NoDa (N Davidson St Arts District) Projects

[NCMike1990]

6 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Hallelujah about time.  As someone said in another thread the Monroe Bypass toll road was built in the same time.   

He was talking about the Sugar Creek Rd. project but I agree both took way too long to complete compared to the complex Monroe Bypass.

[SgtCampsalot]

This little strip (next to the strip with NoDa Bodega) is getting reno'd with a cool donut mural.

Now, I am always an advocate for fixing up old buildings, to a fault, but doesn't this whole thing look like a little car dealership?

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by SgtCampsalot

[tozmervo]

31 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

This little strip (next to the strip with NoDa Bodega) is getting reno'd with a cool donut mural.

Now, I am always an advocate for fixing up old buildings, to a fault, but doesn't this whole thing look like a little car dealership?

Next to Bodega? I can't figure out where this is

[kermit]

The Trader Joe’s sign looks good from this angle:

#cosmeticBrick

Edited October 29, 2018 by kermit

[Guest]

1 minute ago, kermit said:

The Trader Joe’s sign looks good from this angle:

#cosmeticBrick

:-( No Trader Joes lol. Nothing really sexy going there tbh. Wooden Robot will be nice tho.

[kermit]

4 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

:-( No Trader Joes lol. Nothing really sexy going there tbh. Wooden Robot will be nice tho.

Shhh, I am trying to wish it into existence.

[SgtCampsalot]

38 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

Next to Bodega? I can't figure out where this is

If you're starting at the Bodega strip from N Davidson, it is to your left (used to have laundromat I believe?

It's even hard to tell on Google because the old building that used to be in between (that housed Sir Joseph's Clothing before the fire) is blurred out

https://goo.gl/maps/nhJdLsF3STp

[tozmervo]

15 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

If you're starting at the Bodega strip from N Davidson, it is to your left (used to have laundromat I believe?

It's even hard to tell on Google because the old building that used to be in between (that housed Sir Joseph's Clothing before the fire) is blurred out

https://goo.gl/maps/nhJdLsF3STp

Ahhhh I gotcha. They've done an addition, too. 

As for that old house, it is super weird that it is completely blurred out in streetview. I've never seen something like that before

[11 HouseBZ]

Obligatory this is a big post.

My job allowed me to be able to go inside the old Johnston Mill. I'm not an engineer so take my observations for what it's worth, but I thought it looked ok inside. A lot of the wooden flooring were buckled and damaged by moisture or termites. But the bones, the large diameter beams, seem to be in pretty good shape from untrained eyes. Though a few had obvious termite and moisture damage. The smaller building fronting 36th street had a partial collapse so we didn't go in there. 

From the looks of it they were in the middle of repairing the floors (note the stacks of new flooring). Now this coincides with what the maintenance worker told us. He told us that he thought there was a worker/ contractor dispute that halted all work. He said it had since been resolved, so maybe we'll start seeing movement on this?

The building fronting 36th with collapse:

The outside of the back side. 

 

Going in through basement level:

Up the stairs to the 1st floor: 

To orient yourself in my pics, any metal posts are from the Davidson st section, wooden posts are from the long section nearest the light rail. 

To the 2nd floor: 

At the end of the long section there was a set of stairs that cut back down to the 1st floor.

The view back of the 1st floor from the stairs 

Example of rotted beam/ partial collapse:

There were a few examples of graffiti:To the roof: 

Without looking up it's history and purely just from what I got to see, this portion (shorter section with metal posts fronting Davidson) was built after the original (long section with wooden posts). That changed the entrance from the above pic to the below pic. 

Either way, I hope you enjoy these photos. If you have any questions, fire away. The below got mismatched. 1st is back of the "T", 2nd is interior of long section of 2nd floor, 3rd is 2nd floor looking back over top the stairs in the floor. 

Edited November 1, 2018 by 11 HouseBZ

[Guest]

Thanks for the great post. Getting off the train at 36th and seeing this building is saddening. Hopefully the success of Tompkins, will give the developers ideas beyond turning these into housing. If this building was redeveloped in a useful manner, and the space facing 36th was properly activated this could be a next level gateway into NoDa from the Light Rail. Its a shame to see it wasting away.

[11 HouseBZ]

 Thanks, I agree with the Tompkins mill comment. This would completely change NoDa if they could do anything similar to Tompkins.

According to the maintenance guy, the building on 36th already had a guy trying to buy it. It blew his mind because of the collapse and current condition. But he seemed certain that the main mill was about to move ahead with renovation. All in all my take was it's in rough but fixable shape. But what do I know. 

[11 HouseBZ]

Oh and if any of you are thinking of illegally going into the back of the 36th street building through the window propped open by that no parking sign. Watch out for draws. "What draws?" you say? The ones covered in fecal matter. Those ones. I almost stepped on them. From what I could determine is, someone had to crap so bad that they ran to this secluded spot to do so. But the time they made it there, the deed was done and  was now running down their leg. So they ditched them in the middle of the path to that window and went on their merry way. 

Gross story? Yes. Now y'all know how I almost stepped in poop today. 

[archiham04]

^suspicious amount of detail there.

