Arena retail

[fortyniner]

Matt's Chicago Dog may not be moving to the Arena retail storefront on East Trade after all.

Seems the retail wing only recently got electricity and there is no stove ventillation built in.

Didn't the City oversee construction of this project? It's a shame and a waste of tax money not to have the retail in place now that the Arena has been open TWO YEARS. Naming rights is a whole other issue for another day. Epicenter will suck any restaurant activity away from the Arena anyway.

[MZT]

You're just baiting Metro.M to talk about all the promises originally made about the Arena and street level retail, right?

[queensguy06]

We might not see retail in that spot until Concourse is up and running.

[AuLukey]

I have to disagree. If Epicenter turns out the way we all are hoping it will, it will draw plenty of attention to that block. But I don't think it will pull away from retail at the arena. People will cross the street and walk under a bridge/LRT station to get to retail over there. If we were talking about several blocks, I would have to agree, but I feel that the arena's retail will fill soon after Epicenter opens, and definitely by the time Concourse, R-C, and TTT are online.

[atlrvr]

I don't think this is anything surprising.....Pam Syfert said last October that they weren't planning to upfit the space until Nov and that it would be April or May before anything could be ready for a tenant to start moving upfitting. I'm not sure what the delay was for the city to start prepping the space originally, but I don't think it was from lack of interest.

Edit. One day Charlotte will mature into a city of micro-neighborhoods, where the arena retail only serves people going to games, and that work at the Federal Reserve and new Federal courthouse that will be built, and the residents at TTT, The Park, and whatever gets built directly across Trade where the YWCA daycare was. It won't need to draw office workers from Tryon street, because it will serve a much smaller, and very dense area.

[A2]

We might not see retail in that spot until Concourse is up and running.