Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[Cadi40]

Now this is some Washington D.C level crap.

[kermit]

This is hilarious. Citylab writes about the failure of a placemaking project in Charlotte that I didn’t even realize existed. 

TLDR: nothing can fix 2nd Ward in its current form

https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/09/if-you-build-it-they-might-not-come-animating-city-spaces/568861/

 

[uptownliving]

Interesting article, shows that design alone can't fix a dead space, you have to draw people in and make them feel welcome.

[Nick2]

If the public space isnt literally right along my travel path or immediately out my front door, I'm probably not going to be there unless there's some kind of draw other than art and nice seating. So it makes a lot of sense to need to "activate" the area to get people to use it.

[KJHburg]

From a subscriber article from the Biz Journal but this information needs to be out there as some of you live uptown.

 

""In uptown, there are several sites in varying stages of construction, some with multiple crane towers and nearing the topping-out stage, while others are undergoing extensive subterranean work. The Grand Bohemian Hotel, a 254-room, 15-floor hotel, is under construction at Trade and Church streets. General contractor JE Dunn Construction and developer The Kessler Collection broke ground on the $110 million project in May.

"Because we’re going vertical on that job and because we’re downtown, we rushed to ensure that any of the concrete slabs that were not poured got poured before the storm, so we went ahead and got the third floor poured," said Josh McConaughey, vice president at the Charlotte office of JE Dunn.

He said crews have also either taken construction materials like plywood and lumber off-site or strapped them down to ensure high winds don't blow them away. Perimeter site fencing, tree-protection fencing and scaffolding on Trade Street have been more securely anchored where needed, and the crane tower on-site will be set to weather-vane mode so that it will spin freely in the wind. Temporary pumps are also on hand to help mitigate stormwater runoff where possible.

JE Dunn is also serving as general contractor of Childress Klein's mixed-use Apex SouthPark project, at the former home of the "ski slope" Sharon United Methodist Church where a new mixed-use development will rise. McConaughey said that site is in excavation stage, which could be problematic in the event of heavy rains — expected when Florence arrives in Charlotte this weekend.

"As we get this much rain, we want to make sure we don’t have runoff, so we’re preparing to ensure water remains on the site and it doesn’t go on Sharon (Road) or Morrison (Boulevard)," McConaughey said.

Charlotte developer Crescent Communities — which has three tower cranes up in Charlotte right now, one at Novel Atherton in South End and two at Ally Charlotte Center in uptown — will also put its cranes in rotation mode. Crescent said in a statement that its general contractors have put in place a "full provision" of preparations in advance of the storm and have been implementing them since last week.

Charlotte-based Edifice is general contractor on several construction projects here, including The RailYard in South End, The Refinery on West Morehead Street and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's central division facility in uptown as well as projects elsewhere in Florence's projected path in the Carolinas. The company has completed myriad tasks ahead of the storm on its sites, including checking all erosion control measures, fastening down loose materials, covering up windows as needed, securing HVAC duct work to the center of buildings, opening drains on building rainwater channels, covering useable soils to prevent wash and putting all mobile scaffolds on the ground, according to Gary Creed, chief operating officer at Edifice.

Chris Frye, partner at Barringer Construction, said the company has assembled storm response teams in Charlotte and Raleigh to handle storm prep and to secure properties as well as to evaluate any sites for customers following the storm. Barringer's current projects here include the AC Hotel in SouthPark and a building renovation project on Kings Drive in midtown.

"We don’t know what we’re going to get until it gets here so we’ve got four teams set up," Frye said, adding the teams will be ready to go into action as needed as the storm subsides. "We’re going to have a daily call through the weekend and stay in touch as requests come in to assess the damage."

Frye said on its construction sites, Barringer has ensured storm requirements are meeting city standards, tied down loose materials and put down sandbags to help divert water. At Brewers at 4001 Yancey, which Barringer served as general contractor on, the company has provided a 1-megawatt generator to keep the brewery's products cold should the building lose power.

