North End?

[Justadude]

Greater Charlotte Properties released a glossy, 96-page homebuyers' guide with an issue of the Observer this week. Inside are detailed descriptions of neighborhoods, school stats, etc.

What caught my eye was the mention of an area called "North End" in the center city, roughly identical with North Tryon from 277 to the Square. I have lived in Charlotte all my life (college notwithstanding) and I have never once heard of a North End. A quick Google turned up only a couple of business names to that effect; I couldn't find any site (other than the e-copy of that same GCP article) which mentioned any such district.

Is there in fact a place called North End? Is it emerging as a complement to South End, or some bygone attempt to create a district which never gained traction? Or is it simply the marketing whim of the local real estate industry to need a new label for the central district every 5 years or so?

Here's what was said: "The city's cultural district, dubbed North End, extends from the center's front door southward to the center of town: Independence Square, at Tryon and Trade Streets. This district includes Discovery Place science museum, the main branch of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Spirit Square, the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, the McColl Center for Visual Art and a handful of private art galleries. The area also includes the Levine Museum of the New South and the new $40 million ImaginON... (it goes off on a tangent from here)."

It's not Downtown, Uptown, Center City, OR the CBD... it's North End!

[voyager12]

How funny! You gotta love Realtor marketing....I hope this moniker dies a quick death along with "SoDa".

[dubone]

I saw that a number of years ago as part of the goal to get the Levine land and the Hal Marshall site converted into an urban village.

Personally, I would have preferred a North End moniker for NoDa, as it has many similarities to South End (old cotton mill village around a rail system, and about a mile from downtown). North End would reflect that it is the old northern limit of the city for much of its history (note its old name was 'Historic North Charlotte'). With NoDa now squarely branded using the SoHo model, I'd rather the no-man's-land north of 277 between Optimist Park and maybe Graham to be labeled that.

Anywhere within the original Charlotte boundaries (ie. downtown/uptown) being called "North End" is just lame.

[tunedmassdamper]

Greater Charlotte Properties released a glossy, 96-page homebuyers' guide with an issue of the Observer this week. Inside are detailed descriptions of neighborhoods, school stats, etc.

What caught my eye was the mention of an area called "North End" in the center city, roughly identical with North Tryon from 227 to the Square. I have lived in Charlotte all my life (college notwithstanding) and I have never once heard of a North End. A quick Google turned up only a couple of business names to that effect; I couldn't find any site (other than the e-copy of that same GCP article) which mentioned any such district.

Is there in fact a place called North End? Is it emerging as a complement to South End, or some bygone attempt to create a district which never gained traction? Or is it simply the marketing whim of the local real estate industry to need a new label for the central district every 5 years or so?

Here's what was said: "The city's cultural district, dubbed North End, extends from the center's front door southward to the center of town: Independence Square, at Tryon and Trade Streets. This district includes Discovery Place science museum, the main branch of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Spirit Square, the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, the McColl Center for Visual Art and a handful of private art galleries. The area also includes the Levine Museum of the New South and the new $40 million ImaginON... (it goes off on a tangent from here)."

It's not Downtown, Uptown, Center City, OR the CBD... it's North End!

[charlotte49ersuptown]

Along with Hal Marshall Plans and Levine Plans the Uptown / South End Rail Corridor Plan of 1998 and the Charlotte Trolley vision plan call the area north of the square North End. Considering there isn't much in that area, the name never caught on. If anything, I could see the area from 9th and Tryon up to 12th-13 Street being called North End. It would give a good transition from the CBD to Optimist Park/Belmont

[atlrvr]

No North End....please....let's keep the historic names already in place...if there is to be a North End, it would only make sense for it to be between 277 and Dalton and between Tryon and Graham, if that area ever becomes residential instead of industrial.

[Justadude]

If anything, I could see the area from 9th and Tryon up to 12th-13 Street being called North End. It would give a good transition from the CBD to Optimist Park/Belmont

[charlotte49ersuptown]

I agree Justadude that there is no point in marketing an area that already has a name (i.e. First Ward and Fourth Ward). To tell you the truth, I never think of North Tryon Street part of First or Fourth Ward. The wards are the neighborhoods to me, not the burned out shell that once was. Hopefully the neighborhoods will push out to North Tryon and be part of First and Fourth Ward. This sort of goes for Third Ward, which is really behind the stadium and railroad tracks and not on or near South Tryon. A more cohesive neighborhood Uptown should take care of that.

[rockhilljames]

Right now we just call it "parking."

[rooster8]

If you read Curbed, the NYC housing blog, you'll see that Realtors up there are very creating in extending current districts and creating new ones.

[Justadude]

^ Kinda like realtors calling the entire eastern quadrant of Mecklenburg County "Plaza-Midwood"

[Charlotte_native]

^ Kinda like realtors calling the entire eastern quadrant of Mecklenburg County "Plaza-Midwood"

[voyager12]

North End does sound silly but I have always thought that South End was fitting because overall it covers a definable space with distinct characteristics. Although sometimes I am not sure if I am in Wilmore or South End in some spots....

[dubone]

I definitely see validity in defining boundaries for places and creating a new name for them. As long as it is fairly respectful of the history (South End is fair because it was the city's southern end for the period in which Charlotte really started to becoming a city). "NoDa" is a little more awkward, but it is just part of the national trend of names using the SoHo model, to seem cool and trendy.

I also don't mind Dilworth's boundaries changing somewhat over time. It is all part of growth and infill, and people want to distinguish their little neighborhood from others nearby.

[Justadude]

^ I agree with what you're saying, but I have a problem with REnaming districts. I have similar issues with changing street names without a particularly good reason.