Elizabeth Projects (7th St, Elizabeth Ave, etc)

[hinsp0]

2 hours ago, Cadi40 said:

How much retail with this? 

One flagship blockbuster video store.

[archiham04]

So there are obvious changes to the financial modeling for this project vs the Faison project OfficeVS Residential, but from an architectural standpoint....

• you are probably going from wood-over-podium to steel construction
• changing from 4 sided architecture to 3 sided (one side has parking decks right?)
• save on excavation (no buried parking)
• save from not constructing balconies

... and I guess you also save from not reliving the previous owner's heartburn over neighborhood discontent.  

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, archiham04 said:

So there are obvious changes to the financial modeling for this project vs the Faison project OfficeVS Residential, but from an architectural standpoint....

• you are probably going from wood-over-podium to steel construction
• changing from 4 sided architecture to 3 sided (one side has parking decks right?)
• save on excavation (no buried parking)
• save from not constructing balconies

... and I guess you also save from not reliving the previous owner's heartburn over neighborhood discontent.  

By the end of it, Faison had become a project with surface parking only.  

There is still a lot of discontent in the community. Crescent has been going through similar neighborhood experience.

[CLT>]

23 hours ago, Eightane said:

So they resurrected the flatiron building along with the new plans? That's outstanding!  I was so certain it was killed off. That alone will be a game changer in Elizabeth, architecturally anyway.

Looking forward to it all taking shape!

This will be great, but let's see what Crescent actually ends up building compared to what they present initially. Fingers crossed though!

[lancer22]

18 hours ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

By the end of it, Faison had become a project with surface parking only.  

There is still a lot of discontent in the community. Crescent has been going through similar neighborhood experience.

I'm not super familiar with the arguments as to why Elizabeth has opposed this in the past, but it strikes me as a little strange that they would prefer an office use that has 2x-3x the parking requirement as apartments.

 

[KJHburg]

^^^NIMBYism I would suggest.   Plus the Business Journal article said Crescent promised not to have medical office tenants in the building or fitness centers as retail tenants.  I guess they don't want anyone coming to their neighborhood. 

[SgtCampsalot]

8 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

^^^NIMBYism I would suggest.   Plus the Business Journal article said Crescent promised not to have medical office tenants in the building or fitness centers as retail tenants.  I guess they don't want anyone coming to their neighborhood. 

Let's explore the psychology in our culture of buying one's own plot of land for a home and being against anything that is not other homeowners coming to your area

[CLTProductions]

5 hours ago, KJHburg said:

^^^NIMBYism I would suggest.   Plus the Business Journal article said Crescent promised not to have medical office tenants in the building or fitness centers as retail tenants.  I guess they don't want anyone coming to their neighborhood. 

quick aside, they'll limit but not restrict those tenants 

[BNY]

Post from the Elizabeth Community Association:

Update on 7th & Caswell Development

Dear Elizabeth Neighbors,

Monday night, the ECA joined Crescent Communities in showing the neighborhood’s support for the proposed development on the 1.68-acre Faison land at the corner of E. 7th St. and N. Caswell Avenue.  A presentation was made to City Council for the rezoning petition #2019-029.  This was the zoning hearing, which we anticipate to be followed by an official vote of City Council on September 16, 2019.  The project should be underway early 2020 and complete late 2021.

If you were present at the April public meeting with Crescent held at St. John’s Baptist, you will recall the concept was met with widespread support and enthusiasm.  That being said, there were many details to work out in the “fine print” as the project continued to take shape.  The Real Estate and Zoning Committee was comprised of Paul Shipley, Beth Haenni, Melanie Sizemore, Jim Belvin, Evan Kettler, Sarah Crowder, Sal Kafiti, and Max Gilland.  This committee has been working hard to negotiate the very best circumstances and outcome for this development.  

Overall, the ECA is really proud of where things stand, is excited about this development, and believes the proposed building is in keeping with the Elizabeth Small Area Plan.  We thank YOU - the passionate neighbors of Elizabeth - for your input, questions and excellent feedback that directly influenced how this project evolved!

Charlotte Agenda has provided an excellent snapshot of the project:
https://www.charlotteagenda.com/158747/elizabeth-development-office-retail/

KEY DETAILS

(1) ARCHITECTURE

Crescent responded to recommended changes from the neighborhood, bringing us an iconic building with some historic allusions that respect Elizabeth and this important corner.

• 4 stories total (3 office above bottom floor retail)
• 4th floor set back down 7th and beside Savvy - essentially not visible from 7th and will appear more like 3 stories
• Mix of glass and brick
• Key elements of wood accents and green brick tiles
• Recessed entryways to retail with limited outdoor seating
• Public artwork opportunities (murals, etc.) at specific places
• Hidden mechanicals and dumpsters, etc. and limitations on trash pick-up times
• “Plaza” at the rounded corner
• Bicycle parking

(2) TREES - Crescent will provide an improved pedestrian experience with an 8-foot planting strip and a 7-foot pedestrian clear zone on the sidewalk.  The mature zelkovas will remain along Caswell, and new Chinese Pistache trees will be planted along 7th.

(3) PARKING - Crescent increased their parking count significantly due to neighborhood feedback.  The parking for this project will be in a deck in the rear of the property and will become evening/weekend shared parking for the Asana property across the street (e.g., Starbucks/Stanley/Crunkleton/Burn/etc.) to help alleviate parking problems at that site.  While we may experience parking issues once the Crescent project is built, rest assured that Crescent and ECA are going to work together to explore parking solutions to help prevent Crescent overflow parking throughout the neighborhood.  This will be an ECA agenda item for the fall.

We will keep you posted on any further developments about this project.

