NoDa (N Davidson St Arts District) Projects

[nonillogical]

Neighborhood Theatre will be staying open!

[plaza-midwood]

Neighborhood Theatre will be staying open!

Awesome news.

[New Name]

Everything's comin' up NoDa!

[Forrest]

I am as glad as anyone that NT is back on track, it's iconic for NoDa. However, the latest article in the O makes it pretty clear that the theater was never in danger of shutting down. The current management team might have quit but the owner had apparently always planned on hiring someone else to run the place. In any case, the end result of whatever really went down between all the factions is a positive.

[New Name]

Cabo Fish Taco has opened their expanded dining room (into the building adjacent to it - a project that had been under construction for almost 3 years). The wait for a table for 4 on Gallery Crawl night is still almost 2 hours.

Old schoolers might remember the space being "New Waves of Joy" in the 80's, and then "Lost in the 50's" later on. The front facade of is still covered in plywood and posters, but the plan is to remove that facade for patio seating!

Edited February 6, 2010 by The Escapists

[dubone]

Now Crepe Cellar needs to expand in to the empty store front next door. Their wait is often an hour or two. I love that place, though, so my friends and I still go.

[InitialD]

Any update on the proposed bar at 3213 N. Davidson (next to Salvador Deli). I think original plans called for it opening this winter.

[New Name]

Any update on the proposed bar at 3213 N. Davidson (next to Salvador Deli). I think original plans called for it opening this winter.

Last time I heard form the owner, he said open for St. Patrick's Day...

[ScottCLT]

Last time I heard form the owner, he said open for St. Patrick's Day...

What's it going to be called? Any particular theme or atmosphere expected?

[New Name]

www.nodaneighborhood.org/nodavisionplan

For the past 16 months, a group of dedicated NoDa neighbors (roughly 30 people) have been working to build consensus about the changing face of our neighborhood. Organized by the NoDa Neighborhood Association, the NoDa Vision Committee has been actively meeting and seeking input and concerns from everyone and anyone in/around NoDa.

So here is the working DRAFT of a grassroots, community and consensus based Vision Plan for NoDa.

On Wednesday March 10th from 6-9pm, and again on Saturday March 13th 1-4pm, NoDa Vision Committee will hold an open community workshop at "The Hut" @ Johnston YMCA. Everyone is invited to attend to see how far this project has come, and contribute even further to the consensus.

The whole committee feels strongly that we are in an unique position - in that North Charlotte's existing landuse plan is 15 years (15 BIG years) old and very outdated. As a creative and passionate community, we have organized to build a new Vision for NoDa, one that thinks about ground-level issues from the perspective of those of us who live here. It is certainly unusual for a community to author a document such as this, but our creative and professional neighbors have experience in and within the industry.

It's quite a document!

email: NoDa Vision @ gmail . com

Edited February 22, 2010 by The Escapists

[southslider]

First, kudos to NoDa for their creativity! The bar has certainly been raised!From the linked draft, it does seem some of the big ideas conflict with current City policies. For example, the street dimensions on Page 49 look very little like those in the City's Urban Street Design Guidelines.So what is the plan to actually make this the Plan? In other words, how does NoDa plan to work with City Planning to adopt these great ideas, so that they actually influence land development?

Edited February 23, 2010 by southslider

[Forrest]

Per today's O City Council will be revisiting the abandoned mills issue. Again. There is no news and no hope of anyone doing anything to salvage them. So the story is really meaningless. And Council members will most likely just throw their hands up again and ignore it for a few more years. They will eventually just have them demoed seems to me.

[uptownliving]

If Tuscan had been able to get some capital to move the NoDa Mills project along then it would not have gone back to city council. This property seems to be cursed with a bunch of not well funded companies that keep on pushing it to failure. If a "white knight" with money comes along the City Council will gladly hand it off to them. However I don't think these buildings will be demoed anytime soon. There are too many people on council that want and hope for something good to happen...they just need someone with money.

[kermit]

If Tuscan had been able to get some capital to move the NoDa Mills project along then it would not have gone back to city council. This property seems to be cursed with a bunch of not well funded companies that keep on pushing it to failure. If a "white knight" with money comes along the City Council will gladly hand it off to them. However I don't think these buildings will be demoed anytime soon. There are too many people on council that want and hope for something good to happen...they just need someone with money.

If memory serves BofA backed out of their contract when they discovered that a large portion of one of the properties was in the NCRR ROW. I think I remember some dispute about that point, but if that is indeed the case the pending HSR improvements in the area may contribute to the resolution of this issue (and it may not be a good resolution).

[New Name]

If a "white knight" with money comes along the City Council will gladly hand it off to them. However I don't think these buildings will be demoed anytime soon.

The "white knight" already came and went. It was named www.artspace.org Unfortunately, City Council laughed them out of town with taunts of "do you know how valuable this property is? Do you realize how much money we can make off the sale?" Well cut to 5 years later - and look at how much money they have gotten for the buildings.

If memory serves BofA backed out of their contract when they discovered that a large portion of one of the properties was in the NCRR ROW. I think I remember some dispute about that point, but if that is indeed the case the pending HSR improvements in the area may contribute to the resolution of this issue (and it may not be a good resolution).

The "Boxing Academy" is the building in question. It is a small white cinder block 2 story building at the edge of the property (it has an open air 2nd floor). The building is on the historic register, so that's why it was such a headache. But ultimately, NCRR will never give up any of the ROW, so the building will have to be torn down. It's not too much of a loss as it isn't part of the brick mill buildings, rather a cinder block outbuilding.

