Pearl District - Atrium/Wake Forest School of Medicine

[kayman]

On 6/20/2022 at 8:43 PM, KJHburg said:

This new Pearl innovation district is just going to be huge impactful on Charlotte and the region.  Atrium Wake Forest officials toured their facility in France. 

From the Biz Journal today

""Charlotte-based Atrium announced IRCAD as an anchor partner for The Pearl innovation district earlier this year. The institute offers world-class research and training for surgeons, specializing in minimally invasive techniques and robotics-driven tools for diagnosis and simulation. It has six training centers in five countries, including Taiwan, Brazil and Rwanda, and trains more than 7,200 physicians each year. The local center will be its North American base.  On this trip, we had the opportunity to really have deep-dive conversations with the top executives from the likes of Siemens and Stryker and Pentax and (Johnson & Johnson)," Shrestha said. "These are all partners that have committed to be part of IRCAD North America here in Charlotte." A number of health systems were vying to land IRCAD North America, Shrestha said. Atrium's drive and ambition surrounding the innovation district helped it stand out, as it plans for this center to be part of broader ecosystem. Charlotte's fast growth and international airport make it an ideal spot to host thousands of surgeons, he said. Atrium is also a leader on surgical protocols and training, such as its implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/06/20/ircad-atrium-health-strasbourg-france-surgery.html

""IRCAD North America will be in the first phase of construction at the innovation district. It will be housed in an approximately 250,000-square-foot research building with the Carolinas Simulation Center and about 125,000 square feet of wet lab and research office space, Shrestha said. Next door will be the roughly 350,000-square-foot Howard Levine Center of Education, with the Carolinas College of Health Sciences and the Wake Forest schools of medicine, professional studies and business, he said.""

 

You missed the part that 5,500 jobs on-site but 11,000 for Mecklenburg County alone over the next 15 years. That’s going to be more jobs created by this for the entire metro as a whole. 

[kayman]

Also I sense the proposed Wake Forest School of Law location here in Charlotte will be in the Pearl as well.  We're coming up in several categories in economic sectors beyond financial and fintech. Charlotte must use this opportunity become very competitive in biotech, healthcare research, and higher education.  If the UNC Board of Governors won't do it voluntarily with UNCC then the private higher education institutions like Wake Forest will partner with local corporations to do that thus forcing them to further invest in Charlotte to remain competitive. 

Edited June 22, 2022 by kayman

[J-Rob]

1 hour ago, kayman said:

I sense the proposed Wake Forest School of Law location here in Charlotte

Has this been formally proposed? I missed that.  That is big news.  If so, crazy to think WF is plugging the med school and law school gap in Charlotte.  Great for them, but seems like a major missed opportunity for UNC Board of Governors.

[kayman]

7 hours ago, J-Rob said:

Has this been formally proposed? I missed that.  That is big news.  If so, crazy to think WF is plugging the med school and law school gap in Charlotte.  Great for them, but seems like a major missed opportunity for UNC Board of Governors.

There have been discussions mentioned  but nothing formally announced. 

[JRCLT]

When will this break ground exactly? Recall 2022 Q1 but I don’t think that may be the case anymore obviously…

[KJHburg]

Wexford the developer along with Atrium Wake Forest has a new webpage for the Pearl.

https://www.thepearlclt.com/

[Hushpuppy321]

On 6/23/2022 at 3:12 PM, JeanClt said:

When will this break ground exactly? Recall 2022 Q1 but I don’t think that may be the case anymore obviously…

They’ve mentioned it breaking ground in 2022 (this year) but I wouldn’t expect any major construction activities until the end of the year/early next year.  Maybe one of the guys checking permits can let us know when they pull them for this building.

[KJHburg]

Since this is about life sciences in the Charlotte region as the med school is a big part of that for the future but this is a good recap on where we are at right now.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4fca20faf81140c3804fd80a262bf6f2

[KJHburg]

walked around this area today to see the "Before"  on Baxter St lots of single level buildings with surface parking but according to tax records most of these attorney offices on E Morehead are owned by the same landowner and this will be a part of Pearl Med school district.  Some of these buildings are empty now some not but that is quite of few office tenants that will be looking for new homes.  I mean if you need a personal injury attorney in this town Morehead is the street to find one.  

