Seversville Projects and News

[QCxpat]

Today's CBJ "Renderings: Portman plans office, residential development at Savona Mill property in West Charlotte" by Ashley Fahey

Excerpt:  "Portman Holdings will bring about 180,000 square feet of office space to market at Savona Mill, at 528 S. Turner Ave., in the Smallwood neighborhood of west Charlotte.  The original mill building dates back to 1915, with sections added in 1921, 1951 and 1996, according to the state historic preservation office.  Three of the four sections have been deemed historic.  The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.  Portman Residential, a related company of Portman Holdings focused on residential development, will build apartments on nearly 30 acres adjacent to the mill.  The firm is making its Charlotte market debut with the Savona project.  Portman Residential acquired the mill and surrounding property earlier this week for $11.5 million.  Travis Garland, executive vice president and national head of office at Portman Holdings, said the company has done adaptive reuse before but nothing in the genre of an old mill."  ...  "Portman Holdings expects to begin construction on the mill in the third quarter of next year, with space delivering sometime in 2022.  The mill needs a lot of renovation and, Garland said, the next several months will include substantial engineering work.   Portman Residential will begin its project, which will include midrise apartments, likely in the fourth quarter of next year.  Total construction value of the project is about $70 million.  Having two related companies work on both the commercial and residential portions of the project was appealing, Greg Pappanastos said.   Executives with Portman said they like the site's connection to about 80 acres of green space, including nearby Stewart Creek Greenway, Seversville Park and Martin Luther King Park.   At The Line, Portman Holdings' 16-story office tower under construction in South End,  Garland previously said having a front door on the Rail Trail was appealing."

Renderings:

CBJ  Link:  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/12/16/portman-holdings-savona-mill.html

[utcltjay]

Am I the only one disappointed that these won't be turned into cool warehouse residential lofts? The area is fast becoming the latest gentrified part of town, but most of the new development are modern townhouses and fixed up bungalows, but Charlotte has so little cool warehouse condo space, and frankly this section seems too deep in the neighborhood to serve as commercial office space. I just feel they missed the mark here. It's large enough that they could have even done a mix of both. Guess I should just be happy it is finally being fixed up at all. 

[CLT>]

14 hours ago, utcltjay said:

Am I the only one disappointed that these won't be turned into cool warehouse residential lofts? The area is fast becoming the latest gentrified part of town, but most of the new development are modern townhouses and fixed up bungalows, but Charlotte has so little cool warehouse condo space, and frankly this section seems too deep in the neighborhood to serve as commercial office space. I just feel they missed the mark here. It's large enough that they could have even done a mix of both. Guess I should just be happy it is finally being fixed up at all. 

I expected something like Hoskins Mill (which has great bones, and lots of folks don't know about) with a retail component. We tend to turn mills into office while most cities turned them into housing.

Edited December 17, 2020 by CLT>

[tozmervo]

Unpopular opinion, but I've never been in a post-industrial residential loft that I would live in. Those spaces are really cool but not super livable unless you pour a serious amount of money into thermal and acoustical control. Floor plates are also challenging since industrial column grids aren't conducive to residential spaces, and you will really only have one big space on an exterior wall with windows. 

[CLT>]

22 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

Unpopular opinion, but I've never been in a post-industrial residential loft that I would live in. Those spaces are really cool but not super livable unless you pour a serious amount of money into thermal and acoustical control. Floor plates are also challenging since industrial column grids aren't conducive to residential spaces, and you will really only have one big space on an exterior wall with windows. 

That's fair. And probably why more in Charlotte have been turned into offices, unless you put the money in they look.... strange... Brick and heavy timber, then a hollow core paneled door and bad wood trim...

Edited December 17, 2020 by CLT>

[utcltjay]

55 minutes ago, CLT> said:

I expected something like Hoskins Mill (which is cool and lots of folks don't know about) with a retail component. We tend to turn mills into office while most cities turned them into housing.

My brother owned a unit at Hoskins Mill. It was a great idea, but in a neighborhood that doesn't have any real potential, and they did a pretty basic job with the units themselves. That being said, I would have much rather seen Savona mill turned into residents and Hoskins as office space. Total shame for both. 

[videtur quam contuor]

10 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Unpopular opinion, but I've never been in a post-industrial residential loft that I would live in. Those spaces are really cool but not super livable unless you pour a serious amount of money into thermal and acoustical control. Floor plates are also challenging since industrial column grids aren't conducive to residential spaces, and you will really only have one big space on an exterior wall with windows. 

