The Trust - 139 South Tryon

[Seabreeze]

My guess is it will be a certain specific men's grooming parlor .

We have so far not even heard rumors of a major bookstore coming near town.

I guess the only people that read in this city are in SouthPark.

I don't think they will be moving Emerson Joseph from the current location. It is prob the coolest location for it! Stacey is really sweet (his wife works there a lot of the time) and I have talked to her a bit and she gave me a tour. The basement is amazing, reminds me of the Sopranos. It has a poker room you can rent out if you are a member and they will cater it (stock the antique fridge with booze) and a nice t.v with an xbox... they give you a code to the back alley entrance so you can enter after hours for your event... Ahh... they give you beer with a haircut, how amazing what a genious idea!

[dubone]

They have a hot tub and a sundeck. I think that will be sufficient for 8 wealthy buyers, as most would be fine with just sunning and using the hot tub.

[ScottCLT]

I don't think they will be moving Emerson Joseph from the current location. It is prob the coolest location for it! Stacey is really sweet (his wife works there a lot of the time) and I have talked to her a bit and she gave me a tour. The basement is amazing, reminds me of the Sopranos. It has a poker room you can rent out if you are a member and they will cater it (stock the antique fridge with booze) and a nice t.v with an xbox... they give you a code to the back alley entrance so you can enter after hours for your event... Ahh... they give you beer with a haircut, how amazing what a genious idea!

I hate to be off-topic, but how much might a haircut there run you? I have a $25 gift certificate that I got as a move-in gift at F&P and it expires tomorrow. Should I check this place out after work?

[dubone]

I've never been, but I'd definitely not let the gift run out. All accounts are that this is a cool place.

[49er]

It seems to me that this is an underuse of a building on tryon. at 70,000 sq ft, it could hold at least 100 employees or more. putting 8 or 10 rich fat cats in it really wont add that much pedestrian activity there. If the first floor is retail, then that's the best part of the project.

[dubone]

But it has next to no parking spaces. They have been trying for a long time to get an office tenant, with no takers.

I agree with you, though, it would have been better to leave it office. But if office doesn't work in the marketplace, then I think this is an interesting solution to keep the building standing.

[Charlotte_native]

It seems to me that this is an underuse of a building on tryon. at 70,000 sq ft, it could hold at least 100 employees or more. putting 8 or 10 rich fat cats in it really wont add that much pedestrian activity there. If the first floor is retail, then that's the best part of the project.

True, but isn't it also good to have a mix of uses right there? We already have a lot of office so this would be a drop in the bucket, plus adding this type of housing might get us a bit more celebrity presence downtown. Maybe not, but I'd love to hope that more athletes or others would make downtown their home -- fun for us little folks to watch.

I think it is a very cool project that adds one more element we don't have, even though I can't live there!

[49er]

i think its cool that its residential, just the fact that there are so few people that will live there is the part I dont like. I understand the parking issues and realize that is why they went the large sq ft and low unit route.

once again, if it has retail on the 1st floor and activates the street, I'm all for it.

[AuLukey]

True, but isn't it also good to have a mix of uses right there? We already have a lot of office so this would be a drop in the bucket, plus adding this type of housing might get us a bit more celebrity presence downtown. Maybe not, but I'd love to hope that more athletes or others would make downtown their home -- fun for us little folks to watch.

I think it is a very cool project that adds one more element we don't have, even though I can't live there!

My sentiments exactly. Having such a little bit of office space taken off the market won't really hurt anything and will actually contribute to Charlotte's outstanding office occupancy rate.

The question is, will there be people buying "lux" condos in a lowrise? With all the highrises going up, it would seem more desireable (yet less exclusive) to live in the nosebleeds for the view you'd get. Instead of looking out their windows to view the sunrise/set, the skyline lit up at night, and maybe even a free ticket to the panthers game, they're going to see the office windows across the street. That's a view to remember

[atlrvr]

My gut feeling is this will sell very well.....I think the exclusivity has a lot to do with it.....there are a lot of millionaire's who would prefer not to have to get on an elevator with some college kid renting out a studio in the building.

I'd actually like to see more buildings of this size in the core of downtown, though I would prefer Tryon to stay as office and cultural oriented as possible....in this case though, it wasn't going to happen, or at least not for a while.

[AuLukey]

I'm guessing the people that buy these condos are going to have some enormous owners fees to pay every month for all the services offered. Because if you are splitting these fees between 100 people it's one thing, but when you look at splitting it between 8 people for security guard, maintenance, etc, that's a lot of dough. But, I guess if you have a cool million+ to cash on your condo, I'm sure these fees would be short change for you.

[Miesian Corners]

^ You are right on the money on that one. The building will have concierge. If they use a third-party service, this will cost them around $40K per year. That alone puts the cost of association fees for 8 units at a very high level. And that won't even include things like building maintenance, insurance, etc.

I heard through the grapevine that the bottom floor would be a restaurant/bar. The developers already own the buildings where the salon is, so I wouldn't expect them to move. I'm not sure that if I paid $3M to live there I'd want to deal with the noise from a restaurant still open at 2 a.m. on a Friday night.

