Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[kermit]

^ anything can happen.

However it is -impossible- to operate a profitable daycare business with a $12 million capital cost (the tax value of the parcel).

[Skyline49er]

Looks as if Charlotte School of Law is officially moving it's law school uptown by August of 2013. They will be leasing 10 floors of the Charlotte Plaza building. While this is good in the sense of lowering vacancy rates uptown, will this negatively impact the area around the current location off Wilkinson?

http://www.charlotte...law-moving.html

Edited October 13, 2012 by Skyline49er

[15895]

Looks as if Charlotte School of Law is officially moving it's law school uptown by August of 2013. They will be leasing 10 floors of the Charlotte Plaza building. While this is good in the sense of lowering vacancy rates uptown, will this negatively impact the area around the current location off Wilkinson?

http://www.charlotte...law-moving.html

Sheesh, It seems like yesterday they just released the rendering of it and now they're moving. I dunno if it can negatively impact the area. IMO it didn't add anything to this part of town.

[dubone]

At least the Bryant Park area is left with a decent office building for other tenants. Obviously they thought it would spur redevelopment, and they'd have their own neighborhood, but it wasn't to be. It makes sense for them to be uptown though.

[southslider]

Once the school moves Uptown, I suppose the Gold Rush Orange Line won't have to run over there anymore. Much of Bryant Park is already served by the Sprinter.

[kermit]

CBJ is reporting that the parcel containing Cosmos cafe, Bar Charlotte etc. is in play for redevelopment. They mention interst from hotel developers among other things.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2012/10/19/uptown-property-is-on-the-market-for.html

Edited October 19, 2012 by kermit

[HopHead]

Ugh. I really wish owners and developers could leave existing establishments like that alone. Not that I frequent Bar Charlotte, but it's nice to have center city night club establishments not in the Epicentre. You can just google that location and see other vacant lots within in a few blocks that would be perfect for a hotel high rise which seems to be the common thread.

[nonillogical]

Ugh is right. I don't go out to them anymore but its nice that not every nightlife option uptown is Epicentre-style glitz. It'll be done eventually I know, but this is one of the last blocks that needs a facelift at the moment.

[atlrvr]

Well...it's the co-owner of BAR Charlotte and Cosmos who owns his own building, and is marketing them for sale. I agree that these are the parcels that need the least attention, but its not like the owners of the empty lots are marketing their properties (at realistic prices).

I suspect we still see the plot of land in front of the Center City Green parking deck developed first if hotel owners are really interested in that part of downtown.

[ah59396]

Also I'll add, if there is demand for places like BAR in uptown, they will certainly be put somewhere else that isn't the Epicenter. I'm not too concerned about it.

[nonillogical]

Also I'll add, if there is demand for places like BAR in uptown, they will certainly be put somewhere else that isn't the Epicenter. I'm not too concerned about it.

Not likely anywhere else in uptown. There aren't many older, basic spaces that can accommodate something like that, and any new construction is certainly going to have much higher rents, so any club or bar that goes in will be more "upscale" and have higher prices.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no huge fan of BAR, but that block has some legitimate nightlife character and grit that I would definitely miss, not to mention that its hugely popular. We might get something more attractive, dense and sanitized, but I doubt it will be as interesting.

[ah59396]

Not likely anywhere else in uptown. There aren't many older, basic spaces that can accommodate something like that, and any new construction is certainly going to have much higher rents, so any club or bar that goes in will be more "upscale" and have higher prices.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no huge fan of BAR, but that block has some legitimate nightlife character and grit that I would definitely miss, not to mention that its hugely popular. We might get something more attractive, dense and sanitized, but I doubt it will be as interesting.

That's a fair point.

[kermit]

Re: 277 cap

Dallas just capped a freeway to build a new urban park

http://www.klydewarrenpark.org/Park-Map/index.html

Total cost: $110

$20 million in bond funds from the city of Dallas

$20 million in highway funds from the state and federal government through TxDOT and nearly

$50 million from private donations.

$16.7 million in stimulus funds that are specifically for transportation enhancement construction.

Edited October 21, 2012 by kermit

[kermit]

Baby steps to uptown retail continue: CBJ reports that 7-11 is considering a spot on the exterior of the arena. Is downtown totally devoid of c-stores?

[tozmervo]

I guess that depends on how you define a convenience store, but if you're looking for an apples-to-apples comparison you'd probably have to swing up to the Shell station on Graham St.