I owned a condo (in an out of town location) in a converted 1850's warehouse. Very "mill"- like construction. There was a support post mid-living room. A generous hall ran the middle of the building and separated the living sides of the building such that units had windows. My choice was a corner unit which gave a window on the bedroom as well as dual aspect living room plus kitchen window. The units were well designed to maximise light access within the limitations of the original structure. Timber framed building updated for living with concrete floors on five levels.  The bath exhaust fan could not push a column of warm air strongly enough from my floor 2 through floor 5 and to the roof  to remove the moisture, which was a nuisance, not a problem. It was quiet due to renovation techniques and materials. This was in a popular and historic location so quality was assured in the renovation. The building won some award for historic renovation and re-use. I do not claim this is the norm for such projects.

[ertley]

I think the clearest advantage to the mill itself being converted to offices is that the entire parcel will truly become mixed use, automatically TOD-CC--and if the resuscitation of the old trolley line is actually ever realized,  even a low level TOD-TC--making this site more significant as an employment center in addition to a residential and leisure area.

I think it's potentially, hopefully going to be even more significant because of the contiguous northward extension it creates of the employment/enjoyment-focused revitalization of the Tuckaseegee Road area, virtually to Rozelle's Ferry Road. It may have seemed ridiculous some years ago to suggest it, but I think this could then spur a sooner-rather-than later transformation of Rozeelle's Ferry Road similar to what's currently going on at Tuckaseegee.

Eventually there's very likely going to be unbroken corridor of mixed employment, leisure as well as residential bases all the way from Wilkinson Boulevard (once the Silver Line is built) to, at a minimum, the Savona Mill complex, and quite possibly all the way up to Brookshire (with a slight bottleneck, obvs, between Savona and Rozelle's Ferry). This, IMO, would be amazing because it will create almost a second (medium sized) city's worth of economic activity barely a mile west of Uptown, with highly desirable neighborhoods emerging within and on all sides. And this is near west Charlotte, which not too long ago was as removed as it could be from the other side of the city.

Now I'm thinking about how the city could better facilitate north-south movement within this future corridor...

[kermit]

23 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Unpopular opinion, but I've never been in a post-industrial residential loft that I would live in. Those spaces are really cool but not super livable unless you pour a serious amount of money into thermal and acoustical control. Floor plates are also challenging since industrial column grids aren't conducive to residential spaces, and you will really only have one big space on an exterior wall with windows. 

Damn, this breaks my heart because I know its true.  Now that I have heard someone knowledgeable say it, I am broken.

One of my favorite tropes from 80s apocalypse / urban decay movies was when the tough-guy male protagonist lived inside some empty factory and parked his car and had a basketball court (and all kids of other 80s mancave crap) inside. Oceans 8 had the feminized version of this more recently.  Seems like there were still a few opportunities for this sort of thing in late 90s Charlotte.

Edited December 18, 2020 by kermit

[RANYC]

12 hours ago, ertley said:

I think the clearest advantage to the mill itself being converted to offices is that the entire parcel will truly become mixed use, automatically TOD-CC--and if the resuscitation of the old trolley line is actually ever realized,  even a low level TOD-TC--making this site more significant as an employment center in addition to a residential and leisure area.

I think it's potentially, hopefully going to be even more significant because of the contiguous northward extension it creates of the employment/enjoyment-focused revitalization of the Tuckaseegee Road area, virtually to Rozelle's Ferry Road. It may have seemed ridiculous some years ago to suggest it, but I think this could then spur a sooner-rather-than later transformation of Rozeelle's Ferry Road similar to what's currently going on at Tuckaseegee.

Eventually there's very likely going to be unbroken corridor of mixed employment, leisure as well as residential bases all the way from Wilkinson Boulevard (once the Silver Line is built) to, at a minimum, the Savona Mill complex, and quite possibly all the way up to Brookshire (with a slight bottleneck, obvs, between Savona and Rozelle's Ferry). This, IMO, would be amazing because it will create almost a second (medium sized) city's worth of economic activity barely a mile west of Uptown, with highly desirable neighborhoods emerging within and on all sides. And this is near west Charlotte, which not too long ago was as removed as it could be from the other side of the city.

Now I'm thinking about how the city could better facilitate north-south movement within this future corridor...

I'm thrilled that this mill will become offices.  I'm 0.9 miles from the site, and truly believe that a concentration of high-paying jobs accommodated by a transformational development project will spur enhancements in so many nearby zones of the community.  A center of jobs and commerce will make existing and upcoming residential developments in West End even more attractive.  I get so excited by some of these announcements that I want to use my weekends to help turn over dirt and get things underway.

