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NoDa (N Davidson St Arts District) Projects


uptownliving

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Also, is this issue just in Mecklenburg Mill or Johnston Mill, too? The one pictured above is Johnston Mill. Mecklenburg mill is next door, where just south of where Davidson starts running next to the creek and railroad tracks.

Ahh ok. I did not realize those were two separate projects. You can still see Mecklenburg Mill in the background in that photo. This photo was taken from the porch of Mellow Mushroom so it's a bit off.

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The city has only owned the building for a year or so. This and the Hoskins Mill across town were privately owned and foreclosed. A private purchaser bought Hoskins, the city took back Mecklenburg and Johnson Mills (they were all public/private venture apartments -- that always works). They indended to keep them as subsidized housing, but the work done earlier and the maintenance have practically made the buildings uninhabitable and definitely too costly for the city to rehab or upfit.

They have had an RFP (opening for bids to developers -- it is also when developers prove they are qualified to make the purchase and are capable to build to certain quality and standards -- this is not just out for highest bidder) out there for a while now to sell into the private sector. If they do it will all but certainly be loft condos. There is a lot in these buildings to save and that is salvagable, just not on beauracratic watch or with city budgeting -- but it is definitely being marketed.

I think they have not considered the immediately adjacent buildings for the light rail or other projects is that is a spur off the main line they will be using that runs up North Davidson Street and veers over to Tryon. At least that is what the map I've seen for the Davidson spur shows.

Thank you for the information. I will be very disappointed if they tear them down. I can't imagine how they can't just throw a million bucks that way and save one of buildings that put this city on the map. Charlotte would barely be a town if it weren't for the cotton mills creating wealth and jobs here in the first few decades of the 20th century. To lose these old attractive and important buildings for lack of trying would be a huge shame.

I don't think the city could have done much to force a private owner to do things better, but at this point, the city owns them, and should do everything it can to avoid just tearing them down.

As for LRT, they won't use the track that crosses Davidson, but the other track you mentioned, which they are using for LRT run past this complex on the other side.

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i would be very saddened if they destroy these buildings... i lived in johnston mills for almost 2 years. while the renovation was cheap and the walls paper thin, you couldn't complain when the total rent for a 2 BR 1 1/2 BATH with 20 ft. ceilings cost $450 a month... total. now, that was about 7 years ago. in my tenure @ the mills i only heard of 1 break-in... on a lower level apt. never had any problems in the parking lot or anything like that. the rumours going around @ the time i lived there... were that the owners got some kind of federal grant to renovate based off of a proposal that this was to become an artist community. supposedly for a fixed period the rent price couldn't exceed a certain amount. while the intentions, i believe, were pure @ first... this thing quickly went down hill as far as being an artist community and became increasingly a refuge of public housing. i am not privy to what really took place but i do know that the owners did not care about addressing issues and often seemed bent on letting the place fall apart. my guess is they got out everything they wanted from this project. i remember thinking these people seemed to be the definition of "slum lords"... except they obtained that title from grants. the worst.

* on a sidenote. part of mecklenburg mills houses the charlotte boxing academy. an old true-to-form boxing gym which has seen the likes of fighter calvin brock and many others. one step in that place and you feel a sense of nostalgia. i hope this place can be saved.

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i would be very saddened if they destroy these buildings... i lived in johnston mills for almost 2 years. while the renovation was cheap and the walls paper thin, you couldn't complain when the total rent for a 2 BR 1 1/2 BATH with 20 ft. ceilings cost $450 a month... total. now, that was about 7 years ago. in my tenure @ the mills i only heard of 1 break-in... on a lower level apt. never had any problems in the parking lot or anything like that. the rumours going around @ the time i lived there... were that the owners got some kind of federal grant to renovate based off of a proposal that this was to become an artist community. supposedly for a fixed period the rent price couldn't exceed a certain amount. while the intentions, i believe, were pure @ first... this thing quickly went down hill as far as being an artist community and became increasingly a refuge of public housing. i am not privy to what really took place but i do know that the owners did not care about addressing issues and often seemed bent on letting the place fall apart. my guess is they got out everything they wanted from this project. i remember thinking these people seemed to be the definition of "slum lords"... except they obtained that title from grants. the worst.

The city seems bent on preserving these structures. The neighborhood would protest as loud as any have about anything if demolition were announced. This IS the reason this neighborhood exists and is integral to its history. Though everyone should keep a closes watch, it is unlikely that there are plans to take them down.

As for the reasons that the project is in the condition it is in: rumour and more educated rumour, the person or persons that got the grant milked this for as much cash as possible, let it go into foreclosure, and ran away. Anyone ready to create a posse to go find these folks and make them live there for a few months?

