Pearl District - Atrium/Wake Forest School of Medicine

[deleted account]

18 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

Braxton probably thinks the new Med School tower should have affordable housing units built into it...

But he's not wrong. One only needs to look at the areas around both Novant and Atrium to see how both entities have delayed or eliminated great projects in those neighborhoods (due to land banking,  parking garages, pedestrian unfriendly medical buildings,  etc.).  And it would be awful if longterm low income residents of Cherry were displaced by hospital and related development. I say that as a huge fan of the medical school and in full recognition of how positively transformative it will be for Charlotte.  Getting the best project possible is in all our best interests. 

[KJHburg]

Some opposition to the Medical School and district by housing advocates.  My thought bubble as they like to say on Axios:  70% affordable housing is completely unreasonable.  This one project is not the cause of affordability issues in this town.  This is proposed on what is now commercial property with small single story offices and buildings.  The county owns the huge Hal Marshall site and that should be a huge affordable housing project along with market rate.  Plus the county and city should have included more affordable housing in their Brooklyn redevelopment plans since they control most of that land.    

Neighbors worry about ripple effects of Atrium Health's Innovation District - Axios Charlotte

(I like to know where these neighbors live to this property) 

[Blue_Devil]

22 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Some opposition to the Medical School and district by housing advocates.  My thought bubble as they like to say on Axios:  70% affordable housing is completely unreasonable.  This one project is not the cause of affordability issues in this town.  This is proposed on what is now commercial property with small single story offices and buildings.  The county owns the huge Hal Marshall site and that should be a huge affordable housing project along with market rate.  Plus the county and city should have included more affordable housing in their Brooklyn redevelopment plans since they control most of that land.    

Neighbors worry about ripple effects of Atrium Health's Innovation District - Axios Charlotte

(I like to know where these neighbors live to this property) 

The Cherry Neighborhood will continue to oppose any project remotely near them, so they can keep their single family homes next to the city. I like how the article, the rep suggests we need to stop gentrification of Dilworth too... Might be a little late there bud. 

[InSouthPark]

Cherry neighborhood sold out long ago.   There is no "saving" it 

[Hushpuppy321]

Yep - Cherry is far away from being affordable….

[videtur quam contuor]

Mother Teresa came to Charlotte in 1996 and appeared at the Coliseum on Tyvola with many others seeking to be seen with her and faithful followers. She announced at that visit that her Sisters for Missionaries of Charity would have a house convent here and it was in Cherry on Baldwin or Torrence, cannot recall which at this point. In addition to being a needful area there were other reasons why Cherry was chosen (of course). They have been gone from there for some time as the neighborhood changed around and under them. Intertoobz says Glenn Street near Central and Eastway.

[JacksonH]

City Council meeting/hearing going on right now.  It's been very interesting.  Various groups have spoken, from union construction workers to the Cherry Community.  Nobody has objected to the development, which is interesting; they just want it done right.  Like the Cherry folks seem most interested in ensuring there is affordable housing and that long-time residents aren't taxed out of their homes.

Lots of discussion by City Council on the fact that the city is helping fund a big parking deck.  They're recognizing the conflict with their TOD goals.  So how do you weigh that against the needs of Atrium and Wake Forest to get this project moving?  That's a central issue.

It was also interesting to hear that this location was not the only one being considered.  In fact there was concern about this location due to high real estate costs.  Before deciding on this location they had been considering somewhere along the Blue Line or even over the border in SC.

Someone from JCSU spoke.  Apparently they are going to have some involvement in ensuring some of their students have a pathway to become students at the medical school.

And of course lots of talk about apprenticeships and jobs for people without a four-year degree to help address Charlotte's low rating on upward mobility.

[SydneyCarton]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article256051187.html

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by SydneyCarton

[Blue_Devil]

So quick rough idea, but added where other density is going in this photo, just to show how quickly Morehead is changing. 

I also seem to have made this for ants... but I am doing it from work...

