Belk Place: Carolina Theater and Hotel Intercontinental

[Rufus]

Just for clarifiction:  Is this building 20 stories on top of the theater, or 20 stories altogether?

[Guest]

Just now, Rufus said:

Just for clarifiction:  Is this building 20 stories on top of the theater, or 20 stories altogether?

20 floors on top of a 5 floor podium that includes the theatre, a ballroom, and offices for Foundation For the Carolinas. 

[caterpillar2]

The theater has until 2018 to begin its work. Does that mean that we could possibly wait another 2 plus years to see progress?  Or, is there an estimated ground breaking date. Obviously, the hotel has to wait for the theater to be completed. Please update me if you have information. Thanks.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, caterpillar2 said:

The theater has until 2018 to begin its work. Does that mean that we could possibly wait another 2 plus years to see progress?  Or, is there an estimated ground breaking date. Obviously, the hotel has to wait for the theater to be completed. Please update me if you have information. Thanks.

"The construction of a planned 20-story hotel above the Carolina Theatre will occur simultaneously with renovations at the historic theatre, with both projects expected to start in mid-2016 and open in 2018, according to executives with Foundation for the Carolinas and Valor Hospitality Partners."

[caterpillar2]

18 hours ago, rancenc said:

Sad that we have to use another city's streetscape....in this case Pittsburgh!

When I looked at it, I thought the photo was taken on 5th Street. Looks a bit similar.

[cltbwimob]

According to the Bizjournal, they are in advanced negotiations with a major hotel brand and should be announcing in the next month or so.

[uptownliving]

So just to clarify, is this the actual architectural firm hired by Valor to design this hotel? Is this the final design...or could we see something completely different. Maybe I'm getting in the weeds here but it sounds like this is the architectural rendering done by the firm hired by Foundation for the Carolinas...but Valor will own the air rights and the hotel above....so will they use the same architect?

[tozmervo]

I don't know with 100% certainty, but I believe that Westlake Reed (who is leading the Carolina Theater effort, hired by the Foundation) is also designing the tower. 

[Spartan]

We are very proud to have been chosen as the developer for this incredibly exciting project” said Euan McGlashan, Valor’s managing partner. “We actually believe Charlotte as a city is one of the most important, progressive, forward-thinking cities in the country right now. And because of Charlotte's importance, we have created a rendering of how cool this building would look in Pittsburgh."

WTF? Charlotte is so awesome, so here's a picture of Pittsburgh?

[Silicon Dogwoods]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

 

 

WTF? Charlotte is so awesome, so here's a picture of Pittsburgh?

Scroll up a bit, then read down.

Be sure to click on this link:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4441769,-79.9966183,3a,75y,250.02h,87.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9RueQZVQR3t67hof0qYHDQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 A significant part of that rendering uses Penn Ave. in Pittsburgh.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Silicon Dogwoods

[Spartan]

No I read it. I just think it's weird an somewhat nonsensical. I guess they are awkwardly trying to get at the fact that Pittsburgh has a lot of narrow high rises. My personal favorite is this one:

https://goo.gl/maps/j3h4vuWD4LN2

[caterpillar2]

I hope we can get back on course and talk about Charlotte.

[SgtCampsalot]

It will be neat seeing a skinny tower on Tryon St.

[go_vertical]

I think this tower will be more visible on the skyline than many of us think, at least until the north tryon redevelopment gets going. Aside from Odell (is it still called that?) and the Skyhouses there isn't any real height north of this. This should be pretty prominent heading south on tryon.

[Silicon Dogwoods]

6 hours ago, go_vertical said:

I think this tower will be more visible on the skyline than many of us think, at least until the north tryon redevelopment gets going. Aside from Odell (is it still called that?) and the Skyhouses there isn't any real height north of this. This should be pretty prominent heading south on tryon.

No, that was its original name, for the primary tenant. I think it's now called 525 North Tryon.

[dubone]

On 12/10/2015 at 10:01 AM, Rufus said:

Just for clarifiction:  Is this building 20 stories on top of the theater, or 20 stories altogether?

Also, the tower will not be much over the actual theater.  that was the structural conflict that caused the Berkman tower proposed there to fail, as they required some building over the theater which turned out to be structurally impossible.   The economics here are different, and they may be able to afford some structure overlap, but for the most part it will be more of a pencil tower just above the temporary park there now. 

