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3rd Ward Midrise Projects


UrbanCharlotte

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It's been mentioned that Uptown could benefit from having highrise apartments, as well as the spate of ownership condos that are currently under construction and planning.

An Uptown with all upper middle classed and wealthy residents can't possibly lead to a well integrated and lively center city. Apartment buildings added to the mix would certainly add social diversity, as most artists and creative peoples can't afford a $250,000 condo, but would still love to live in the middle of all the action.

Seattle recognized this problem a long time ago and has gone against the economic realities of the day to build high rise apartment buildings downtown (paid for by city coffers.) The city owns the buildings, and rents out the apartments on a sliding scale, and thus the residences are inhabited by peoples of all walks of life.

Downtown Seattle is about as lively as a center city area could be. Part of this successful urban fabric can be directly traced to the city attitude of keeping downtown available for basically anyone who wants to live there.

Charlotte needs to study Seattle's example. A few high rise apartment towers Uptown could make all the difference in the world. Why not start at the new 3rd Ward site(s) to put it to the test?

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Uptown has homeless shelters, subsidized and fully public housing units for many sizes of families. It also has sub-200k$ units for singles and couples. Closer to Tryon, there is more demand from office workers, so there you get more middle and upper middle class pricing. However, many of the units that are coming up lately are 1BR for single people with an income.

Due to the costs of building, we can't expect the starving artist standard to determine pricing. However, successful artists, or artists who are married to someone with an income can live here. The struggling artists still have their place uptown, either renting a room in one of the houses, or by living at the artist colony at the McColl center.

$200k is affordable to the median income of Charlotte, so I don't think this project is going to make uptown more exclusive than most any other homeowner neighborhoods.

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Well, either way, here is a little before and after pics of the block. I just hope some of the detailing on the church st facade is preserved. Maybe we should hold a UP forum meet when it comes down to make sure some of those pieces dont see the dumpster.

I call dibs on the "power building" sign....sigh.....everyone say goodbye.........

5-19-06

From Mint street looking at the interior of the block

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Along 1st street.

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Looking up Mint street.

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11-05-06

Church st.

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12-22-06

bye bye.

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^ I agree! A friend of mine lives in the Spire bldg in Midtown which is a Novare project and I absolutely loved it.

The only thing that concerns me is the quality of the buildings Novare is building in Charlotte. When I went to look at the Avenue the sales person that helped me told me the Avenue was a "softer" version of the Atlanta buildings. I asked her what she meant by that and she explained they weren't as nice as the ones in Atl.

Several months back when I saw Novare's CEO speak on their plans for the 3rd Ward project I thought I remembered him saying that the 3rd Ward buildings would be a higher quality than what Novare normally produces. I think I even remember him saying they would offer three bedroom units which they don't usually produce.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone know if they did indeed set the detailing aside before ripping the building down? It would be nice to think that they'd take the extra little bit of time to cut it out, maybe auction it off or something. Of course I'm sure this is wishful thinking... but does anyone know for sure?

Can't say for sure, but if you drive by the site now it appears that they might be taking care not to damage the entrance on Church.

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Anyone know if they did indeed set the detailing aside before ripping the building down? It would be nice to think that they'd take the extra little bit of time to cut it out, maybe auction it off or something. Of course I'm sure this is wishful thinking... but does anyone know for sure?

I drove by this again last night and took a closer look. If they are not attempting to preverve parts of the entrance facades, then their methods of taking down everything around them are quite odd!

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No time frame has been discussed publically, that I've seen, for this project but I happened to be in an office yesterday and noticed a set of full blueprints (appearing ready for permit) of the building to be built on the Duke site. It looked fantastic. They apparantly will be starting very soon on this -- many of us thought this might be a further out project but Novare appears not to play and they have always started projects and broken ground before even trying for pre-sales.

It'll be quite a statement about them if they get this up and rising before other projects that can't ever seem to get moving.

Before flaming spear is thrown at me, I mean none of the handful of projects that applies to in particular -- just a comment about Novare's ability to seemingly get things done on or before announced or predicted dates which instills quite a bit of confidence to the buying public! :)

Edited by Charlotte_native
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No time frame has been discussed publically, that I've seen, for this project but I happened to be in an office yesterday and noticed a set of full blueprints (appearing ready for permit) of the building to be built on the Duke site. It looked fantastic. They apparantly will be starting very soon on this -- many of us thought this might be a further out project but Novare appears not to play and they have always started projects and broken ground before even trying for pre-sales.

It'll be quite a statement about them if they get this up and rising before other projects that can't ever seem to get moving.

Before flaming spear is thrown at me, I mean none of the handful of projects that applies to in particular -- just a comment about Novare's ability to seemingly get things done on or before announced or predicted dates which instills quite a bit of confidence to the buying public! :)

as a potential uptown condo buyer, a tower that doesnt need presales and is already uc (3rd ward novare) is much more likely to be bought than one that has been delayed several times (vue). Even if the vue is nicer, i may not want the risk of it being delayed yet again. novare knows there are consumers like me out there that are most concerned about getting in to a builder quickly

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as a potential uptown condo buyer, a tower that doesnt need presales and is already uc (3rd ward novare) is much more likely to be bought than one that has been delayed several times (vue). Even if the vue is nicer, i may not want the risk of it being delayed yet again. novare knows there are consumers like me out there that are most concerned about getting in to a builder quickly

Vue really isn't that "late". Royal Court, Citaden, Garrison really need to get some movement before people really think they will never happen.

Novares philosophy is exactly what you've described about yourself, wipe out the doubt by starting construction BEFORE marketing and sales. They are fortunate in the fact that they self-fund or don't need pre-sales for financing.

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No time frame has been discussed publically, that I've seen, for this project but I happened to be in an office yesterday and noticed a set of full blueprints (appearing ready for permit) of the building to be built on the Duke site. It looked fantastic. They apparantly will be starting very soon on this -- many of us thought this might be a further out project but Novare appears not to play and they have always started projects and broken ground before even trying for pre-sales.

It'll be quite a statement about them if they get this up and rising before other projects that can't ever seem to get moving.

Before flaming spear is thrown at me, I mean none of the handful of projects that applies to in particular -- just a comment about Novare's ability to seemingly get things done on or before announced or predicted dates which instills quite a bit of confidence to the buying public! :)

No worries, I couldn't throw a flaming spear that far anyway, even it were a figurative one :) Seeing what Novare has done here and in Atlanta, they are a-okay in my book. Will definitely be interesting what the 4 buildings will end up looking like once completed and help a notoriously dead pedestrian section of uptown

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No time frame has been discussed publically, that I've seen, for this project but I happened to be in an office yesterday and noticed a set of full blueprints (appearing ready for permit) of the building to be built on the Duke site. It looked fantastic. They apparantly will be starting very soon on this -- many of us thought this might be a further out project but Novare appears not to play and they have always started projects and broken ground before even trying for pre-sales.

"Demolition of the H.D. Power Building has already begun, and construction on the first tower is expected to begin in early summer 2007. More details on the first condominium community will be available in early 2007. The remaining buildings on the site will be developed on a progressive schedule, with the entire site projected to be completed in 2011."

That's from their website.

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Before flaming spear is thrown at me, I mean none of the handful of projects that applies to in particular -- just a comment about Novare's ability to seemingly get things done on or before announced or predicted dates which instills quite a bit of confidence to the buying public! :)
So far, it seems to me like Novare and Furman both have a knack for getting things done reliably and in a timely manner. If I were buyer in uptown Charlotte, these are the two developers to whom I would look first.
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