SouthEnd "Gold District"

[Durhamite]

It's about friggin time, developing a portion of southend into a tourist or destination area is perfect for promoting some of Charlotte's real history. It's the one part of Charlotte with historical character and has tons of potential.  I think a vibrant district in that area will attract a lot of retail and elevate southend into resembling a "northeastern city" style of urban development - if done right.  In addition, it'll be in direct contrast to the heavily manufactured uptown vibe and that makes a good blend.  Don't get it twisted I like uptown, but Charlotte desperately needs an area that captures it's past and utilizes some of it's older structures in town.

[dubone]

(Milz, on iPhone browser, select 'view full site' and it should allow picture update from that, just not on mobile version for some reason).

[MilZ]

 ^Thanks

[Guest]

See attached.

 

Theres actually some really cool old brick industrial buildings on Graham. I knew about all the ones on Mint, I love BooneOakley's building, but I barely knew S. Graham existed, too bad it can't get extended to Carson Blvd, since its more or less an off ramp there.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Guest

[Spartan]

I really like this idea. That part of South End has always felt like a separate place since it isn't anchored by the blue line.

[Guest]

Look at this awesome block on Graham.

http://goo.gl/maps/bLLc2

Great Building already "done up" on Mint

http://goo.gl/maps/gVJvE

Another Building with Potential

http://goo.gl/maps/sfg4d

Put Three Rollup Garage Doors on this puppy and call it a day. would make an excellent bar and/or retail store.

http://goo.gl/maps/yVJkp

Great Urban Building

http://goo.gl/maps/JlByZ

Honestly I'd save and repurpose every single 1 story brick buildilng.

http://goo.gl/maps/C2L5E

Love this building too

http://goo.gl/maps/uYGL2

Kick ass Lofts

http://goo.gl/maps/l4yqN

Loving the Gold District already

http://goo.gl/maps/CWpKE

 

Post Apocalyptic Waste Land as far as the eye can see.

http://goo.gl/maps/C5CSh

Edited December 9, 2013 by Guest

[ah59396]

There really are some gems back there....

[Guest]

Green Buildings : Buildings of Architectural Significance that should be saved and revitalized.

Blue Buildings: Buildings of Architectural Significance that have already been revitalized.

Red Buildings: Suburban Style Buildings that sadly will probably stay that way.

Pink Outline: Land that could support Urban Development

Blue Outline: Current Projects

Red Dots: Proposed Gold District Boundaries. 

Orange Dots: My Proposed Extention to Gold District.

 

 

[norm21499]

So even though this neighborhood is technically part of South End, no one ventures there cause it has not been revitalized yet. I had no idea that Charlotte still had so many old buildings in one area LOL! 

[tozmervo]

You generously left the Catholic Diocese offices alone

[Guest]

You generously left the Catholic Diocese offices alone

lol, churches are untouchable in the Queen City

[DEnd]

lol, churches are untouchable in the Queen City

 

The Diocese is redevelopable, IIRC.  I seem to recall something about the church was interested in moving from there if the right buyer came along.

[Spartan]

So even though this neighborhood is technically part of South End, no one ventures there cause it has not been revitalized yet. I had no idea that Charlotte still had so many old buildings in one area LOL! 

 

I think it's time we started thinking about South End as a collection of neighborhoods in the same sense that Uptown has four wards. Most of them are 'station area' neighborhoods, so I think it makes sense for the Gold District to distinguish itself.

[dubone]

I absolutely agree.   Now that SouthEnd has a large and long boundary, the different areas start acting like neighborhoods within that.   This area does seem to warrant it's own district because it is somehow seems like a peripheral part of SouthEnd, just like the NewBern area does.    They do deserve and ought to have a label because it is a hassle to describe the area without one.   

 

I love the idea that we would unify this part of SouthEnd under the Gold District because it reminds us of the history that helped make Charlotte a city rather than a crossroads village.   

