Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[alb1no panther]

 

 

 

 

Overview w/ bonus random MetLife blimp making some aerial rounds today.

 

Bonus shot of Brevard court this morning.  Wouldn't it be cool if it were possible to put residential on the second floors?

Edited April 19, 2016 by alb1no panther

[Spartan]

6 hours ago, atlrvr said:

This happens all the time in business.  You don't hire a position if the person managing that position is open.  It dangerous to the new hire (in case their new manager doesn't like them) and it sets a bad tone with candidates for the managerial position to say you don't value their input on hiring their own people.

Yeah but they've sat on this position for almost 2 years. I get the logic behind it, but it's like any excuse to delay the process is taken advantage of.

[grodney]

Working on the retail:

 

[alb1no panther]

[The Force Sleeps]

Is there going to be some sort of dynamic light display above the retail spaces? In the renderings on the fences they show some blue light looking thing above the shops. Anyone know anything about that?

If something like that is going in, it would go a long way to liven up trade and tryon even more.

[Prodev]

On 3/8/2016 at 9:19 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

http://photos.clearskyimages.com/2016-03-brevard-st-charlotte-heli

Clearskyimages gallery... Titled Brevard St. Norfolk Southern.

 

Hmmmm...

This has officially hit the market. They're selling the land on both sides of the light rail, totaling 3.4 acres. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Prodev said:

This has officially hit the market. They're selling the land on both sides of the light rail, totaling 3.4 acres. 

This will not last long on the market.

[atlrvr]

I'm a bit confused....i think that single  block is 3.4 acres, and that the land on the west side of LRT was owned by owners of the Charlotte Plaza office building.

Nevermind....Prodev is right.

[Prodev]

2.5 acres for the block south of LRT and 0.8 north. I just read through the package and 2/3 of the overall site is on a ground lease, with approx. 50 years left. I don't see anyone investing $50-100 million into a project with less than 50 years left. That's always been the magic number when it comes to ground leases and once it gets down below 50 years, it becomes very hard to sell, especially to an institutional buyer. 

[tozmervo]

15 minutes ago, Prodev said:

2.5 acres for the block south of LRT and 0.8 north. I just read through the package and 2/3 of the overall site is on a ground lease, with approx. 50 years left. I don't see anyone investing $50-100 million into a project with less than 50 years left. That's always been the magic number when it comes to ground leases and once it gets down below 50 years, it becomes very hard to sell, especially to an institutional buyer. 

I'm a little confused - so 2/3 of the site is being marketed as a 50 year lease or for sale? 

[Prodev]

Norfolk owns 1.25 acres and is selling that outright plus they control the ground lease (NCRR owns land under ground lease) on about 2.1 acres, which has about 50 years left before reverting to NCRR. 

[CLTProductions]

Famous Toastery is going into the 5,000 SF spot in the Chamber of Commerce building. Huge news and great spot for the location. They're gonna still be open 7am-3pm. Good luck to them paying the rent with those hours. Hope to see it expand. 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2016/05/03/gourmet-breakfast-eatery-chooses-uptown-charlotte.html

[Crown]

23 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

Famous Toastery is going into the 5,000 SF spot in the Chamber of Commerce building. Huge news and great spot for the location. They're gonna still be open 7am-3pm. Good luck to them paying the rent with those hours. Hope to see it expand. 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2016/05/03/gourmet-breakfast-eatery-chooses-uptown-charlotte.html

That place is going to be PACKED with business meetings. Great strategic move, but I agree hours should be extended. 

[navigator319]

Anyone just hohum about Toast in this spot?  Hours are poor, hopefully they do change, but more so than that just the overall concept here in this spot.  Investing 1.3 million into the space seems crazy high to me for what there average check sizes probably are. 

Call me bit disappointed.  Also what about weekends?

[CLTProductions]

9 minutes ago, navigator319 said:

Anyone just hohum about Toast in this spot?  Hours are poor, hopefully they do change, but more so than that just the overall concept here in this spot.  Investing 1.3 million into the space seems crazy high to me for what there average check sizes probably are. 