Edited November 23, 2021 by Blue_Devil

[KJHburg]

From the Biz Journal 

""Charlotte City Council yesterday unanimously approved $35 million worth of incentives for a planned $1.5 billion, Atrium Health-anchored medical school and innovation district.  Next month, Mecklenburg County will decide whether to support a companion package in the range of $40 million for the same project.  Council spent two hours sifting through an updated presentation on the incentives proposal; a public forum featuring speakers mostly advocating for union labor, wages and apprenticeships; and questions and comments by each council member preceding the 11-0 vote.""

Atrium-Wake Forest medical school district secures city funds - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[SydneyCarton]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article256411426.html

 

[Rufus]

 

The more I think of this, the more I hope that one day UNC Charlotte can have a medical school next door to Wake's. One would be the site of amazing primary care education and research on really innovative healthcare solutions, while the other is this massive biomedical powerhouse that develops new methods for medical care. While they sound the same, they would be entirely unique against each other, and able to synthesize against each other very well. I am thinking of a hybrid of University of Michigan's and Michigan State's medical schools, or looking at the Medical District in Houston with Baylor College of Medicine and UT Health, or NYU Langone with Bellevue and the Alexandria Center. I mean, multiple cities have hospitals right next to each other that provide the same, but are operated by different medical schools or systems and still manage to produce groundbreaking work. 

[KJHburg]

""Atrium Health Foundation today announced a $25 million gift from the Howard R. Levine Foundation to name the signature academic building, located in the heart of a new innovation district planned for midtown. The Howard R. Levine Center for Education will house the school of medicine as well as Wake Forest University School of Business, Wake Forest School for Professional Studies and Carolinas College of Health Sciences, which have also announced plans to locate there.  Atrium Health will break ground on Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte next year, with the first class scheduled to be seated in 2024.""

Howard Levine Foundation donates $25M to support Atrium innovation district building - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[J-Rob]

I am having trouble understanding the scale/size of this building.  Does it seem like it might be tight housing a school of medicine, school of business, school for professional studies, and a college of health sciences?  Seems like it might be tight to me. 

[KJHburg]

51 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

I am having trouble understanding the scale/size of this building.  Does it seem like it might be tight housing a school of medicine, school of business, school for professional studies, and a college of health sciences?  Seems like it might be tight to me. 

Not for a tower of approximately 26 stories.  

[J-Rob]

28 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Not for a tower of approximately 26 stories.  

The renderings don't look like a building as tall as 26 stories to me for some reason, but I agree that is a lot of space. Looking forward to seeing the scale in person.

[KJHburg]

10 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

The renderings don't look like a building as tall as 26 stories to me for some reason, but I agree that is a lot of space. Looking forward to seeing the scale in person.

i think that was general placement but I am hearing 26 stories or so. 

[JRCLT]

Looks to me just about as tall as Design Center tower so 26 stories seems just about right perhaps slightly taller of course.

[go_vertical]

Has the size increased recently? I've only ever heard 20 - 22 floors. 

[SydneyCarton]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article256590551.html

Howard Levine is a fantastic philanthropist.

Atrium Health’s Charlotte medical school building gets a name — and $25 million donation BY HANNAH SMOOT UPDATED DECEMBER 14, 2021 4:47 PM

Read more at: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article256590551.html#storylink=cpy

Edited December 15, 2021 by SydneyCarton

[JRCLT]

Has the size increased recently? I've only ever heard 20 - 22 floors. 

To be honest i haven’t heard any specific number for that large tower.

[RANYC]

#1 - Is this meant to be an elite school of medicine?  Or that's not in the plans?

#2 - Can this be the Howard Levine "Charlotte" School of Medicine?  Can the city be worked into this somehow?  

#3 - I'm still totally confused by "Innovation District."  No idea how they plan to action that.  You just designate, and then someone innovates?  Couldn't every innovative company in Charlotte call the space they occupy an innovation district?  Honeywell has research teams conducting experiments and developing use cases around Quantum Computing, and they do this in partnership with other companies like JPM and I'm sure many others.  Can we approach Honeywell about an Uptown Innovation District focused on Advanced Computing?

#4 - Is the area around the medical school being designed to look "urban-collegial," or more like a corporate office park?

