Belk Place: Carolina Theater and Hotel Intercontinental

[Andyc545]

Wow, that picture is great looking. I love the glass to solid ratio. Also, whatever the change in glass shadowing or whatever is going on in the bottom portion is one nice detail, whatever it is...

Side Note: I wonder if the power for the elevators are billed to the residences or the condo itself. I imagine these take a lot of energy to hoist up a vehicle especially on a daily basis. I'd hate to see that bill....

Edited September 12, 2007 by Andyc545

[Raintree21]

Wow so the car elevator goes all the way up to floor 20? Wouldn't it suck if a strong wind came by and knocked your car off the elevator? Or is it an internal elevator? That would be so cool, like going into your secret high rise lair.

I believe the elevator is on the inside:

"Encore owners would enter the garage and condos on the Sixth Street side."

[Andyc545]

For reference purposes, there is a website for this project... http://www.encorecharlotte.com/

There's nothing on it but some introductory information, but if you're like me and want to bookmark it now to keep updated...

[ScottCLT]

Wow so the car elevator goes all the way up to floor 20? Wouldn't it suck if a strong wind came by and knocked your car off the elevator? Or is it an internal elevator? That would be so cool, like going into your secret high rise lair.

I'm sure it's internal. That would be scary as hell riding up along the outside of the building. What if you accidentally hit the gas?

[uptownliving]

That is one cool looking building. The key to this project will be intregrating the Carolina Theatre facade on Tryon St...how they work the transition from 20th century brick to 21st century modern design.

I am hopeful that this project will succed mainly so that the Carolina Theatre can be restored. It will be great to have that First Ward icon opened back up again.

[Andyc545]

I'm sure it's internal. That would be scary as hell riding up along the outside of the building. What if you accidentally hit the gas?

The only option is really for it to be internal, or viewable by glass. An external elevator would become an eye soar and inefficient to the design of the building, let alone more expensive. Plus there is plenty of space inside the building, given each level is more than 6000 square feet (for one condo).

Edited September 12, 2007 by Andyc545

[dubone]

I am kind of disappointed that the project could not include more units and people, but I understand why this is the only practical strategy for this tiny spot. I am intrigued by many aspects of this project, and I think that is what it will add to the city. It is great when new ways of thinking and creative solutions can be brought to a city, especially in solving urban problems. I get the sense sometimes that Charlotte has no idea some things have been solved in other places very successfully. It is good that Donnelly's travels were able to expose him to some of these concepts.

The architecture is just stunning. Assuming no value engineering, this will almost certainly be a favorite for the UP photographers when it is built.

I am starting to decouple the amazing project on the tower from the success of renovating the theater. It seems the theater has been part of CityFair, and they have now had a couple years where they have been off the chopping block, which certainly scared away donors from the cause of renovating it. How much has been raised to renovate the project? How far will the synthetic TIF on the land go toward fixing up the project, versus the money that CTPS must raise? It seems that the historical restoration is still going molasses slow, even while the residential tower is now a serious contender.

[Ryepow]

That is a nice looking building. I just wonder what kind of back up it will cause on 6th if multiple cars are waiting to enter and exit the car elevator at the same time.

[Guest]

encorecharlotte.com is now fully up and running. I'm not crazy about the floorplans, but I understand they are just staged floorplans as that this building will be offered as shells I believe. The design is award winning in my book however.

[Raintree21]

[atlrvr]

This is by far the most interesting architecture of any proposed tower.

Hopes:

1. That the orange in the rendering is real terra cotta.

2. That the office levels have some funky multi-colored lighting at night to enhance their off-vertical (it appears) windows.

3. That sixth is narrowed so the sidewalks can be widened (eliminate on-street parking maybe?)

I don't really have a problem with the smaller unit count. The density is still over 120k per square mile, plus the likely buyers here are probably going to include some heavy-hitters in Charlotte, which in turn can only lead to good things for downtown.

I included these renderings, which shows the street a little better.

[49er]

"A restaurant would be cantilevered over Tryon Street at the seventh level"

That really caught my attention, cant seem to picture it from the rendering. Its amazing that its been almost 20 years since a developer was trying to turn the Theatre into a nightclub. Its a shame that the lobby etc were destroyed.

[Raintree21]

"A restaurant would be cantilevered over Tryon Street at the seventh level"

That really caught my attention, cant seem to picture it from the rendering.

It seems like the 3rd floor has a sort of balcony with people on it. Perhaps that is thte restaurant. Although it doesn't appear to be overhanging Tryon.

[Andyc545]

.... I guess you haven't seen it all until you see Encore, as far as buildings go. This is hour by hour exceeding my expectations and really pushing the envelope to help promote future projects going creative. The building looks amazing, the colors, the architecture, the incorporation of CT - which is old architecture and applying it to one of the most modern looking buildings for Charlotte yet. As far as the amount of people that this building holds, I am not at all disappointed. This was to be exclusive and I think it will cater to 20 very lucky and rich families / people. This project helps to not blow the upper echelon market out of proportion, which is a concern in todays market.