I'm not trying to be negative, but just thinking realistically. Add to that the fact none of the units have balconies or terraces, and I really can't figure out what kind of market they're going after. It's one thing to have access to a collective rooftop terrace, it's completely another to have the ability to open a door from your 7,000 square foot condo on to a private outdoor space.

[Charlotte_native]

I'm not trying to be negative, but just thinking realistically. Add to that the fact none of the units have balconies or terraces, and I really can't figure out what kind of market they're going after. It's one thing to have access to a collective rooftop terrace, it's completely another to have the ability to open a door from your 7,000 square foot condo on to a private outdoor space.

When I looked at the floor plans they all had balconies. The 3400 SF units have two each actually, one is 12 x 17 and the other 12 x 13.

[Charlotte_native]

The question is, will there be people buying "lux" condos in a lowrise? With all the highrises going up, it would seem more desireable (yet less exclusive) to live in the nosebleeds for the view you'd get.

I don't know that we should assume everyone wants to be in a highrise. What about all the people that buy high-end townhouses (like the $700,000+ units by Boulevard Company on Church Street). Lots of people could probably care less about being high in the air -- that is why it is good to have a product mix rather than everything the same.

I think the fact that there are only 8 makes it relatively easy to sell, you aren't looking for dozens of buyers, just less than two hands full. The exclusive part will attract a certain type of folks and they will also be financially fine for dropping a couple grand monthly for HOA.

[monsoon]

I'm not trying to be negative, but just thinking realistically. Add to that the fact none of the units have balconies or terraces, and I really can't figure out what kind of market they're going after. It's one thing to have access to a collective rooftop terrace, it's completely another to have the ability to open a door from your 7,000 square foot condo on to a private outdoor space.

I agree with you. While I love the architecture of the place, I don't think it makes for a very good environment to live in considering that it is surrounded by taller buildings and thus will be in shadows all day long, its in a noisy environment, and there is practically no privacy. While I have said before that for day to day living, lowrise small buildings are preferable to high rises (Charlotte market has not figured this out yet) these negatives would seem to subtract a great deal from the worth of the place as a residence. They might be able to pull it off if they do a lot of reconstruction to address these issues but I really would not want to live in the bottom 1/2 of that building.

It is a nice idea however as in more established cities where space is tight, the most expensive and coveted places are the small buildings that have very few residents.

[Seabreeze]

I hate to be off-topic, but how much might a haircut there run you? I have a $25 gift certificate that I got as a move-in gift at F&P and it expires tomorrow. Should I check this place out after work?

Not sure on price, but most definately!!! When you go in, help yourself to a beer in the fridge to the right of the tv

[dubone]

Well, it looks like more residents are going onto South Tryon. The Trust made enough sales to begin construction, which apparently was 50%.

It looks like a restaurant is the most likely for the street retail. While I'd love a bookstore or some other merchandise retailer, a good restaurant with sidewalk dining on that very wide sidewalk will be great. Once South Tryon has more dining spilling out on the sidewalk like it already is starting with McCormicks, then we should start having more people walking around out there like North Tryon.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16466607.htm

[A2]

Here is the link from Dougie

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16466607.htm

A2

[dubone]

One other point is that uptown often gets a bad rep for being too focused on the successful. However, I continue to assert that uptown has more than its fair share of public housing, homeless shelters, and subsidized housing. Having 8 million dollar homes is actually instilling diversity. However, it also helps to boost the numbers for the whole of uptown, that will help bring in retail and other benefits.

[rockhilljames]

I can't imagine living in one of those places. I would feel like I was in a fishbowl.

[dubone]

I suspect people affording million dollar condos can afford curtains . But to a degree, 'being seen', in the figurative sense, is probably a good thing to these people. Otherwise, they'd be hiding in Piper Glen like the rest of them.

[Charlotte_native]

I can't imagine living in one of those places. I would feel like I was in a fishbowl.

I've been inside the building. The glass is tinted and the units are "deep" so it would be hard to see inside except right at the window itself. Only an exhibitionist would be seen as in a fishbowl -- you'd have to try. The somewhat high concrete "railings" cover about half of the window from the outside. It is much less open as far as the windows go as one might expect. Inside the building is pretty amazing. It'll be interesting to see who ends up living there.

Also -- they are working on a restaurant for the main levels and plan on incorporating a separate lounge/bar area as well.

[sleightofhand]

I've already heard more than one refer to it as the "million dollar bus stop".

[joshuacc]

Not sure on price, but most definately!!! When you go in, help yourself to a beer in the fridge to the right of the tv

I work for a salon, and I hear nothing but good things about them. Usually clients only speak of bad experiences from other salons, but I always hear good stuff!

[JRNYP2C]

I'm curious to see how the people living there appreciate Speed Street and all of the turkey legs and blooming onions being cooked right below their tinted windows!!

Four whole days of Racin' fun! And yes I am a NASCAR fan too!

I guess with the good, you gotta take the not so good...