 

And thankfully it's not a faux-trendy NoSe for Northern SouthEnd or some stupid crap.  

[MilZ]

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/July-2014/The-Story-of-Charlotte-Part-3-The-Corrupting-Treasure/

 

http://facebook.com/TheGoldDistrict

 

This article outlines some of the events in Charlotte around 200 years ago and the gold rush.  And interesting fact in the side bar led me to the Gold District's facebook page, which I was unaware of.  

[KickinChicken23]

Could any of the old mines ever be re-opened? That would be a real way to honor the past that "The Gold district" is supposed to be about. I love the idea and the area has been in development for a long time since Wilmore started its turnaround. It's progress 

[Niner National]

Could any of the old mines ever be re-opened? That would be a real way to honor the past that "The Gold district" is supposed to be about. I love the idea and the area has been in development for a long time since Wilmore started its turnaround. It's progress 

I posted about this in the Charlotte history thread a few weeks ago.

 

The short answer is no.

 

I watched a documentary about the gold rush here on PBS a few weeks back and Dan Morrill discussed this topic. He said the city explored this in the 70's and determined it wasn't economically feasible. The mines here had major issues with water and huge pumps had to run 24 hours a day to keep the water out.

 

That's fine when you are extracting gold, but tourism isn't profitable enough to continuously pump water out of the mine shafts.

[Windsurfer]

IF I had the money, and IF I didn't already have a full time job running a business, I'd at least, at a minimum, open up the entrance to one of them. You don't have to have a complete tunnel network to make something like this interesting.  A complete network might be what someone thought of trying in the 70's ( I don't remember that effort, and I was an assiduous local news reader back then). It's true that the shafts flooded after they reached a certain depth. Some of the shafts go deeper than 700'!

 

I'm really surprised that I hadn't heard of the city's effort. I don't believe what Morrill says the city concluded. (With all-do respect)

[MilZ]

It sounds like a sinkhole could be opening up in South End one day.

[ah59396]

I've been told by a super secret source that 1400 S Church St is being renovated into a restaurant space.  I don't have many other details and I know this is borderline "Gold District", but restaurants pushing west are REALLY encouraging.  And it's close enough as far as I'm concerned.  

 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.219035,-80.857434,3a,75y,301h,79.52t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1siijkXsswZuho8WPUvYkpDw!2e0!6m1!1e1

[CLTProductions]

I've been told by a super secret source that 1400 S Church St is being renovated into a restaurant space.  I don't have many other details and I know this is borderline "Gold District", but restaurants pushing west are REALLY encouraging.  And it's close enough as far as I'm concerned.  

 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.219035,-80.857434,3a,75y,301h,79.52t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1siijkXsswZuho8WPUvYkpDw!2e0!6m1!1e1

Agreed that it is very encouraging, and YES would love to see that space and area built up with restaurants and bars.

[Guest]

I've been told by a super secret source that 1400 S Church St is being renovated into a restaurant space.  I don't have many other details and I know this is borderline "Gold District", but restaurants pushing west are REALLY encouraging.  And it's close enough as far as I'm concerned.  

 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.219035,-80.857434,3a,75y,301h,79.52t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1siijkXsswZuho8WPUvYkpDw!2e0!6m1!1e1

It is indeed. :-) We posted about it a few pages back, hooray :-). 

[ah59396]

I'm being told the name is "Seoulfood Meat Company". So Korean steakhouse I guess?

[Guest]

I'm being told the name is "Seoulfood Meat Company". So Korean steakhouse I guess?

That would be very very amazing. I had not heard a name, Hopefully they have a great patio somehow. Its really nice to see so many light industrial buildings getting such cool adaptive reuse.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Guest

[CLTProductions]

That would be very very amazing. I had not heard a name, Hopefully they have a great patio somehow. Its really nice to see so many light industrial buildings getting such cool adaptive reuse.

Agreed!! An area with some character, a "warehouse district" if you will