Work won't restart until Monday or, likelier, Tuesday at JE Dunn's local projects, but the leadership team will be checking out sites before signing off on any crews returning to work.

"We have internal checks and processes for each of these types of storm events, so we all feel pretty confident that we’ve done what we can to mitigate the risks," McConaughey said. "We’ve done everything we can within reason to make sure our (crews and sites) are safe."""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/09/14/how-charlotte-developers-contractors-have-prepped.html?ana=TRUEANTHEMTWT_CH&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5b9bfaac3ed3f0000110fcd2&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[EllAyyDub]

Anyone have any insight to this (15 story, 200 room hotel)?  Can't tell location somewhere on N College.

[Guest]

On 9/17/2018 at 5:01 PM, EllAyyDub said:

Anyone have any insight to this (15 story, 200 room hotel)?  Can't tell location somewhere on N College.

Yes, I think this will likely be a Homewood Suites, This is the leftover parcel for Market 42.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Guest

[KJHburg]

Concord Hospitality is based out of Raleigh and yes they have Hilton and Marriott properties including Canopy by Hilton. 

https://www.concordhotels.com/portfolio/

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous photos today uptown. 

[NCMike1990]

Charlotte almost looks like Dubai from those angles.

[NCMike1990]

Miscellaneous photos today uptown. 

 

Look how far it has come in 11 years, August 2007:

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nicholas]

^Imagine if the Tryon St bridge was widened to accommodate development similar to High St in Columbus, OH.  Wouldn't add much to the skyline, but it would really help connect the street-level density between uptown and South End, especially once the Spectrum and Tryon Place projects are completed.

[dubone]

Everyone loves to dream up the expensive freeway caps (including me) yet there are still surface development lots galore in this area.  We have already dreamed this up and the city has a plan and concept for how that might be done, but it will not be remotely feasible until the land values reach a certain level.  That will certainly be after most of the regular developable land is already redeveloped.   

 

Land values haven't even gone up enough to warrant a tower just a block south of 277. Broadstone is going to be just 260 apartments on 2 acres. at Morehead and Tryon.   

 

So while I have gotten wrapped up in the dreams of the cap envisioned in the 2010 plan, it truthfully has not become feasible.   I cross 277 regularly and have for 20 years and it has been improved dramatically since the cap was first envisioned and there is no longer any meaningful feeling of chasm to cross 277.  But that will still be reserved for the caps in 20-30 years when land value to construction costs make it worthwhile.   

In the meantime, I would love to see good development go to 1st, 2nd Wards and the parking lots of northern Wilmore and Southend. 

[Guest]

On 9/17/2018 at 5:09 PM, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Yes, I think this will likely be a Homewood Suites, This is the leftover parcel for Market 42.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/09/20/flag-confirmed-for-uptown-hotel-in-first-ward.html

Yep Homewood Suites

[dubone]

To be inspired by the architecture in the area.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2297003,-80.8327546,3a,75y,314.21h,107.27t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siWVi-2s0wI6JpC8b_PZ-ew!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[kermit]

A modest suggestion:

 

 

[J-Rob]

Excuse my ignorance if this is well known, but can someone share the story behind this building in First Ward? I have been in Charlotte 6 years or so, and I think the windows have always been boarded up. I have always been disappointed the building isn’t better utilized. Notice the detail in the shingles/roofing. Who currently owns it?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kermit]

3 hours ago, J-Rob said:

....Who currently owns it?

Daniel Levine of course.

I think there was a bail bondsmen's office on the ground floor when I arrived nearly 20 years ago.  Shortly after that the building went vacant, my fuzzy memory is that Levine had planned to update the building but after it began he was discouraged by the cost of historically sensitive reno  (I may be mistaken about that). The upper floor windows were left open for nearly a decade, it certainly appeared that Levine was hoping weather would take care of demo so he didn't have to bother with spending to maintain a historic building.