[New Name]

First, kudos to NoDa for their creativity! The bar has certainly been raised!From the linked draft, it does seem some of the big ideas conflict with current City policies. For example, the street dimensions on Page 49 look very little like those in the City's Urban Street Design Guidelines.So what is the plan to actually make this the Plan? In other words, how does NoDa plan to work with City Planning to adopt these great ideas, so that they actually influence land development?

That remains to be determined. I can say that we have met with City Planning, CDOT and CATS and they have seen this Draft Plan. We're certainly aware that this is not a normal way to create policy guidelines, but the experiment is to submit resident only content. For this, we're showing that as residents, we want (example) VERY small streets - whereas in a City Planning sponsored document, CDOT would say "we want you to have large streets."

Maybe, someday, everyone will meet in the middle.

[uptownliving]

If Artspace is still willing to take over the NoDa Mills then I would think the City Council would be more receptive this time around.

[New Name]

If Artspace is still willing to take over the NoDa Mills then I would think the City Council would be more receptive this time around.

That's the consensus around here too. And we're asking our Reps to seek them out again... (tail between their legs?)

[southslider]

We're certainly aware that this is not a normal way to create policy guidelines, but the experiment is to submit resident only content.

Were non-resident stakeholders even involved? Say area businesses? Property owners? I noticed a lot of the development scenarios show ideas for the non-residential pockets of NoDa.

Just imagine if Dilworth had taken the same path for South End. They may have limited some of the development potential from a "resident-only" focus.

At some point, the NoDa Vision team will need to reach out to other stakeholders. Otherwise, they risk being quickly dismissed as a "resident-only experiment."

[New Name]

Were non-resident stakeholders even involved? Say area businesses? Property owners? I noticed a lot of the development scenarios show ideas for the non-residential pockets of NoDa.

Sorry, my bad...correction...I should have said the experiment is to submit

neighbor only content

.

NoDa Vision looked to involve everyone at any given time. The phrase "NoDa neighbors" was given as the preferred noun for anyone with an interested stake (this could mean even residents in surrounding neighborhoods). So yes: residents, business owners, property owners, real estate developers, planners, officials, police, vagrants and hoodlums alike, everyone was equal. And we heard from many of these individuals. We kept great records of attendance and minutes too.

Of course, some voices will be louder than others. So... home owners may attend more meetings and contribute more ideas than renters, or absent property owners, but after 16 months of heavy promotion from neighbor to neighbor, and another 6 of open calls to all stakeholders, we hope a true calculated consensus will be built.

Edited February 23, 2010 by The Escapists

[Forrest]

Amelies got well deserved acclaim in today's O. It's quite a phenom and worthy of cult status. And clearly illustrates that quirky indies with the right verve can do well in this town. I was there working on a project on Thursday night from about 8 to 11 and the line never got small. Of course now they will only get more slammed. Don't even try to go on weekends anymore. Sticking to weekday evenings has worked for me. Nice option when I go insomniac too....

[Spartan]

That remains to be determined. I can say that we have met with City Planning, CDOT and CATS and they have seen this Draft Plan. We're certainly aware that this is not a normal way to create policy guidelines, but the experiment is to submit resident only content. For this, we're showing that as residents, we want (example) VERY small streets - whereas in a City Planning sponsored document, CDOT would say "we want you to have large streets."

Maybe, someday, everyone will meet in the middle.

So would it be more accurate to say that this is the neighborhood's position on what should happen? If this doesn't get adopted in some official format then it may not carry much weight, and I'd hate to see something that has clearly has a lot of effort and ideas go for naught. I think it would be wise to take a queue from Dilworth's DCDA in that they are able to argue for the things that they want by citing official documents and policies when redevelopment occurs.

One thing you may want to consider is that there will be a transit station area planning process at some point for 36th St and Sugar Creek Stations and that process may be a way to incorporate many of these ideas. IMO it's reasonable to request that the City revisit the existing plan. Most plans in other cities are updated at 5-10 years.

[New Name]

There is a rezoningup for 1/3 of an acre in NoDa fronting Davidson/abutting the drainage ditch between Charles and 33rd. This is one of the areas discussed in the Draft NoDa Vision Plan.

I think the rezoning is the right thing for this property - but a couple things could be better. I'll let you know how the 'hood vets this one out...

[Forrest]

So what do NoDa residents think about the latest idea for the mills? The Landmark Commission wants to take ownership with a nominal fee to the City and then sell it to a developer with restrictions in place to protect the structures historical integrity.

I don't see a downside. Not like there are any other options out there right now.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Forrest

[New Name]

So what do NoDa residents think about the latest idea for the mills? The Landmark Commission wants to take ownership with a nominal fee to the City and then sell it to a developer with restrictions in place to protect the structures historical integrity.

I don't see a downside. Not like there are any other options out there right now.

No downside at all. Well, there was an option on the table that the North Charlotte Neighborhood Association might try to broker a deal with Artspace (or an Artspace like organization). But that could have been complicated and risky too. Since preservation was the first priority of the neighborhood, and the second priorities are a distant concern, I'm pretty happy about this... I hope it goes through quickly and without issue (the only issue I could see is that the "boxing academy" building is contested because it is partially/mistakenly located partially within the NCRR ROW - let's hope this doesn't become a stumbling block for the preservationalists - it's not THAT important of a building after-all).