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I am heartened by the fact that the Observer article said the redevelopment of the mill will include a mix of affordable apartments. Of course we shall see how it turns out in the end. A mixed income development would be a great counterbalance to all the upscale condos projects in the area that are sucking the artistic and mixed socioeconomic life out of Noda.

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I am heartened by the fact that the Observer article said the redevelopment of the mill will include a mix of affordable apartments. Of course we shall see how it turns out in the end. A mixed income development would be a great counterbalance to all the upscale condos projects in the area that are sucking the artistic and mixed socioeconomic life out of Noda.

Definitely. Hopefully they will keep the affordable component and from what I have been told in the requirements for developers to be a part of the project they have to have an this as part of it. I just confirmed that the RFP (request for proposal) has not been completed by the city yet so that is still up in the air.

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They're tearing down the formerly church-owned buildings at 35th and McDowell--those seemed kind of decrepit and when combined with the adjacent vacant lot they left a void on the street, so I'm not too sad to see them go. Here's the site plan for the 11 single family homes coming next on the three combined parcels:

http://ww.charmeck.org/Planning/Rezoning/2...%20siteplan.pdf

I'm told that the developer lives on 35th St and intends for the houses to fit the character of the neighborhood, so that's nice to hear--hopefully it's true. The house footprints on the site plan look kind of odd, though--just eyeballing it, it looks like the six houses along 35th St will measure something like 20ft X 100ft.

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To fit the character of the neighborhood, will he build the cheapest houses possible, paint them purple, and add 'Jesus Saves' to the roof? :) Just kidding. But it is funny how 'fit the neighborhood' is used everywhere to placate everyone, but in an ecletic, nutty, neighborhood like NoDa, how does one conform? :)

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To fit the character of the neighborhood, will he build the cheapest houses possible, paint them purple, and add 'Jesus Saves' to the roof? :) Just kidding. But it is funny how 'fit the neighborhood' is used everywhere to placate everyone, but in an ecletic, nutty, neighborhood like NoDa, how does one conform? :)

:rofl: good one dubone... but first of all, the roof had only "Jesus" written on it, and then "3" (in honor of Dale) below that. Gotta love the South! Secondly, that guy moved out and his house is yet another of the many currently being renovated. For those of you who haven't seen the house in question, look up the picture on Polaris for 3004 N Alexander St.

How would they fit the character of the neighborhood? Hopefully, they'd be modestly sized and refrain from using bad suburban architecture (is it just me, or do houses in the 'burbs have too many gables?).

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Is this done to get the big guy's attention? What does the back roof say?

There was nothing on the back roof. The picture, unfortunately, is out of date; he really did have a #3 written there below Jesus. The guy who lived there was a part-time roofer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well actually....... It looks like about thousand other complexes being built around the USA (and all over Charlotte) these days. Sometimes I think they must be getting their architecture out of a playstation these days. What's really sad, because of it, Noda is going to look like any other suburb.

One would think that because of the historic nature of the neighborhood, they would at least try to do design something that didn't appear that it was stolen from Ballentyne.

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Something different in what is supposed to be our " creative" district would be nice. Goodness knows I am no architect but everyone seems to pulling pages from the same playbook around here. Exposed brickwork, steel, and floor to ceiling windows blink: Something radically opposite would be a nice change, ugly even..how about a pink building? :whistling: Speaking of Architecture did anyone else read The Sunday New York Times Magazine's Architecture issue from two weeks ago? Some great food for thought.

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^Heavens no! Surely this fortells the coming of the Apocolypse!

Seriously though, I'd like it a whole lot more if they did something else with the top floor/roof design. Something about the industrial inspired bottom 4 floors doesn't quite gel with the French chateau proportioned top floor. It'd be better of they just stopped at four.

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It seems to me that the corrugated steel look of the upper floors is more unique to neighborhoods like NoDa and not quite like Dilworth or even SouthEnd. But agree with you on the very top floor/roof.

(and the playstation comment still has me cracking up, and I have read it now three times :) )

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Well, the marketing strategy of this project is sure to miff you guys more than its architecture. It seems to be trying to attract people with money to this neighborhood!

What will really miff is the public record I saw recently where these guys were about to be foreclosed a month ago and now are in a 30 day stay to bring in funds. How many would-be developers out there are getting in over their heads?

As for the architecture, is this Dilworth Walk? Renwick? Parts of "warehouse district"? Silos? Gateway? Can't there be some other style to follow than first floors of brick, next floors new material? At least they shot for a "sort-of" mansard roofline (but then we can refer to The Jefferson). At least the denser development has fallen out of NoDa proper and is moving down North Davidson Street towards center city.

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