As far as floor plans go, I wouldn't take the floor plans literally. Remember, this project completely customizes your floor, aside from the car parking ports, I am assuming, due to the elevator location. Absolutely astonishing!

Edit: It appears that there are 2 elevators in the design, to help balance the "traffic issue" as said earlier.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Andyc545

[Andyc545]

"The Next Big Thing" article is now up...

http://www.charlotte.com/484/story/274004.html

[Raintree21]

I know we constantly talk about how many millionaires Charlotte has and whether or not we're making too many ultra luxury condos for them. Would this place be at risk of taking potential residents away from One Charlotte? Both seem to be targeting the same population.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Raintree21

[atlrvr]

To make a sweeping generalization, I think One Charlotte will be more appealing to those wanting flashiness and entertaining, and to a certain extent, new money. Stock brokers/investment bankers/lawyers etc.

I think Encore is probably older money, and more than likely a second home. I'm thinking people big into the arts, but also more private. I'm imagining Hugh McColl at Encore.

EDIT. I'm very encouraged by the ingenuity in making this project work. Hopefully the city will begin to realize that developers can have some creativity, and if they want to build in Charlotte, they don't need to be given free roam to build a horrific parking deck fronting kings.....oops, sorry for migrating to that tangent

[Charlotte_native]

I like that rendering A LOT more than the sketch originally posted on here. Very interesting design that the windows create. I don't know about another tower that starts at 1.5 million + though. Why can't we start to see a high rise apartment building or two?

In this case because the cost of the theater will have to be wrapped into the cost of this condo building.

[moving uptown]

whats great is that in order to start construction, only 10 units need to be sold - 20 units total and most banks require 50 percent

[Andyc545]

whats great is that in order to start construction, only 10 units need to be sold - 20 units total and most banks require 50 percent

I don't think they will have a difficulty obtaining that 10. Actually, now that the plans have been officially released and have made way in publications (Observer), I will have no doubt that the line-up will quickly begin and be sold out before long. This project isn't just another condo tower, it's inovative, it's historic, yet it's progressive... the demand will be great.

As far as this project being competition to One Charlotte. When Encore was released, One Charlotte instantly came to my mind and its effect on Encore, but Raintree, you beat me to it. Both are catering to a very high level of wealth in the midmillions, on average, yet, these projects are completely different. The thing is, I think Encore is so much more inovative that it may have to push something equally as clever for One Charlotte. I see some of the audiance shifting their ways, maybe second thinking about their 2-10 million dollar investment at One Charlotte. I think Trump and Ghazi and everything else down in the land of Wachovia will have to develop some, also, so people get a taste of a relatively "new" area, and what will take place down there that is worth a multimillion dollar investment, vs. where Encore is, which is center city BofA land, which is very developed although changing. The theater is also extremely charming and an instant marketing success.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Andyc545

[AuLukey]

Wow, I love this design although there is one thing I can't really grasp. According to the floorplan, each car lift leads to two of the four parking spots for each unit. However, say you actually have more than two cars, what happens if you go up the lift and realize the spot in front and behind you are already full? I guess it's really common sense more than anything, but I wonder if there is some way of telling which spot is open before you pull your car onto the lift. I'd hate to ride twenty stories only to have to go all the way back down and back up again in the other lift.

[Raintree21]

I would think if you can't remember where you parked your car, you don't deserve to have such a nice place and all of that money. But then again, most of us can't remember where we parked our car at the grocery store

[Larryfla]

If we want a lot of people living downtown, don't we need to stop building buildings with one unit per floor? It seems that this is not the optimal use of space? Well, I am just glad that something is being built that will allow the preservation of that great theater.

[Charlotte_native]

If we want a lot of people living downtown, don't we need to stop building buildings with one unit per floor? It seems that this is not the optimal use of space? Well, I am just glad that something is being built that will allow the preservation of that great theater.

Yes, but variety is good also. I love the new big, tall, glass towers with 150+ units many of which are efficiency or under 800 SF, but would not want to live in one (personal lifestyle). Without a variety of unit and building types, many might not move to center city. What we really need are more rental units.

This site the the theater make this a very unique and special situation.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Charlotte_native

[UrbanFuture]

the architecture is beautiful, looks like one of those shiny new gleaming residential buildings in SimCity. Charlotte needs more developers who push design and ingenuity over the suburban ideals like "must get more space, will sacrifice everything for more space" which leads to buildings full of 300-400 units. These are great and we still need them, but as several UP posters ahead of me pointed out, diversity is necessary. I actually want to live in one of those 300 unit buildings, but I would hate to see all of Uptown turned into vertical people warehouses. Way to go Donnelly.