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What are your thought's of Charlotte's Overstreet Mall?


Atlside

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These are some really good points. I dug through some old Charlotte Observer archives and there wasn't much of a discussion of the Overstreet Mall when the uptown department stores closed. Perhaps people then were just blind to its effects?

3998. Charlotte Observer - June 8, 1990 - 1A MAIN NEWS

LAST OF UPTOWN'S BIG STORES, IVEY'S, WILL CLOSE ITS DOORS Dillard Department Stores Inc. will close the North Tryon Street Ivey's in July, leaving Charlotte without an uptown department store for the first time this century, Ivey's employees said Thursday. The fate of the store had been in doubt since late last year when Ivey's management disclosed it would close the Terrace restaurant and two departments that shared the fourth floor with it. But the announcement by Dillard's only four days after it took control of the 23-store,...

4077. Charlotte Observer - May 10, 1988 - 1A MAIN NEWS

UPTOWN CHARLOTTE LOSING A CORNERSTONE BELK'S SUMMER CLOSING EARLIER THAN EXPECTED Belk Brothers Co. will close its rambling uptown Charlotte store by late summer, leaving the central city without a Belk store for the first time since 1895. But Belk officials said Monday they're considering opening a smaller uptown store in the future - perhaps as late as 1991 or 1992. Founder William Henry Belk opened the first Belk store in leased quarters at 11 E. Trade St. in 1895, the fourth store in what today is a 342-store group. The nucleus of the existing...

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These are some really good points. I dug through some old Charlotte Observer archives and there wasn't much of a discussion of the Overstreet Mall when the uptown department stores closed. Perhaps people then were just blind to its effects?

By the time these stores closed, downtown was already dead so nobody cared. I have some photos posted here that I took in 1990 or so of the closed Belks on a saturday afternoon and there isn't a person to be found.

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I would think that if Overstreet Mall hadn't been built all of the service oriented businesses would have somehow found a home on the street, although I'm not sure how many storesfronts downtown Charlotte has left.... Is the mall just a hallway with a few businesses lining it or is it set up like a one level mall with planters and benches and stuff?

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It's mostly the 2nd or 3rd floor of the buildings that connect to it. In some cases its pretty much a hallway, in other cases it includes retail in the ground floor lobbies of the buildings that are a part of it. For examplle Charlotte Plaza, the Radisson (now called Omni) complex, Founders Hall, the Hearst tower and 1 FU, are all like malls on the street, i.e. glass walls and one door leading to a bunch of retail inside. There is significant retail in all these buildings, but nobody knows it unless they have a reason to go inside one of these towers. When these towers are closed then all of this shuts down.

When it was finished, it included the 2nd floor of Belks (which I believe had 4-5 stories of retail) and then crossed Tryon and came out on the 2nd floor of the Ivey's two story retail lobby.

It should be noted that because of the Overstreet, much retail is located insideCharlotte Plaza, Founders Hall, the Hearst tower, and 1 First Union, (now Wachovia) which were all built years after the Overstreet was completed. So not only did the Overstreet kill retail off the street, it also caused new retail through the 2000s from going onto the street as they continued with the concept. The upcoming Epicenter follows in this tradition and will be an excellent addition to the Overstreet. Not a good thing, IMO.

Charlotte needs to quit building the bases of its skyscrapers like shopping malls and turn the retail outwards onto the street.

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I still can't believe that NCNB/NB/BoA didn't keep the facade of the old Belk. That facade of Founder's Hall is awful and has no architectural merit whatsoever.
Blame Belk Bros for that one. They own the land under that 60 story tower and lease it to BofA. Belk company cared so little for its past, it sent a wrecking ball through the granite cornice that had "Belk Bros." carved into it over the main entrance (which was on Trade, BTW...the Tryon entrance was originaly Efird's Department Store which Belk bought in the 60s and haphazzardly connected to their store).
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the hearst tower is a double edged sword in regards to retail. at street level, the plaza on tryon and restaurants along college are excellent. the retail mix sucks b/c its all restaurants, but at least the space is there. It unfortunately has a good bit of retail hidden inside the overstreet connection and was really a boost to the overstreet. Wachovia went to the trouble of enclosing a pedestrian tunnel through a parking garage and building a new skywalk to connect 3 wachovia to the system. You can essentially walk from the green down at 1st street all the way to 6th street without going outside.

