Ritz-Carlton Hotel & 1 Bank of America Center

[dubone]

College Street between 5th and 6th is unbelievable for the amount of pedestrian traffic. I am always surprised by how much, and it is due to the cool way retail is incorporated in the base of Hearst, and the fact that retail is also included in the Holiday Inn. Between 6th and 7th has a good start, especially at night, and if a tower project goes up on the Spirit Square parking lot, it will be even better.

I'm definitely worried about the lack of ground level retail in this project. If we debate the Wachovia tower, with all of its museums and ground level retail, this one will definitely be controversial, as there really isn't much retail on the street level for this project. Hopefully, though, Epicenter will be enough of a pedestrian focal point that this block will naturally end up with pedestrian activity despite the lack of retail on the street. Also, if Founder's Hall gets converted to have street retail on College, it might offset it.

[RiverwoodCLT]

Building permit for Ritz Carlton

128 N. College St., Ritz-Carlton, Bank of America, Dooley Construction Co., $683,625.

[Southend]

Building permit for Ritz Carlton

128 N. College St., Ritz-Carlton, Bank of America, Dooley Construction Co., $683,625.

i thought Centex was doing the Ritz... hm..

[rooster8]

For that amount it can't be that much, especially not the whole structure. Site prep maybe?

[AuLukey]

So I got to wondering about the work they did several months ago and how it goes along with this new design. If they are planning to build underground parking for the new tower, won't they have to redo all of the piping they just buried when they tore down the skybridge? Or do you guys think they will just work around all of that?

[atlrvr]

Nope....all that was for nothing. They've already filed plans to completely relocate all that HVAC machinery.

[swh1972]

There is a "small" crane today at the site of the new Bank of America office building. They are installing a steel structure along College. It looks a little too permanent to be covered walkway for pedestrian traffic during construction, but that's what it resembles.

[dxartist]

I wonder how deep the hole has to be for the project? I know it won't be as deep as Wachovia's 1st Street project.

[UrbanCharlotte]

Anyone know why they poured a few concrete slabs where the office tower will go? Seems odd as they still have a lot of digging to do?

[atlrvr]

The steel-beam driving apparatus has now been assembled on site....I have a feeling it will be getting noisy soon.

[charlotte_uncc]

Anybody know what all that pipe work on College Street is for? It looks rather permanent.

[revitalize]

from what i heard, they built that steel beam structure in the turning lane of college street in order to temporarily hold the HVAC system that now sits on top of the adjacent parking deck. They are supposed to be adding a few floors of parking on top of the existing deck. The pipes will allow the HVAC to continue operation while they do that.

[swh1972]

from what i heard, they built that steel beam structure in the turning lane of college street in order to temporarily hold the HVAC system that now sits on top of the adjacent parking deck. They are supposed to be adding a few floors of parking on top of the existing deck. The pipes will allow the HVAC to continue operation while they do that.

The turning lane is still there. This is over the sidewalk.

[AuLukey]

from what i heard, they built that steel beam structure in the turning lane of college street in order to temporarily hold the HVAC system that now sits on top of the adjacent parking deck. They are supposed to be adding a few floors of parking on top of the existing deck. The pipes will allow the HVAC to continue operation while they do that.

Those poor people in that parking garage, first the bank takes the skywalk out, so now they have to walk in the cold plus take about an extra five minutes to get to work; but now I'm assuming the bank will close the top level of the deck in order to both move the HVAC and to construct more levels. I mean sure, this is going to be even better for them once the project is complete with much more parking, glass surrounding the deck meaning better indoor temperatures, and a walk through the 'gardens' on their way to work; but in the meantime, it's gotta be a b*tch.

[dubone]

Interesting to sympathize with parking deck commuters.

Some people theorize that it is good to reduce uptown parking to support LRT usage (the LRT station is next door to this deck). Hopefully some of those people will find it more convenient to park in the suburbs and take the train in.

from what i heard, they built that steel beam structure in the turning lane of college street in order to temporarily hold the HVAC system that now sits on top of the adjacent parking deck. They are supposed to be adding a few floors of parking on top of the existing deck. The pipes will allow the HVAC to continue operation while they do that.

That would seem to solve the mystery. It has seemed very odd. I almost thought they were building a heated walkway around the construction site, and I was horrified. This is a good, more reasonable choice.

[AuLukey]

True but I can't imagine that most of the people in that deck will be from south charlotte. I see most of those people from gastonia, concord, fort mill, and monroe rather than charlotte itself. So, until those lines are completed and people are offered a reasonable alternative, I do sympathize with them. Because let's face it, buses from the suburbs are a pain in the neck.

[28202]

The air handler units are being removed from the top of the BofA parking deck at this time, you can watch from the epicentre web cam.

[uptownliving]

I saw them doing that this morning when I walked by. Not everyday you see huge chillers flying through the air.

[Charlotteman]

Do ya'll suppose BofA's enormous parking garage on Trade will ever be retrofitted to build a skyscraper on top? It's such an ugly behemouth.

[dubone]

Yes, and this is the thread describing exactly the 'skyscraper' doing it.

This 32 Story Office Tower, the subject of this thread, will be built to cover half of the BofA parking garage. The southern half of that deck will remain exposed, but the northern half will be now be underneath this new office tower. It was the only way they could build an office tower with the right floorplate sizes, while still keeping the Ritz at Trade and College.

This is the reason they are building the structure and piping at 5th and College and removing the equipment from the top of this deck today.

[Charlotteman]

Oh I see. I didn't realize the 32 story tower was to cover part of that garage.

Too bad the garage's southern exposure to Trade St. isn't visually obscured by something. It looks terrible sitting there taking up all that valuable space. I guess eye-sores have to exist somewhere. When you need parking, you need parking.

Just out of curiosity why does the word skyscraper appear as "skyscraper" in your answer above? Is this word a no-no?

[dubone]

I just am not sure how much sky a 32 story tower is scraping.

[uptownliving]

Too bad the garage's southern exposure to Trade St. isn't visually obscured by something. It looks terrible sitting there taking up all that valuable space. I guess eye-sores have to exist somewhere. When you need parking, you need parking.

I agree, hopefully one day BofA will see fit to put in retail on the first floor of the parking deck. That section of Trade gets a lot of pedestrian traffic during Arena events.

[Charlotteman]

In the future I'll chose my words more carefully.

[AuLukey]

Well, this project does involve retrofitting the garage with glass and making it more modern to match the Ritz and office tower. After adding the two floors of parking, maybe they will take a few spots facing trade and turn them into a small retail space or two. They have about ten feet to expand out to the sidewalk which would create room enough. I didn't notice if that small Trade St lawn was there in the renderings.

What I don't understand is why they are moving the HVAC system. With all the leftover revenue, why don't they just junk the old systems in place for more efficient, cleaner systems to be used for all three towers? Or am I just jumping the gun and this sidewalk accident-waiting-to-happen is just a temporary holding place for the old systems that will be replaced completely once the new towers are constructed with updated systems? I still don't get why they just didn't place them on top of Founders Hall (the non-glass portion.) To me that would seem safer.