Obviously Charlottetown Terrace senior housings will remain last 2 photos.      Someone needs to get some of these crepe myrtles and replace them elsewhere there are a lot of them in this area.   Not all of these office buildings will be razed but many of them at these addresses: 1051 E Morehead, 1042 E Morehead, 1017 E Morehead are all owned by an affiliate of Atrium at this point.  The building with Fasion 4th photo will not be at this point. 

[kayman]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:53 PM, KJHburg said:

Since this is about life sciences in the Charlotte region as the med school is a big part of that for the future but this is a good recap on where we are at right now.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4fca20faf81140c3804fd80a262bf6f2

There is a serious need to bring in more or entice more venture capitalists and investors to the region.  These are key to seeding  startups particularly in the biotechnology & biopharmaceutials sectors to the region.  As I've said before,  Charlotte has the major potential to be a powerhouse in biotech & biopharmaceutial research and production even larger than the Triangle.  Since Charlotte is the gateway btwn both North Carolina and South Carolina.  It would be mutually beneficial for both states for Charlotte to succeed as the Carolinas' life sciences industry economic powerhouse region.  The spillover economic effects would definitely help York and Lancaster counties for sure. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by kayman

[SydneycartonII]

13 hours ago, kayman said:

There is a serious need to bring in more or entice more venture capitalists and investors to the region.  These are key to seeding  startups particularly in the biotechnology & biopharmaceutials sectors to the region.  As I've said before,  Charlotte has the major potential to be a powerhouse in biotech & biopharmaceutial research and production even larger than the Triangle.  Since Charlotte is the gateway btwn both North Carolina and South Carolina.  It would mutually beneficial for both states for Charlotte to succeed as a Carolina's life sciences industry economic powerhouse region.  The spillover economic effects would definitely help York and Lancaster counties for sure. 

I love Charlotte and hope to move back there from  Chapel Hill, but it will never remotely approach the Triangle in terms of biotech and life sciences.   The presence of Duke, UNC, and NC State in a small area gives the Triangle enormous brain power, which few areas in the whole country have on a per capita basis.  This is reflected by the enormous number of people with Ph. Ds around here.  
 

The Triangle consistently ranks among the top ten metros for life sciences despite the fact that it’s only about the thirtieth largest metro in America.

I think of the Triangle’s economy as a mini Boston/SF, whereas I think of Charlotte’s as a mini New York.

That being said, I hope that Charlotte’s biotech industry grows substantially.  It’s close enough to Duke, UNC, etc. to attract talent, and it’s a more appealing metro than the Triangle.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by SydneycartonII

[kayman]

20 minutes ago, SydneycartonII said:

I love Charlotte and hope to move back there from  Chapel Hill, but it will never remotely approach the Triangle in terms of biotech and life sciences.   The presence of Duke, UNC, and NC State in a small area gives the Triangle enormous brain power, which few areas in the whole country have on a per capita area.  This is reflected by the enormous number of people with Ph. Ds around here.  
 

The Triangle consistently ranks among the top ten metros for life sciences despite the fact that it’s only about the thirtieth largest metro in America.

I think of the Triangle’s economy as a mini Boston/SF, whereas I think of Charlotte’s as a mini New York.

That being said, I hope that Charlotte’s biotech industry grows substantially.  It’s close enough to Duke, UNC, etc. to attract talent, and it’s a more appealing metro than the Triangle.

 

 

That's true about the Triangle, but I think UNCC, Wake Forest University building a secondary campus around the Pearl district, a more robustly funded Queens University, Winthrop University, and Johnson C. Smith University could give Charlotte a stronger foothold in the life sciences industries in the long-term.

I think also the fact that we have the Pearl, University City, & the North Carolina Research Campus will fill those areas continuing to draw those type of industries.  Although it may not replace the other entities in the Triangle, Charlotte could definitely give and be more attractive to those who want careers in life sciences a stronger, more urban alternative.