#JustAnotherLevineDisappointment

Edited September 22, 2018 by kermit

[JRNYP2C]

10 minutes ago, kermit said:

Daniel Levine of course.

I think there was a bail bondsmen's office on the ground floor when I arrived nearly 20 years ago.  Shortly after that the building went vacant (I don't remember why). The upper floor windows were not boarded up for nearly a decade, it appeared clear that Levine was hoping weather would take the building down so he didn't have to bother with the buildings historic status.

#JustAnotherLevineDisappointment

So can we consider Levine a quasi-slum lord?  As much as I don't want to believe that is what his intents are, sadly, i have to agree with you.  This guy is a complete disgrace to the construction industry in this city.  He is anti-development in my eyes.

[kermit]

23 minutes ago, JRNYP2C said:

So can we consider Levine a quasi-slum lord?  As much as I don't want to believe that is what his intents are, sadly, i have to agree with you.  This guy is a complete disgrace to the construction industry in this city.  He is anti-development in my eyes.

At the risk of sounding older than Tarhoosier, Levine reminds me of the old joke:

Who was the only coach in the NCAA who could hold Michael Jordan under 30 points a game?

-- Dean Smith.

Levine appears to be the only thing that can prevent development in central Charlotte. He is like Paraquat to infill.

[I am absolutely NOT trying to compare Daniel Levine to one of the finest basketball coaches of all time]

Edited September 22, 2018 by kermit

[videtur quam contuor]

Hey, I resemble that remark!

That is the Treloar house. It was built with two adjoining homes with a brick wall separating the halves of the building. That is why it is symmetrical. At one point more than 100 years ago a brother lived one side and his sister the other.

http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs Alphabetical Order/surveys&rtreloarhse.htm

[KJHburg]

This is probably the newest and last one story building built within the loop on Tryon next to the 230 South Tryon condo tower.   (and I sometimes spotted here to get my steak with the sizzle) 

[SgtCampsalot]

3 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

Hey, I resemble that remark!

That is the Treloar house. It was built with two adjoining homes with a brick wall separating the halves of the building. That is why it is symmetrical. At one point more than 100 years ago a brother lived one side and his sister the other.

http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs Alphabetical Order/surveys&rtreloarhse.htm

Someone needs to pen an article accusing Levine of being a slum lord who lies about his intentions so as to avoid any responsibility, re: allowing weather to make the Treolar house "prohibitively expensive" to rehab after years of saying he will rehab. Maybe charge City Council with putting political pressure on him (yknow, utilize the flag and pony show that is politics). Disgrace him to death.

If every UPer wrote one simple article and submitted theirs to a random Charlotte publication it would be a tsunami of bad press for the man.

CLEARLY no other publication follows up on their countless fluff pieces on him

Edited September 22, 2018 by SgtCampsalot

[kermit]

37 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Someone needs to pen an article accusing Levine of being a slum lord who lies about his intentions so as to avoid any responsibility, re: allowing weather to make the Treolar house "prohibitively expensive" to rehab after years of saying he will rehab.

I think criticizing people who (might) matter is something that Charlotte is incredibly bad at. This goes double for the local development community -- look no further than Deedee's (10 year old) hole at Quail Hollow, the (now dead) Pappas project at Scaleybark, or any multifamily project built in the past decade.

Edited September 23, 2018 by kermit

[jednc]

On 9/22/2018 at 3:56 PM, kermit said:

At the risk of sounding older than Tarhoosier, Levine reminds me of the old joke:

Who was the only coach in the NCAA who could hold Michael Jordan under 30 points a game?

-- Dean Smith.

Levine appears to be the only thing that can prevent development in central Charlotte. He is like Paraquat to infill.

[I am absolutely NOT trying to compare Daniel Levine to one of the finest basketball coaches of all time]

Great reference to Jordan and Smith. Surprised to see that here, but it was appreciated.