[kermit]

CBJ on Savona Mill rezoning details:

Quote

Plans call for up to 290,000 square feet of commercial space — the bulk of which is in the existing mill — and 650 residential units.

The rezoning shows a site plan for the property and details about building layout and height. New construction on the interior of the site will be a maximum of eight stories, or 120 feet, and buildings around the perimeter will be no taller than four stories.

Of the 290,000 square feet of commercial space, a maximum of 47,000 square feet will be retail, according to the petition. [this is a shame, the space could have held a fantastic market]

Portman expects to begin work on the mill by the third quarter of this year, with the residential portion likely beginning in the fourth quarter.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/01/07/portman-residential-rezoning-savona-mill.html

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by kermit

[dencity]

There's more lot coverage for parking than actual buildings.  While 650 units and the mill will continue to activate this neighborhood, I was hoping Portman would be a bit bolder given there's a car-free development right across the street. Would've been a great opportunity for a cohesive neighborhood

[westsideisnice]

The hotel caught my eye, I guess the idea is to have enough business travelers visiting the offices to sustain it?  Regardless, I'm excited to see a true live/work/play development on the west side.  

[Blue_Devil]

20 hours ago, dencity said:

There's more lot coverage for parking than actual buildings.  While 650 units and the mill will continue to activate this neighborhood, I was hoping Portman would be a bit bolder given there's a car-free development right across the street. Would've been a great opportunity for a cohesive neighborhood

Not all, but a lot of that parking could eventually be redeveloped. 

[Cassman]

Has anyone found the actual rezoning petition itself on the city's website?  I'm a sucker for primary sources.

[DCtransplant]

Did a little urban exploring this weekend and walked deep into MLK park behind Savona Mill. It's not hard to picture how nice the greenway extension along Stewart creek could be. So much potential. Add a few walking bridges to connect the park with the Savona development and you really have some beautiful "live work play".

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[KJHburg]

Drive by Savona Mill the other day and around the neighborhood.   Not sure this duplex fits in and this is more in Enderly Park off Tuckaseegee.  Thought this new Spanish language church in an older church did a good job of renovating and updating the older church building. 

[kermit]

^ IMO the neighborhood has some of the best bones in Charlotte.

[housing stock, tree canopy, elevation, view, institutional buildings, greenway, mill and streetcar]

Edited January 28, 2021 by kermit

[videtur quam contuor]

Long time ago my parents came from the midwest to visit me. They drove. I told them to arrive on I-85 then take an exit and call me and I would talk to them from there how to reach my home. Dad called and said he was at a restaurant off of Glenwood Drive .  I had never heard of it. I said "re-enter the interstate and choose another exit." I later drove the highway until I found this exit which existed then, as well as now, for no reason I can imagine.

Also: their son was foolish and assumed knowledge he did not possess. (obvs)

[nicholas]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Drive by Savona Mill the other day and around the neighborhood.   Not sure this duplex fits in and this is more in Enderly Park off Tuckaseegee.  Thought this new Spanish language church in an older church did a good job of renovating and updating the older church building.

What an odd collection of cars in the back duplex.  A Hummer and a Porsche Taycan EV.

[a2theb]

21 hours ago, KJHburg said:

 

 

 

 

These are popping up everywhere on this side of town and they are horrendous. Wasn't enough just destroying Westbrook and Greenleaf, now the developer has to take over the whole westside

[Urban Cowboy]

Add third ward and optimist park to that list. Fugly on the outside, but nice interiors for the most part. Referring to those “duets”

Edited January 30, 2021 by Urban Cowboy

[utcltjay]

On 1/28/2021 at 2:18 PM, kermit said:

^ IMO the neighborhood has some of the best bones in Charlotte.

[housing stock, tree canopy, elevation, view, institutional buildings, greenway, mill and streetcar]

Agree with you completely. I have seen these hideous duplexes popping up everywhere around uptown and I just can't believe how little effort was put into the design. It doesn't just avoid fitting in, it blatantly offends everything around it. So sad. 

[JRCLT]

These are popping up everywhere on this side of town and they are horrendous. Wasn't enough just destroying Westbrook and Greenleaf, now the developer has to take over the whole westside

I’d just say they’re being built in areas that they do not fit in at all.

I’d just say they’re being built in areas that they do not fit in at all.

This is something that would be squeezed in between two buildings to add density otherwise it looks pretty ugly.

[KJHburg]

those back to back duplexes are not cheap.  the ones I photographed in Enderly Park are about $570K