Elizabeth Community Association

Edited July 17, 2019 by BNY

[archiham04]

On 7/15/2019 at 3:05 PM, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

By the end of it, Faison had become a project with surface parking only.  

There is still a lot of discontent in the community. Crescent has been going through similar neighborhood experience.

It was actually 60% underground and 40% above ground.  The parking below was accessed from the alley so the ramp did not show up in site plans.  The building facing 7th street had parking beneath the entire building.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, archiham04 said:

It was actually 60% underground and 40% above ground.  The parking below was accessed from the alley so the ramp did not show up in site plans.  The building facing 7th street had parking beneath the entire building.

Good observation, I guess I missed that on the original site plans, since like you said, there was no ramp.

[kermit]

So the Memorial Stadium refurb is still happening? I think I am happy about that, no one wants it to sit empty. I guess the 10,000 capacity confirms that there are no plans for MLS there anymore. 

The county had a good result with the Bojangles refurb, fingers crossed they can repeat it here.

 

[QCxpat]

From today's  Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter  (Monday, July 29, 2019).  "Work is expected to start next month on the $35M refresh of Memorial Stadium in Elizabeth, the county tells the Ledger.  Demolition should start in August, with construction expected to be complete by spring 2021.  According to a recent design update from architects Land Design, HOK and Jenkins-Peer, the changes will include:

• Pushing back the interior stone walls to allow more field space.  

• Relocating the ticket buildings.

• Better connections to the Little Sugar Creek Greenway.   

• Placing a memorial to Mecklenburg County World War I Veterans between the two main entries.   

Renderings

Link to The Ledger's story:  https://charlotteledger.substack.com/

[archiham04]

There are some notable attributions to UP in that edition of the Ledger....

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, archiham04 said:

There are some notable attributions to UP in that edition of the Ledger....

Yep. The Lowes Tower article had at least 6 quotes from us. Tony is a reader obviously.

[t_money]

Should they change CPCC to be UNC-Charlotte-Uptown? How about University of Charlotte. Seems like it is ever expanding, growing, improving, winning.

[JHart]

16 hours ago, youngt2 said:

Should they change CPCC to be UNC-Charlotte-Uptown? How about University of Charlotte. Seems like it is ever expanding, growing, improving, winning.

CPCC is already it's own college system so unless you wanted to add 7 schools to the UNC label, I probably wouldn't lump them together. I guess you could go for a re-branding of the CPCC name to something else, but most people in the area are already familiar with the system.

[CLT2014]

17 hours ago, youngt2 said:

Should they change CPCC to be UNC-Charlotte-Uptown? How about University of Charlotte. Seems like it is ever expanding, growing, improving, winning.

I'm not aware of any community colleges in the country that only grant up to an Associate Degree calling themselves a "University." CPCC is a great community college, but calling itself a "university" would be inaccurate and likely cause ridicule.

University is by and large used by Bachelor Degree granting schools that also have Master's and PhD programs.

Also, converting CPCC from a community college to a university would leave the region without the most critical campus for a community college that provides important programs and training that differ from a four year university. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by CLT2014

[Vitamin_N]

Does anybody know anything about the NAI tower on 3rd/4th/Baldwin? Somebody in the Cherry FB group posted that, according to Assistant Director of Planning Ed McKinney, the city has already received from the developer the $250K for Cherry neighborhood improvements that they promised to help get the project done. I was surprised to hear this because I would have thought they wouldn't pay out unless they were going to build, but maybe it was just promised for the rezoning and not for the building.

[gman430]

 

[KJHburg]

14 hours ago, Vitamin_N said:

Does anybody know anything about the NAI tower on 3rd/4th/Baldwin? Somebody in the Cherry FB group posted that, according to Assistant Director of Planning Ed McKinney, the city has already received from the developer the $250K for Cherry neighborhood improvements that they promised to help get the project done. I was surprised to hear this because I would have thought they wouldn't pay out unless they were going to build, but maybe it was just promised for the rezoning and not for the building.

Probably a condition of the rezoning rather than start of construction.  That is what I would think. 

[t_money]

On 8/3/2019 at 9:15 PM, gman430 said:

 

This parking garage makes me sad. There's already a 5 story garage literally next to it. I've never been to Novant, but I feel like there is plenty of parking as is?

On 8/3/2019 at 9:15 PM, gman430 said:

 

Is this CPCC? New student center?

[Old Carolinian]

"This parking garage makes me sad."
 

Exactly.  The utter thoughtlessness and indifference of the hospital...building a convenient parking deck for patients needing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for cancer and patients receiving treatment and rehab for heart and vascular disease.

[tozmervo]

5 minutes ago, Old Carolinian said:

"This parking garage makes me sad."
 

Exactly.  The utter thoughtlessness and indifference of the hospital...building a convenient parking deck for patients needing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for cancer and patients receiving treatment and rehab for heart and vascular disease. 

That's an unwarranted response that completely infers indifference to patients and their families when none was implied. There are dozens of ways convenient parking could be located in this project without dominating an entire streetscape. I think it is also realistic to suggest that Novant is over-building parking spaces, just as with our criticisms of the gargantuan parking decks being built in Uptown. There are three other huge parking decks in that photo, not counting the multiple surface lots. 

[jtmonk]

1 minute ago, Old Carolinian said:

"This parking garage makes me sad."
 

Exactly.  The utter thoughtlessness and indifference of the hospital...building a convenient parking deck for patients needing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for cancer and patients receiving treatment and rehab for heart and vascular disease.

I think we can all agree that parking is needed for hospitals, especially convenient parking for patients.  I also think we can all agree that parking decks can be eye sores and should be designed in a way to be hidden or at least encourage more activity at street level.   At least for this parking deck, they did leave space fronting Queens Road so maybe something such as retail can be built there in the not so distant future.