Bearden Park in Third Ward, Uptown Charlotte

[Guest]

Meck Co approved the purchase contract for the 3rd Ward Park land tonight. Ramirez sided with the Dems to form a majority. This means the park is still on track and they can move forward. Hopefully construction should start soon as the construction docs for the park are about done.

Very nice, fantastic news Uptownliving. We need to get this park built as fast as possible!

[atlrvr]

Hopefully lots of people emailed Ramirez about this (I did). It's good that he is running at large and has to seek to appease constituents across the city. I will likely vote for him this time, though this would have been a deal-breaker. I also emailed Bently (who reversed her vote from support to not) but she didn't seem swayed. I suspect because few in her district care about Uptown.

[JonesQC]

Meck Co approved the purchase contract for the 3rd Ward Park land tonight. Ramirez sided with the Dems to form a majority. This means the park is still on track and they can move forward. Hopefully construction should start soon as the construction docs for the park are about done.

Just to be certain, this was only an approval for the 3rd Ward Park (Romare Bearden) and not for both the 3rd Ward Park and the AAA Baseball Stadium? I'm assuming these are moving separately - 3rd Ward Park moving forward, AAA stalemated because of litigation via Reeses Cup?

[uptownliving]

That is correct....this is a straight up purchase by Meck Co of the property for the 3rd Ward Park.

[Charlotteman]

I pushed the case for saving the building which now has the House of Jazz during the public meetings about designing the 3rd Ward Park. The bottom line for them was that saving it would hurt the ability to widen the pedestrian environment along MLK and Church and would take away from their primary purpose to add open space uptown.

In Charlotte's development history, there is always a "good reason" to destroy a perfectly beautiful old Uptown building.......I guess there's really no hope when it comes to this issue. I'm sure most of us UP folks would love to save the House of Jazz building. But Charlotte just can't seem to stop destroying it's history.

[dubone]

Although off topic, the designers of First Ward park are certain to save the old warehouse that Dixies occupies and took feedback from the public to find a spot to move and save the Treloar house if feasible.

The house of jazz building is toast as the designers blatantly ignored that public comment right away.

[atlrvr]

The County completed the purchase of land for 3rd Ward park last week.

[dubone]

So..... what happens next? I took a run down Mint Street yesterday, and reminded myself anew just how unpleasant that area is. We now have Novare's residential tower almost completed next door, which helps a bit, but we really need progress on this park.

I'm glad they decided to buy that land outright. Did they mention an estimation of construction dates in the meeting that they approved the land?

[edmundblackadder1999]

I know that in Oct. or Nov. 2008, the city voted to allocate funds for the park on S. Church St. Have funds been allocated for this park also? Obviously, commercial development won't occur here for quite some time, but the park would be nice.

Also, what streets would bound the new park?

PS: I am fairly new to Charlotte, so pls. forgive me if I'm asking an obvious question.

[Spartan]

Its bounded by 3rd St, Mint, MLK, and Church. Currently there is a connection to Poplar St on the site that will go away.

I don't know the technicalities of the funding process, but yes, the money is out there somewhere, and this park will get built.

Welcome to UrbanPlanet!

[JonesQC]

I am wondering what the time line is to start on this park on the logistical side. Consider the purchase is 100% complete, the plans are approved, builder/contractors are in line, etc. I think the city would need to wait until at least The Catalyst is complete in order not to clog up MLK Blvd with two construction fronts.

Considering The Catalyst is about 1-2 months behind schedule maybe Bearden Park starts to get underway at the tail end of Catalyst completion.

Anyone else care to comment or heard any updates? I would also think as soon as Bearden commences Novare will have an easier time selling condos at Catalyst, leasing office at 220 S Church

[uptownliving]

Meck Co was planning to sell bonds this month to pay for the construction of the park. However they were waiting to see what kind of rates they got and I have not heard if they have actually sold or not.

[uptownliving]

Well the Mecklenburg County Commission (MeckCoCo for short) has decided not to sell the bonds that would have funded this park (and $100M worth of other stuff) so this project is officially on hold until further notice.

[dubone]

That is sad, but I think we have to get used to the idea that almost everything is frozen until the outlook improves.

Luckily they own the land so once they're ready again to borrow money, they'll be able to get started quickly.

[JonesQC]

Well the Mecklenburg County Commission (MeckCoCo for short) has decided not to sell the bonds that would have funded this park (and $100M worth of other stuff) so this project is officially on hold until further notice.

News 14 reporting that MeckCoCo will reevaluate the bond package in June at the earliest. Not so good for the uptown arena.

[Guest]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/700566.html

Good to hear some news on the park, or at least a part of the park. Hopefully we can some very innovative and functional art, I remember reading about a piece of Art for Romare Bearden Park that would serve as a abstract junglegym for the park, hopefully the art mentioned in the article is something seperate from that.

[dubone]

I guess the city voted to abandon the streets that fit within the land for this park. Once that is done, Mecklenburg County will have all the land in their control to do the park.

http://charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/eypju6hpr...owvdy6xf/18.pdf

Theoretically, the only thing remaining to make Bearden Park actually happen will be for the county to approve the issuance of the debt. I had heard they had frozen all new bonds through summer. My hope is the city is now getting this done because the county is ready to start.

