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615 South College (Portman Office Tower near Westin)


CarolinaDaydreamin

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See this on the UP Wiki: One Charlotte Tower

Doug Smith is reporting the new tower that will sell 99 $1,000,000+ units, is going to be built by John Portman Holdings of Atlanta. This is the same builder and architect of the Westin Charlotte. The tower will be located next to the Westin. How do y'all think this will affect Trump's plans? He man soon try to release something soon to try to "one up" Portman, something he has done on numerous occassions. I think this project is innovative and the tower will certainly add depth (and even more pointed tops) to the western side of the skyline.


MOD EDIT: The archived history of the plans for this site is here: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=8334

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Not that I put much stock in their opinion, but I was surfing the local news this morning to find something I could stomach long enough to hear the weather, and I caught them talking about this tower on WCCB channel 18. Basically this crew was ridiculing this tower and anyone who would buy a unit in this place. They did mention a different price point, $1.5M - $10M.

I do have to agree with them in that I would wonder if there would be enough potential buyers for something such as this vanity tower.

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Portman projects tend to be very elegant and attractive. I have stayed in hotels in Asia under their name. The Westin has always been one of my favorite buildings in Uptown and this structure will fit in well being next door. I think it's a bit too rich for Charlotte's blood but I am sure they did a lot of research before committing so perhaps it will work. For some reason the "demonstration kitchen" sticks out for moi...how Martha! This tower makes The Trust look quite pedestrian and middle class by comparison :shades:

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While the architecture of this building is nice it does look similar to other existing buildings and while this particular iteration will be new to the Charlotte skyline I feel like this design is a repeat of something that already exists on the world stage. All that being said when compared to the existing and proposed condo towers in Charlotte I think this one could turn out to be the best looking one, especially at night with that beautiful crown lit up.

I am interested to see how this relates to College Street...will there be street level retail and what do they plan to do with the parking deck facade?

If this does go forward then it would be another item to help make the capping of 277 a reality sooner rather than later.

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It does have a similar crown to others around the world, but it would be very new to Charlotte. Not to mention the S. Tryon side of uptown could use some spires, or pointed tops.

This is really turning into the upscale side of town. With all the cultural facilities going in the Wachovia campus and possibly Trump adding high end residences here, could we see some high end retailers, or maybe even a department store anchor?

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This is a conservative but very elegant design for a condo tower. I wonder what, if anything, they're planning on doing at street level along College. And since it looks like the tower will cover the eastern part of the deck, right up against the light rail line, I wonder what they'll have facing the light rail line. It would be nice if they had some shops or at least a lobby facing Stonewall Street station. Same goes for the Westin - I've only been up there once or twice, but I don't remember there being anything other than maybe a single door facing the light rail. Would be nice if they had a bit more of a lobby or some shops up there.

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Looks to me that Portman was considering how the tower would interact with the Wachovia tower more than how it would interact with the Westin. Makes me wonder if he's had a peek at Trump's design as well.

I really like it. It does remind me of Frost, but I love the Frost tower, so that's not really a bad thing. I think the lighting scheme at night can be amazing dramatic if they want it to be. I'm skeptical of the numbers working for this tower, but I hope it goes through, as it can really change the flavor of our skyline.

So...to recap: Wachovia Tower & Condo tower, Novare's Four tower cluster, Portman's Condo tower, and a possible Trump tower set.

South Tryon is banging right now.

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Something else that is interesting to note: The newspaper article talked about upgrading the structure of the parking deck but nothing about adding parking spaces. Someone I know at the Westin told me there are no plans to add any parking spaces. I wonder if there could be a future parking crunch?

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So...to recap: Wachovia Tower & Condo tower, Novare's Four tower cluster, Portman's Condo tower, and a possible Trump tower set.

South Tryon is banging right now.

And, lest we should forget, 300 South Tryon.

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I just can't see the new projected skyline renderings that will surely be forthcoming with this new addition...... :D

So what affect is this going to have on the existing condo market in uptown? If you look on the MLS there are million dollar condos at the Trust, Ratcliff, Courtside, The Vue, etc. Will the values of these condos go down as the majority of people who would have moved there might now buy at One Tower?

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I think that this condo market is one of a kind.....competing probably most with The Vue and the upcomding Trump and Wachovia towers, though even those will likely have some units under $500k. The Trust is the only thing close to being as exclusive, but it's an entirely different building that will appeal to a different set anyway.

I agree that people of this kind of wealth, like being with like people. The people who own here, are currently living in Seven Eagles or Longview or the other top-dollar gated communities, and either have no kids or the kids are off to college. Also, it seems that developers are really gearing up for a large in-migration of high$$$ employees to the uptown area. This project and Trump's deal are creating the supply for a demand that is soon coming.

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Wow, this is the coolest condo tower I've seen in Charlotte to date! I really hope they can pull it off - I realize it takes alot of millionaires to do this. But if Atlanta an have several of this incredibly expensive towers, I'm sure we can have at least 1. Only 99 residences, doesn't seem like too large of a feat.

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