[HopHead]

I guess I never thought about lack of convenience stores in uptown. Is there not one in the Epicentre? I know the CVS is there but that doesn't count. I think one place that would kill if it were one in the exterior of the arena is a Small Bar, like they have at NC Music Factory. It would strictly have just $2 and $3 beers and some TVs. That place could cater quite well to the basketball/hockey crowd before games.

[nonillogical]

There is Epicentre Sundries on Trade, Woodie's on North Tryon near 9th, one on Graham and 9th whose name I forget, and a very small one at the base of the Avenue on Church. IMO its actually one retail area that we are not hurting on, but I still welcome more. I imagine a 7-11 will be bigger than any of these but Woodies isn't bad, I used it all the time when I lived at Tryon House and loved that I could build my own 6-pack there.

Edited November 2, 2012 by nonillogical

[Spartan]

There is Epicentre Sundries on Trade, Woodie's on North Tryon near 9th, one on Graham and 9th whose name I forget, and a very small one at the base of the Avenue on Church. IMO its actually one retail area that we are not hurting on, but I still welcome more. I imagine a 7-11 will be bigger than any of these but Woodies isn't bad, I used it all the time when I lived at Tryon House and loved that I could build my own 6-pack there.

There are also 2 stores in Gateway- The Goat Wagon on 5th and another next to the Gateway Pub on Trade. There's another on E 7th near McDowell in one of those new apartment buildings. There is the weird one on Graham next to Sub One Hoagie House too.

Thats a total of 8 in uptown.

I think a 7-11 would do well located across from the transit center.

[Missmylab4]

I really think the city needs to push for another epicentre like development somewhere downtown. The lack of retail in downtown is sad. I think another 150-300k retail center would really help to offer more retail in center city. I still think the city needs to use the uptown tax rate to retrofit old buildings/parking decks to include retail bays.

A perfect example would be the parking deck by the Ritz on trade. I was there last night and the foot traffic around the base to support retail is there. The city needs to use funds raised from the center city tax system to retrofit the buildings. Wasn't it Mayor Foxx that just recently said we need to push for uptown retail??

Edited November 10, 2012 by Missmylab4

[Urbanity]

^^^ Actually they are in a sense - They want to develop Brevard Street from the CTC to HoF as a retail strip - at least that was a plan mentioned/discussed about a year or so ago - not certain if there has been any movement on it.

[dubone]

I think the only hope for the "Brevard corridor" (which the city identified as a good candidate for retail/pedestrian corridor but then simultaneously ruined with the NASCAR HOF design) would be to redevelop the Charlotte Transportation Center with an Epicenter II which could extend the success of Epicenter to a second block.

[atlrvr]

I thought the HOF was designed specifically to allow the parking space inside the deck along Brevard to be removed/transformed to retail if demand justified it. Having parked there several time, it seems to be a viable option given the layout of the deck.

I agree that a redevelopment of the CTC will have to be the driver of any Brevard retail corridor, but honestly any retail is going to happen at the Trade St end first and slowly work its way to Stonewall.

I personally think that College St is the only realistic retail street though in any near term. There is already anough street retail presence and vacant lots and enough consecutive blocks for it to make sense there. Really between 3rd and John Belk has potential with nothing existing a true impediment.

[kermit]

I just stumbled across a nice Atlantic Cities article on a stimulus funded park project in Birmingham. They wanted to encourage businesses to locate in vacant buildings on the fringe of the park so the city offered six months of free rent (on a 3.5 year lease) to the best applicants for the space (they ended up with a brewpub).

http://www.theatlant...district/3637/#

I can't help but think a strategy like this would be an effective way to kickstart downtown retail in the third ward. Surely Center City Partners budget would allow them to pay the rent on behalf of a dozen (?) small retail outlets in a cluster or two downtown? I would think such a subsidy would be significantly less than the traditional tax break or infrastructure payments we see now in economic development and such a strategy would also help sidestep the issue that much of the retail space we have now is too expensive for non-chain businesses. The grant program could easily be set up to target specific types of retail (we clearly don't need more restaurants) and the program could be set up with a finite amount of money to prevent the expectation of continuous subsidy.

Edited November 13, 2012 by kermit

[southslider]

^Target adaptive reuse of existing buildings in historic storefront clusters. Granted, the only decent clusters left are just outside Uptown, like E.10th, S.Mint, W.Morehead or W.Trade, but that's also where start-up non-chains can afford to be.

[carolinagarnet]

Kermit, thanks for cluing us into Atlantic Cities! I have a(nother) website to follow obsessively.