[ScottCLT]

I know that this developer has a trend toward IHG brands, but is there any real evidence that this will be an Intercontinental Hotel? Could it instead end up being a Crowne Plaza or Indigo? The thread title is misleading. Scoring an Intercontinental brand hotel could be anywhere from a 2* Holiday Inn Express to a 5* Intercontinental Hotel. Are we talking about IHG in general or an actual Intercontinental hotel? I've stayed in several Intercontinentals around this world, and seriously, they were wonderful. At the same time, nothing beats a JW Marriott.

[cltbwimob]

32 minutes ago, ScottCLT said:

I know that this developer has a trend toward IHG brands, but is there any real evidence that this will be an Intercontinental Hotel? Could it instead end up being a Crowne Plaza or Indigo? The thread title is misleading. Scoring an Intercontinental brand hotel could be anywhere from a 2* Holiday Inn Express to a 5* Intercontinental Hotel. Are we talking about IHG in general or an actual Intercontinental hotel? I've stayed in several Intercontinentals around this world, and seriously, they were wonderful. At the same time, nothing beats a JW Marriott.

I think Intercontinental came about as a series of educated guesses.  It was rumored to possibly be an Intercontinental several weeks before the announcement, but we found out in the past couple of weeks that the developer trended toward IHG brands.  Then one of the news stories mentioned it would be 4-5 stars which I believe that the only IHG brands to fit that description are Indigo, Kimpton, and Intercontinental.  Since we already allegedly have a Kimpton being constructed at 300 S Tryon, and Hotel Indigos don't tend to be 20 story glass towers, Intercontinental seemed like it was the best guess.  At least that's how I see it.  Of course there's been no announcement to that effect.

Edited December 17, 2015 by cltbwimob

[CLTProductions]

8 hours ago, ScottCLT said:

I know that this developer has a trend toward IHG brands, but is there any real evidence that this will be an Intercontinental Hotel? Could it instead end up being a Crowne Plaza or Indigo? The thread title is misleading. Scoring an Intercontinental brand hotel could be anywhere from a 2* Holiday Inn Express to a 5* Intercontinental Hotel. Are we talking about IHG in general or an actual Intercontinental hotel? I've stayed in several Intercontinentals around this world, and seriously, they were wonderful. At the same time, nothing beats a JW Marriott.

I've spoken with a few folks on the inside who have said that Valor wants this hotel to compete directly with the Ritz. Intercontinental is the only brand in IHCs portfolio that would do that and the architecture is in their wheelhouse. THAT SAID, it is very possible Valor is pitting brands against each other and we may see something else.

[CLT2014]

An Intercontinental would be a big win for Charlotte. Only 16 cities in the United States have the Intercontinental flagship brand such as New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, etc... 

Places like Seattle, San Diego, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, etc... all don't have an Intercontinental. It would be pretty awesome to have a brand only the largest cities and resort destinations in the country get to boast. We would join Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa, and Miami as cities in the Southeast with an Intercontinental.

Here is Valor's worldwide portfolio of 28 hotels by brand:

IHG (14): Crown Plaza (5), Holiday Inn (7), Hotel Indigo (2)
Hilton Worldwide (6): Hilton Garden Inn (3), Doubletree by Hilton (3)
Marriott International (2): AC Hotels by Marriott (2)
Best Western: (1)

Independent Brand: (5) such as Sea Palms Resort
A flagship Intercontinental would be by far the most prestigious brand Valor operates worldwide - Charlotte might be the right sized market for them to go from 3 star hotels to a 4-5 star.

Edited December 17, 2015 by CLT2014

[Deleted.]

Is the pocket park going away with this project?

[kermit]

^ Yes

[dubone]

It is helpful to reread past pages in a topic if you are fresh to the topic.  

 

But the summary is that the land that the temporary pocket park is the only developable parcel on the Carolina Theater property.   The development is necessary to subsidize the renovation and operations of the theater.    The tightness of the parcel is the reason that there have needed to be creative designs like the car elevator idea (no room for a deck) and now a hotel which does not need a parking structure and is still in demand for current development funding. 

 

[cltbwimob]

Any word on the hotel brand yet?  We've already passed the month timeline that was given at the announcement.

[CLTProductions]

7 hours ago, cltbwimob said:

Any word on the hotel brand yet?  We've already passed the month timeline that was given at the announcement.

No it will still be a while. An Intercontinental is all but confirmed, however hotels are notorious for waiting a really long time before they announce (see: Kimpton at 300 S Tryon)