor plate (the Duke building is pretty perfect for this) then you're in the money. Otherwise, forget about it.

[J-Rob]

22 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Otherwise, forget about it.

So what is an alternative scenario for older buildings with large vacancies? Full gut and reskin?

Edited February 15, 2023 by J-Rob

[Madison Parkitect]

18 hours ago, J-Rob said:

So what is an alternative scenario for older buildings with large vacancies? Full gut and reskin?

I'm honestly not sure, I've never worked on a project like that. I know a reskinning can be done pretty easily, but I don't know if a gut would be able to turn the insides of an old building into a space modern companies are looking for. The structural system is so different these days.

[Hushpuppy321]

On 2/12/2023 at 6:56 PM, RANYC said:

Lovely, but how is it there isn't a single uptown residential tower under development at this time?

Right now, Construction & Lending Costs are sky high plus SouthEnd is sucking up all of the oxygen at the moment with what’s planned and under construction now.  SouthEnd is more of a hotspot in terms of desirability and therefore less of a risk.  I don’t think we’ll see more than 1 or 2 Residential Towers under construction at a time for Uptown, for the foreseeable future.  
 

When the last two (2) were built (Lennar in 1st Ward and NWR in 4th Ward) High Rise Apartments hadn’t yet taken off in SouthEnd.  Now that it has, Developers will be more wary about building knowing they’ll compete for the same pool of Residential Customers able to pay the higher rents.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Hushpuppy321

[jthomas]

20 hours ago, J-Rob said:

So what is an alternative scenario for older buildings with large vacancies? Full gut and reskin?

I wonder if it would be possible, in the buildings with deep floor plates, to have residential units ringing the perimeter of the building, and then to have a secondary use which doesn’t require daylight occupying the interior? Self-storage would be an obvious complementary use to residential.

[go_vertical]

Here's a wild pie in the sky idea.  How cool would it be if they could figure out a way to convert some of the building interior to parking and install one of those car elevators?  I know, most likely impossible or so expensive it's a non-starter, but that would be pretty cool. 

[Madison Parkitect]

7 hours ago, jthomas said:

I wonder if it would be possible, in the buildings with deep floor plates, to have residential units ringing the perimeter of the building, and then to have a secondary use which doesn’t require daylight occupying the interior? Self-storage would be an obvious complementary use to residential.

A developer could find uses for the non-daylighted spaces, but I bet the math doesn't pencil out on the rent per sf. A good developer will know his numbers down to the penny and usually they need to have double-loaded residential to make it work if the footprint is that big.

[JRCLT]

It’s more economical for the owner to keep a building office than it would be to retrofit a building from office to residential. It would probably be more economical to leave vacancy compared to the spending on retrofitting costs and the hoops jumping necessary to get there.

[CTiger]

On 2/7/2023 at 11:15 PM, BJKM said:

Anyone able to get an update on what they are doing up here?  There was a new crane hoisting stuff up onto the roof today.

[SydneyCarton]

Feb 20th




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[go_vertical]

That second shot shows a really good angle of one side of the Tryon canyon.  I like it. 

[SydneyCarton]

I noticed that when I took it. Hopefully, there’s more to come on the Tryon St canyon. Charlotte has grown to the point that I can see buildings being torn down on Tryon and redeveloped. The Charlotte Visitors Center and the adjacent parking deck are prime targets for residential and hotel development.


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[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I’ve actually always wondered how the Ruth’s Chris has survived this long uptown with no developers knocking on it’s doors. Only single level building on Tryon if I’m not mistaken. Curious the story behind that building.