Edited July 27, 2022 by kayman

[SydneycartonII]

1 minute ago, kayman said:

That's true about the Triangle, but I think UNCC, Wake Forest University building a secondary campus around the Pearl district, a more robustly funded Queens University, Winthrop University, and Johnson C. Smith University could give Charlotte a stronger foothold in the life sciences industries in the long-term.

I think also the fact that we have the Pearl, University City, & the North Carolina Research Campus will fill those continue to draw those type of industries.  Although it may not replace the other entities in the Triangle, Charlotte could definitely give and be more attractive to those who want careers in life sciences a stronger, more urban alternative.

I agree.  Charlotte has a lot to offer, and this new campus should help it grow in this area.

[Reverie39]

On 7/27/2022 at 9:37 AM, SydneycartonII said:

I love Charlotte and hope to move back there from  Chapel Hill, but it will never remotely approach the Triangle in terms of biotech and life sciences.   The presence of Duke, UNC, and NC State in a small area gives the Triangle enormous brain power, which few areas in the whole country have on a per capita basis.  This is reflected by the enormous number of people with Ph. Ds around here.  
 

The Triangle consistently ranks among the top ten metros for life sciences despite the fact that it’s only about the thirtieth largest metro in America.

I think of the Triangle’s economy as a mini Boston/SF, whereas I think of Charlotte’s as a mini New York.

That being said, I hope that Charlotte’s biotech industry grows substantially.  It’s close enough to Duke, UNC, etc. to attract talent, and it’s a more appealing metro than the Triangle.

 

 

Agree with all, especially the Triangle being mini Boston and Charlotte being mini New York. The Triangle is a powerhouse in the sciences and frankly very few metros in the entire country can match it, much less finance-oriented Charlotte. I think Charlotte may have had a better chance of attracting the tech industry however, before the Triangle got a firm hold on that as well. Apple and Google seem all-in on the Triangle. I wonder if Charlotte could diversify by expanding into aerospace/defense or something. I'm in the field myself and have always been saddened that I need to move out of state to get the attractive jobs. Given how many engineering students graduate from NC universities every year, I think it might be worth investing in. Honeywell is of course HQ'd here (as is Collins) but I don't think there's much of the technical engineering work. 

On a side note, a fun thought I recently had is that as Charlotte approaches 3 million metro population, it actually isn't very far behind Boston's 4 million. It is also about to pass Baltimore's 2.8 million. Starting to enter the ranks of some of the Northeast megalopolis's cities.

[15895]

2 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Agree with all, especially the Triangle being mini Boston and Charlotte being mini New York. The Triangle is a powerhouse in the sciences and frankly very few metros in the entire country can match it, much less finance-oriented Charlotte. I think Charlotte may have had a better chance of attracting the tech industry however, before the Triangle got a firm hold on that as well. Apple and Google seem all-in on the Triangle. I wonder if Charlotte could diversify by expanding into aerospace/defense or something. I'm in the field myself and have always been saddened that I need to move out of state to get the attractive jobs. Given how many engineering students graduate from NC universities every year, I think it might be worth investing in. Honeywell is of course HQ'd here (as is Collins) but I don't think there's much of the technical engineering work. 

On a side note, a fun thought I recently had is that as Charlotte approaches 3 million metro population, it actually isn't very far behind Boston's 4 million. It is also about to pass Baltimore's 2.8 million. Starting to enter the ranks of some of the Northeast megalopolis's cities.

I dunno about not being very far behind Boston. 

Boston’s almost 5 million MSA and has a CSA of 8.46  while Charlotte’s MSA only added ~40,000 people more than Boston’s between 2010-2020. Unlike Atlanta, Charlotte won’t be able to geographically expand as easily as Atlanta due to the Triad. Boston’s metropolitan area is around 62% more dense than Atlanta. (And Charlotte’s metro is more dense than Atlanta’s) 

Charlotte’s metro is closer in population to Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, Winston-Salem & Greensboro’s MSA than Boston’s MSA. Without massively increasing the density or absorbing Winston-Salem, it’s gonna be a long time before Charlotte is close to Boston. I like Boston’s rail system. I want 3 of these in Charlotte. Lol.