One question is that clearly Mint will need to be made 2-way, at least between MLK and 3rd. Normally the city would be responsible, but I believe they were originally wanting the Knights to front the costs for the work and then reimburse them with property tax rebates. With the Knights on hold, and likely to eventually pull out of the deal. At minimum, the projects will no longer happen at the same time. So I wonder what they plan to do to make the roadway changes.

I was eager to see 4th, Mint and Poplar all switch to bi-directional streets in this area in accordance with the Center City Transportation Plan.

[Spartan]

The changes to the streets are all pending on the park's funding. The city probably won't make changes to the street unless the park gets the greenlight.

Making Mint Street two-way from 5th St to MLK will be a relatively simple process from a functional standpoint since its mainly a re-striping and signage thing. The ballpark had a lot of aesthetic enhancements associated with it that won't impact the functionality of a two-way street.

[Mobuchu]

I guess the city voted to abandon the streets that fit within the land for this park. Once that is done, Mecklenburg County will have all the land in their control to do the park.

http://charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/eypju6hpr...owvdy6xf/18.pdf

Theoretically, the only thing remaining to make Bearden Park actually happen will be for the county to approve the issuance of the debt. I had heard they had frozen all new bonds through summer. My hope is the city is now getting this done because the county is ready to start.

So, we get the park, and the landswap, but not the baseball stadium? Sorry, but this turned out great IMO. I was not a big fan of the stadium, and now that it may not get built, I hope those blocks can be chopped up and sold for development. Or, used for another pupose that will help draw people to that side of town on a more frequent basis. Anything that adds different uses to the perimeter of the park.

[InitialD]

So, we get the park, and the landswap, but not the baseball stadium? Sorry, but this turned out great IMO. I was not a big fan of the stadium, and now that it may not get built, I hope those blocks can be chopped up and sold for development. Or, used for another pupose that will help draw people to that side of town on a more frequent basis. Anything that adds different uses to the perimeter of the park.

I say just extend the park to cover where the baseball stadium would have been located. We have plenty of surface lots, it won't be missed. This would make for a really nice sized park.

[atlrvr]

I really dislike 2-way streets for the most part. I like Caldwell going 2-way, but I prefer Brevard, and Poplar being 1-way. Mint probably makes since as a 1-way betwen 6th and 2nd (MLK).

The county isn't planning on issuing bonds to pay for the park until 2nd half of 2010 at the earliest, so it's going to be awhile

I second the hope that the baseball stadium goes elsewhere, and this can be turned into mid-rise residential. There is no need to extend the park to Graham. Too big, and takes too much land that could be adding density that would utilize the park.

[HopHead]

I really dislike 2-way streets for the most part. I like Caldwell going 2-way, but I prefer Brevard, and Poplar being 1-way. Mint probably makes since as a 1-way betwen 6th and 2nd (MLK).

The county isn't planning on issuing bonds to pay for the park until 2nd half of 2010 at the earliest, so it's going to be awhile

I second the hope that the baseball stadium goes elsewhere, and this can be turned into mid-rise residential. There is no need to extend the park to Graham. Too big, and takes too much land that could be adding density that would utilize the park.

I was a big proponent of the uptown baseball stadium. However, I've gotten fed up with the whole lawsuit/financial debacle. Taking a step back, and while I think the uptown ballpark would be cool, feel that this area is better suited for the 3rd Ward park and as atlrvr stated, some added density to support it. Perhaps some midrises (10-12 stories) could work here.

Edited August 27, 2009 by dbull75

[dubone]

Well Mint makes little sense as a large one way corridor because it connects to a 2-way Pine Street, as is 2-way south of MLK. Plus, it exacerbates the traffic flow issues when they shut down Graham Street, I think.

As for Poplar, Friends of Fourth Ward have been requesting it to be converted to 2-way for a long time, and with the park going in, I am thinking it makes sense to do it.

Well, that information pretty much dashes my hope of progress, atlrvr. So I guess a whole extra year will have to pass before we see any progress on this and LSC Greenway.

I agree with most, my top priority by a factor of 10 is the 3rd Ward Park in the new location, and I am more than happy seeing the land that would have been the stadium sold for development in the long run. Perhaps Virginia Paper Bldg will have some new life after all?

[Spartan]

Mint and Poplar have such low traffic volumes that having two-way traffic won't be an issue. The only reason for one-way pairs are capacity benefits in physically constrained areas, and these streets have neither.

[dubone]

But in this case, CDOT did a full study of the streets uptown to update some from one-way pairs to bidirectional streets. These were slated for 2-way conversion. I agree that 1-way streets are good in certain cases, and I love using 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, Church, College, 11th and 12th, all set to remain 1-way streets. But I do think that in some cases, it is time to simplify navigation by putting some streets back to 2 way streets (Mint, Poplar, Caldwell, Brevard). Time will tell which streets they plan to do in the near term, but in the long term, I'm happy with those four streets converting.

The question is, if the city has abandoned those streets, does that imply they'll do road work soon? Or will they just keep status quo until bonds can be floated?

I somewhat would like them to take out the parking and make it an open lot for a while.