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the retail mix sucks b/c its all restaurants, but at least the space is there.

I'm thinking that this part of Uptown area would benefit from increasing its restaurant row status -particularly if more theatre sites are added. All these people come to the area to work & could be spending more of their money seeing a show, having drinks, dinner, dates (then the city would need to improve the sidewalks in the area though). Those high end salons & fast food spots for the workers could stay inside the buildings.

On a side note, I think it speaks volumes that that old bail bond building across the street from that silo thing has not been leased since I moved here. With its proximity to the stadium you'd think there'd be a business fit for it. In fact you'd think there'd be a need for retail space for the pizza places, souvenir shops, etc. that should do well next to the home of the Charlotte Bobcats. Instead, nothing but parking lots everywhere.

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im sure dozens of potential retailers would consider the bail bonds building if the owner would entertain leasing it. Levine is currently and has been for 6 years making plans to move it, tear it down, build something on that lot. In fact, demand exceeds supply for street level space in downtown.

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so the "for lease" sign is just for show? Its already leased and just sitting there? Wow.

Are the parking lots in the areas such cash cows that builders and potential retail business investors can't pony up enough dough to make it worth the while of the owners to sell/lease the land to do something different? The number of parking lots is just incredible to me.

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Blame Belk Bros for that one. They own the land under that 60 story tower and lease it to BofA. Belk company cared so little for its past, it sent a wrecking ball through the granite cornice that had "Belk Bros." carved into it over the main entrance (which was on Trade, BTW...the Tryon entrance was originaly Efird's Department Store which Belk bought in the 60s and haphazzardly connected to their store).

It is truly a shame that the facade was not kept intact. At least the Carolina Theater facade was dismantled with the hope it will be reworked into a future condo project. Perhaps a select few are learning from past mistakes.

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On a side note, I think it speaks volumes that that old bail bond building across the street from that silo thing has not been leased since I moved here. With its proximity to the stadium you'd think there'd be a business fit for it. In fact you'd think there'd be a need for retail space for the pizza places, souvenir shops, etc. that should do well next to the home of the Charlotte Bobcats. Instead, nothing but parking lots everywhere.

"Sports venues revitalize streetscapes." It's an UrbanPlanet sacred cow! Never mind, what you actually see...

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so the "for lease" sign is just for show? Its already leased and just sitting there? Wow.
Levine owns most of undeveloped First Ward. The Treleor House (it was built by German immigrants in the 1890s) was originally a duplex. Levine said he planned to move the historic property to the corner diagonally across from where it currently stands (it would be in what is currently the parking lot for Dixie's Tavern). What most of us REALLY think is that he simply waiting for the building to fall into such a state of disrepair that it will have to be demolished. He did that with the old cotton warehouse that was beside the United Presby Church (where Novare's Twelve will be built). They took out all the windows to rehab it, then let it sit exposed to the elements for nearly three years. The pine and maple floors rotted and he was able to use the "its too far gone to save" argument for demolition.
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The Overstreet Mall has about 100 shops...It has a little bit of everything. Fast Food, Sandwich Deli's, Athletic Clubs, Coffee Places, Clothing Stores, Hair Salons, Conveinence Stores, Bookstore, etc. etc.

Most of it is open during regular business hours 8am-6pm. On an average workday 14,000 people shop in the Overstreet Mall. That's 14,000 people that could have been out on the sidewalks. :(

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I think the weirdest part of the mall is walking out from Two Wachovia, across a skyway into a parking deck. You then have to follow some painted lines in the deck to a door that continues the "mall". The deck feels more like being "outside" than "inside". Everywhere else that's part of the mall, is fully enclosed.

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I think the weirdest part of the mall is walking out from Two Wachovia, across a skyway into a parking deck. You then have to follow some painted lines in the deck to a door that continues the "mall". The deck feels more like being "outside" than "inside". Everywhere else that's part of the mall, is fully enclosed.

I agree about the parking deck "connection" and following the signs. I used to go to work with my wife (O'Dell Associates), and while she was at work, I would spend the day walking around Charlotte. The Overstreet Mall was my best friend. I used it to keep dry and to move around. You also feel less guilty entering the hotels via the Overstreet Mall, rather than the front door, if you're just tooling around.

The average visitor to Charlotte probably wouldn't have enough time to figure out the mall, but it's a very good "homebase" for the long-term suburban visitor.

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