Edited July 31, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[Reverie39]

True, I apparently missed the ".9" after the "4" in Boston's MSA population. Still it's worth noting that in the post-pandemic world (2020-2021) Boston has started to shrink (lost a little under 1% of MSA population) while Charlotte is growing at over 1.5%. But that's a short term trend so we'll see if it continues.

Regardless I didn't mean to suggest Charlotte will catch up to Boston anytime soon (or ever). Boston is the 11th largest metro in the country. But I feel like once Charlotte hits the 3 million mark it sort of enters a new tier on the list of MSAs, one that is ahead of the Northeast's smallest major city (Baltimore) and sort of in the fray with some other huge cities. It will be a top 20 MSA and could very well compete with or pass cities like Denver and San Diego in the coming years and decades. 

[Bolt]

Charlotte metro is not a more appealing metro than the Triangle.  Triangles always kicks our ass in livability rankings.   Growing faster with better demographics also.  

[TheOneRJ]

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

Charlotte metro is not a more appealing metro than the Triangle.  Triangles always kicks our ass in livability rankings.   Growing faster with better demographics also.  

The Charlotte MSA is 2x the size as the Raleigh MSA and 4x the size of the Durham MSA. The Research Triangle (which is a CSA) has 750,000 less people than the Charlotte CSA. The Triangle can continue to grow faster than Charlotte (which isn’t a significant difference in the first place) for the next decade and would still fail to get anywhere close to Charlotte’s CSA population. Raleigh is playing catch up, just as they have been for a decade.

[MarcoPolo]

KJHburg, your "before" pictures will become wonderful archival photos to compare the "after" photos against in a little more than a decade.  As I stated several pages back on this thread, the transformational impact of the Pearl District on the City of Charlotte's future economic and cultural profile is difficult to overhype.   The quantity of new buildings and urbanized streetscapes that will descend on this underutilized, suburban corner of uptown will be breathtaking.    Morehead St, Mcdowell/Second Ward, Kings Dr/Midtown will become Charlotte's version of Buckhead / Midtown in Atlanta.  

And, while all the new "hardware" in terms of urban development will be visually impressive, it will be the introduction of all the new "software" in terms of businesses, professions, and the spin-off cultural offerings generated by these that will "transform" the City.   The built-form is fun, and what we on this page geek out about, but the social structures that activate buildings, streets, and parks are what enable successful, desirable cities.   The invisible mass of the iceberg only hinted at by the portion protruding the waterline.    Stay tuned!

[JorgiPorgi]

Why do these threads keep getting Interrupted  with city vs city BS? 

[Matthew.Brendan]

1 hour ago, JorgiPorgi said:

Why do these threads keep getting Interrupted  with city vs city BS? 

I dunno man but have you seen what they are building in NYC these days?!

[SydneycartonII]

1 hour ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

I dunno man but have you seen what they are building in NYC these days?!

A lot of 1,300’ to 1,600’ super towers!

Charlotte and Raleigh have very different economies that compliment each other.  I don’t see it as city v. city.    Further, the stretch between Charlotte and Raleigh with Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, and WS between them is pretty small geographically, and, therefore, to the extent that they each have a different specialty, it makes this geographically small region far more robust.

Edited August 2, 2022 by SydneycartonII

[JRCLT]

A lot of 1,300’ to 1,600’ super towers!
Charlotte and Raleigh have very different economies that compliment each other.  I don’t see it as city v. city.    Further, the stretch between Charlotte and Raleigh with Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, and WS between them is pretty small geographically, and, therefore, to the extent that they each have a different specialty, it makes this geographically small region far more robust.

High speed rail connecting them… in an hour and a half with improvements in curve straightening and maintenance and maybe electrification of the NCRR… too good.

[SydneycartonII]

I agree.  I think that SC cities should also connect to NC cities by high speed rail.  Columbia is the same region too.

[JRCLT]

I agree.  I think that SC cities should also connect to NC cities by high speed rail.  Columbia is the same region too.

Columbia would be much more difficult since the whole stretch isn’t state owned like the NCRR. It would be much easier to accomplish between Charlotte and Raleigh.