[SgtCampsalot]

My only concern if Johnston Mill was too-much retail would be the potential limiting of other retail space's marketability around the area as a result. Much like how Optimist Park will likely not see any retail at the base of new developments for a while because of Tompkins. Maybe that's a crazy concern.

Now, a nice mix of Office and/or Residential thrown in with retail would be perfect.

Edited November 1, 2018 by SgtCampsalot

[11 HouseBZ]

25 minutes ago, archiham04 said:

^suspicious amount of detail there.

 Lol I smelt it, but I definitely didn't deal it. My co-workers and I had a good laugh at the absurdity of almost stepping in human poop. 

[videtur quam contuor]

During my head start in life before many of you, I worked for a company that had its PO box at the North Davidson PO. That was a small operation across from the fire station. Maybe ten-twelve feet wide. I would collect the company box mail each morning and occasionally grab a Lil Debbie next door at a small grocer. Johnston Mill was still open at this time. All I recall of the mill was occasional rail flat cars on the siding beside the mill building and the industrial windows open in the hottest weather. My best memory is coming from North Tryon on 36th street and crossing the tracks there was Newco Fibers (or whatever the name was at that point) on the right where the Crescent is now completing. It was common to have cotton fibers wafting in the breeze, trees and plants with white fibers caught on their leaves and stems, a dusting of cotton. Industrial cotton waste and fiber recovery was still apparently using technology from decades past. North Davidson mill area was quiet and with only older people occasionally on the sidewalks. It was truly a village within the surrounding city.

A reminder that far beyond my minuscule recollection there are many alive who can recall with detail and intimacy this area, an area which was the engine of our progress for the late 19th century and much of the 20th. They are out there, waiting to speak and to be heard.

This has been a report from our Urban Planet.

[SgtCampsalot]

17 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

A reminder that far beyond my minuscule recollection there are many alive who can recall with detail and intimacy this area, an area which was the engine of our progress for the late 19th century and much of the 20th. They are out there, waiting to speak and to be heard.

This has been a report from our Urban Planet.

The NoDa Wayback Committee writes a lot of great write-ups in the NoDa News of older residents' recollections from decades past. You just have to comb through old issues, unfortunately:

https://noda.org/nodanews-2/

[11 HouseBZ]

We saved one of the signs tarhoosier, though from the 35th street side. 

[videtur quam contuor]

This is GREAT! Someone should sprinkle cotton on this sign for authenticity

Trucks at Newco would occasionally back into the dock on 36th which left the front part of the trailer and the cab extending into 36th just over the tracks and cars had to pick a way past the cab and there were no cross arms at the RR crossing (maybe).

To experience some of that history go to Herrin Bros. Coal and ice, still on 36th street. It has survived, somehow, all these years. I drove under the light rail Sunday and was happy to see that it is still there. When I was in Dilworth and had my coal fireplaces I bought my lump coal there. It was also known as farrier coal since a common (still) use is by forgers of horseshoes. 99.x% of coal is now pulverized for the power industry.

[SgtCampsalot]

2 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

T o experience some of that history go to Herrin Bros. Coal and ice, still on 36th street. It has survived, somehow, all these years. I drove under the light rail Sunday and was happy to see that it is still there. When I was in Dilworth and had my coal fireplaces I bought my lump coal there. It was also known as farrier coal since a common (still) use is by forgers of horseshoes. 99.x% of coal is now pulverized for the power industry.

I love those little ol buildings. They feel so small town-y. It's a shame they will likely be razed for some new full-block project (or even the Philemon extension city project) rather than preserved as some commercial space (I'd be happy with a Thirsty Beaver situation, as impossible as that would be)

Edited November 1, 2018 by SgtCampsalot

[kermit]

10 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

I love those little ol buildings. They feel so small town-y. It's a shame they will likely be razed for some new full-block project (or even the Philemon extension city project) rather than preserved as some commercial space (I'd be happy with a Thirsty Beaver situation, as impossible as that would be)

It might not be impossible to achieve a Beaver-dream situation, this may be one of the most contaminated sites in Charlotte.

[UPNoDa]

That '76 Lincoln Towncar has been parked there since I moved to 37th street back in 2009.

As a kid in the 70's, our next-door neighbor had one of these and the car was so long it wouldn't fit in his garage so he just left the ass end hang out and would gently pull the garage door down on the trunk...too funny!!

[videtur quam contuor]

20 some years ago I was there in the office which was (is?) behind the green door.  Mr. Herrin, who would be 100 now, was there. He mentioned the oil burner which heated the space and he proudly said it had been running since 1920-something. (Does their sign say when the business was started)

What coal they have comes by truck now.

[KJHburg]

Finally able to drive under LYNX on 36th St and the final pavement is still not done.    Asana's new retail at Novel NoDa. 

[SgtCampsalot]

I understand the grade change affected the viability of retail lining 36th St, but I still find it a shame that 36th is completely dead between the Asana/Novel street entrance to the bridge. Maybe I'm in the minority but the experience of getting on and off the platform exclusively through a privately owned "street" feels strange, especially with front-in parking lining the sidewalk, making it feel suburban.

Edited November 2, 2018 by SgtCampsalot