Will the University City area ever be cleaned up?

[AuLukey]

Well, it looks like City Boulevard may actually be used for something other than a back entrance to CIC now.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news...ty/14846025.htm

Once City Boulevard is finished, developers have plans to open new side roads between I-85 and U.S. 29, Hopper said.

I think this may the most significant part to the project: University City may actually get a grid. Even a little would do wonders.

[MZT]

They'd like to do it in two years. What does that tell you about how long it will really take?

[dubone]

Where will the children drag race if they turn this into a road to somewhere?

By the way, I think this project is a direct beneficiary of the new tax rate, as this project will now be able to go on the bond referendum in November.

As much as I like grids, I have a feeling that you are wrong that this will turn into a grid. It will almost certainly be the standard, road-clogging development pattern that exists all over University City.

[AuLukey]

Where will the children drag race if they turn this into a road to somewhere?

By the way, I think this project is a direct beneficiary of the new tax rate, as this project will now be able to go on the bond referendum in November.

As much as I like grids, I have a feeling that you are wrong that this will turn into a grid. It will almost certainly be the standard, road-clogging development pattern that exists all over University City.

Well, it's not that I think it will become a grid; but it should be the closest thing to having a grid as University would have though. When you zoom out, the core of University is a giant Pizza shaped grid. Too bad there is little grid-work on the micro level. I'm just hoping the city has realized its mistakes in that area ( ) and they are working to correct it. I heard rumor long back about the Harris-Tryon intersection turned into a tunnel design routing thru-traffic past the campus. Glad that never came to fruitation as that would have hurt the area even more. I imagine that if the two lane Tryon design with street side retail actually gets accomplished, the area will change far for the better as this would cause more roadways to be built to handle the traffic load.

[AuLukey]

In a recent Observer article, University City isn't infact dying but actually growing as it has low vacany rates second to only uptown. I hope that this trend continues. The article seems optimistic that the apartment market will continue to grow along with mixed used developments in UC. I'm hoping that the majority will be mixed use however, we already have enough traffic as it is. I was wondering if any of you thought that the trend would continue towards apartment complexes or if the city was finally waking up to the issues in University City and will continue to promote mix use?

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news...ty/15026139.htm

[monsoon]

If you are talking about Harris Blvd, then it is already too far gone to worry about. The stretch from Hwy 115 to the Plaza extension, maybe 10 miles, is a horrible sprawl of cul de sac neighborhoods, strip malls, big box retail, and huge apartment complexes isolated behind fences like prisons. It's about as bad as it gets. I am not sure what could be done to fix it now. The article says there are close to 12,000 apartments in this area, and not one of them can be reached by anything but an automobile. Keep in mind that almost all of this has been built in the last 20 years.

If the city was serious about development in this area, they would put an immediate moritorium on new building permits, develop a comprehensive land use plan that actually addresses how future growth should occur there, do an zoning overlay if possible, then force all new development to follow it. Will they do it? Probably not. There is no political will or interest in this sort of thing in Charlotte beyond the downtown area and certain signature neighborhoods near there. Until the people start demanding it, it won't change.

[AuLukey]

Slow news day today in that they gave a little extra coverage on UC zoning requests. Seems that hotels are becoming all the rage in that about half of the current requests involve mixed-use facilities including hotel space. They mostly include multi-family housing (of course,) but what surprised me was the level of office and retail space they are planning along with two seperate hotels they want to put up. Is this feeding off the success of the Concord Mills hotels during the past race season or is there something else that I'm missing?

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news...ty/15049933.htm

[AuLukey]

It's about time people in University City are actually paying attention to what gets developed in the area. Last night there was a meeting about future development procedure in the UC area. The Charlotte Observer reported an article about it beforehand and has yet to post the outcome (as usual.) I was curious, did anybody make it to the meeting?

[MZT]

Made a short trip out to UC this evening... ya know, even I can tell after only six years in Charlotte that the area is not ageing gracefully.

That empty restaurant in front of the HWY 49 shopping center really is an eyesore! Plus UC seems to be filling up with lower-value merchants and some vacant storefonts... although the expansion of Ghazi's commercial center at Tryon and WT Harris is the (current) exception to that.

Go down WT Harris beyond Old Concord Road, and frankly the area begins to feel "sketchy".

[AuLukey]

I do agree, that side of UC needs some cleaning up. Or really, just take a giant wrecking ball to that whole strip and put something of value in. Which restaurant are you talking about? The former RJ Gators is some kind of "club" at night so it looks abandoned most of the day. I wouldn't say that the area is filling up with lower end retailers as the ghazi development is not the only developer in UC bringing retail in. Remember that Crescent's development and the development along McCullough is slated to bring in newer retail which will hopefully aim to serve the higher priced rental units on that side of UC.

Everything in UC is geared towards the highways. Hopefully these new developments will gear more activity onto some of the secondary roads giving more opportunity for the major big box developments to rethink their design. These new developments are at least a small step in the right direction to help UC grow away from the major roads.

[ScottCLT]

The former RJ Gators is some kind of "club" at night so it looks abandoned most of the day.

[Batou]

One area seriously in decline is the one on 49 that currently has Little Ceasers and Wendy's, so much so, that they are putting in a Family Dollar where the CVS was before it moved to a stand alone location close to 29. Other stuff that left was Great Clips (moved to space next to Harris Teeter) and Movie Gallery (which didn't move it's just gone) Oh well, as long as Little Ceasers and Wendys are still over there I'll still go over there sometimes.

[Andyc545]

RJ Gator's closed????? That was one of my favorite spots in the area. That's where I had my first legal drink, and I ate there on a weekly basis in college. I never was there when the place was in the least bit empty -- I wonder what prompted the closure? Every time I make it back up in that neck of the woods, I always have tried to hit that spot up for some of their "clear the sinuses" buffalo chicken fingers -- they were awesome. I hate that this place closed. That means I have to drive to Gastonia now when I have a craving for those buffalo chicken fingers...

[AuLukey]

RJ Gators is in front of Home Depot / Circuit City on UCity Blvd. This location didn't close, unless I missed something in the past few weeks...

[atlrvr]

The NW corner of Tryon and Harris which is currently a grassy slope down towards the Hilton and office buildings, wil soon become........a parking lot...........so much for transforming that corner into something urban.

[southslider]

Considering that intersection will eventually be grade-separated, I doubt the parking lot is to blame. Fortunately, the nearby intersections of Ken Hoffman to the immediate south, plus JW Clay to the immediate north, are the planned Blue Line Extension stations on North Tryon, as well as potential urban nodes, not increasingly controlled access WT Harris.

[Batou]

One area seriously in decline is the one on 49 that currently has Little Ceasers and Wendy's, so much so, that they are putting in a Family Dollar where the CVS was before it moved to a stand alone location close to 29. Other stuff that left was Great Clips (moved to space next to Harris Teeter) and Movie Gallery (which didn't move it's just gone) Oh well, as long as Little Ceasers and Wendys are still over there I'll still go over there sometimes.

[AuLukey]

A little update about this shopping center, I was there the other day and noticed they are also now putting in a business called Monkey Joes which is a kids playground/birthday place aparently. http://www.monkeyjoes.com/ Kinda unique for around here I guess.