[Blue_Devil]

3 minutes ago, RANYC said:

#1 - Is this meant to be an elite school of medicine?  Or that's not in the plans?

#2 - Can this be the Howard Levine "Charlotte" School of Medicine?  Can the city be worked into this somehow?  

#3 - I'm still totally confused by "Innovation District."  No idea how they plan to action that.  You just designate, and then someone innovates?  Couldn't every innovative company in Charlotte call the space they occupy an innovation district?  Honeywell has research teams conducting experiments and developing use cases around Quantum Computing, and they do this in partnership with other companies like JPM and I'm sure many others.  Can we approach Honeywell about an Uptown Innovation District focused on Advanced Computing?

#4 - Is the area around the medical school being designed to look "urban-collegial," or more like a corporate office park?

I am confused by your questions? What do you mean is this meant to be an elite school of medicine? Elite can mean a number of things. Atrium is a top tier teaching hospital already but is missing the heavy research function Duke has for example. The innovation district is their name for a medical research district with a focus on Lab space and medical research companies moving in. The office/lab space and partnership opportunities will be focused on that. 

This is a private project between Atrium Health and Wake Forest. The UNC School system will not be involved. The City is involved in some capacity, but I would think they would have to fund 100's of millions to have it be the Charlotte School of Medicine. 

For #4, the renderings are up top, so you be the judge. 

[RANYC]

10 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

I am confused by your questions? What do you mean is this meant to be an elite school of medicine? Elite can mean a number of things. Atrium is a top tier teaching hospital already but is missing the heavy research function Duke has for example. The innovation district is their name for a medical research district with a focus on Lab space and medical research companies moving in. The office/lab space and partnership opportunities will be focused on that. 

This is a private project between Atrium Health and Wake Forest. The UNC School system will not be involved. The City is involved in some capacity, but I would think they would have to fund 100's of millions to have it be the Charlotte School of Medicine. 

For #4, the renderings are up top, so you be the judge. 

Sorry to confuse you.  Someone else private messaged me answers to my questions.  Thanks.

medical schools get ranked...there are varying standards of acceptance in consideration of things like prior academic history and MCAT scores and acceptance rate, etc.  was merely a question asking for someone in the know to comment on whether the plan for this school included pursuing top-ranked status given its research-orientation.   Having said that, some might argue that all accredited medical schools are elite given commonplace rigor and the fact that anyone seriously pursuing such credentials is like top-notched academically.

I know UNCC isn't involved.  Simply asking about including the city's name somewhere in the medical school name given the city (and county) is a huge contributor.  We're giving 35+ million, can Charlotte be alongside Howard Levine in the way that St. Louis has its name in its School of Medicine.

Renderings are hard to make out in terms of what's innovation district versus what's academic-institutional.  

Don't feel you need to give me an answer to anything I've asked or posted which has confused you.

Edited December 15, 2021 by RANYC

[CLT2014]

7 minutes ago, RANYC said:

Sorry to confuse you.  Someone else private messaged me answers to my questions.  Thanks.

medical schools get ranked...there are varying standards of acceptance in consideration of things like prior academic history and MCAT scores and acceptance rate, etc.  was merely a question asking for someone in the know to comment on whether the plan for this school included pursuing top-ranked status given its research-orientation. 

I know UNCC isn't involved.  Simply asking about including the city's name somewhere in the medical school name given the city (and county) is a huge contributor.  We're giving 35+ million, can Charlotte be alongside Howard Levine in the way that St. Louis has its name in its School of Medicine.

Renderings are hard to make out in terms of what's innovation district versus what's academic-institutional.  

Don't feel you need to give me an answer to anything I've asked or posted which has confused you.

The actual name of the school is the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte... so "Charlotte" is in the official school name.

The donation was for the naming rights to the physical building for the school: The Howard R. Levine Center for Education. Buildings are named after their benefactors all the time. Other programs like the business school's Charlotte campus will be based in this building as well, hence "Center for Education," because it covers multiple disciplines (with an emphasis on medicine). 

It isn't that different than the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte meeting in The Dubois Center in Uptown.

Edited December 15, 2021 by CLT2014