Call me bit disappointed.  Also what about weekends?

Weekends are their bread and butter (no pun intended). Can't imagine them not being open weekends. 

[alb1no panther]

wait . . . just so i'm clear--both pieces of land, the one directly behind Charlotte Plaza and the one directly behind that across the tracks, are the parcels under discussion, correct?  I thought the greenspace next to the Plaza parking deck was supposed to be turned into a pocket park.

[dcharlotte]

3 hours ago, Prodev said:

Norfolk owns 1.25 acres and is selling that outright plus they control the ground lease (NCRR owns land under ground lease) on about 2.1 acres, which has about 50 years left before reverting to NCRR. 

Who is the broker on this?

[kermit]

45 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

Weekends are their bread and butter (no pun intended). Can't imagine them not being open weekends. 

While I am not a fan of Toast I suspect their downtown weekend traffic will be solid and driven by three forces: First, there are very few decent breakfast options inside the Southpark radius. Second, there will be a significant amount of hotel traffic. Finally, the hangover breakfast trade from apartment dwellers will be very strong.

I can totally imagine people biking in for breakfast followed by a stop at Bearden or WholeFoods after. (that is the most bougie sentence I have ever typed).

[tozmervo]

Is Famous Toastery = Toast? I thought those were two different businesses

[kermit]

3 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

Is Famous Toastery = Toast? I thought those were two different businesses

They are the same, a trademark dispute (AFAIK) forced them to make the change from just Toast.

[jwntim]

3 hours ago, alb1no panther said:

wait . . . just so i'm clear--both pieces of land, the one directly behind Charlotte Plaza and the one directly behind that across the tracks, are the parcels under discussion, correct?  I thought the greenspace next to the Plaza parking deck was supposed to be turned into a pocket park.

 

 

2 hours ago, dcharlotte said:

Who is the broker on this?

CBRE is the broker

 

Before someone gets mad, this is from the marketing flyer, not the OM so I did not break the CA. 

[KJHburg]

The parcel next to the Charlotte Plaza tower parking garage was planned many many years ago to be a 2nd office tower or hotel when Trammel Crow built the tower long ago. I agree a 50 year lease is not what most developers want they want 99 year lease.  It is surprising these parcels laid around so long as surface lots or vacant land.

[Nick2]

I'm hoping the land they want to give the 50 year lease to sits for now (through this boom cycle) or maybe even build a parking deck on one of them or something. Maybe in the future it'll be able to get sold outright or get a longer lease. As for the parcel getting sold, hopefully it will be something awesome considering it's right in the center of uptown, on the light rail line, across the street from the transit hub, and a block from the epicentre. This is probably the most prime location to come up for sale in Charlotte in a while.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Hope they do something with that parking garage on east 4th...if I remember right that is the biggest dead zone of blank concrete walls I have ever seen. lol..

 

Not good since it is right there at Epicentre and the bus station.

So do ya,ll know if they plan on doing anything with that section?

[alb1no panther]

2 hours ago, RaleighHeelsfan said:

Hope they do something with that parking garage on east 4th...if I remember right that is the biggest dead zone of blank concrete walls I have ever seen. lol..

 

Not good since it is right there at Epicentre and the bus station.

So do ya,ll know if they plan on doing anything with that section?

ANYTHING to drag business away from Carolina Ale House.  That place needs new ownership and a new concept ASAP.  I imagine the steep grade of the land would make it a bit more expensive to build-in retail space, but it would definitely add a lot of character to that corridor.

Just to be clear, this is what you're talking about, right:

I could see a Sundries shop doing very well there at the bottom corner.  There's a ton of foot traffic but it's too hectic with automobile traffic to be a desirable restaurant.  Maybe add a coffee shop more toward the middle.  Little shops like that I think would be a success.  Now if the decks at church & MLK/3rd/4th would go ahead and convert, maybe that will prompt movement everywhere else.

Edited May 4, 2016 by alb1no panther