Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[tozmervo]

This would be a fascinating study for someone to do of Uptown... ahem...

http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-are-25-looking-at-street-area.html

[C_C_Planner]

This would be a fascinating study for someone to do of Uptown... ahem...

http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-are-25-looking-at-street-area.html

This has been done by CDOT. Off street parking was 29 acres of Uptown as I recall. The percentage could easily be calculated. It is all in GIS.

[Guest]

Does anyone have any info on the below projects:

http://www.dynamicassetmanagement.com/principal/terrance-llewellyn/

 

• Plaza Midwood Lofts- a Transit Oriented Design, LEED certified, $52 million urban mixed use building with 300 apartments and 50,000 square feet of commercial being developed at the corner on Hawthorne and Central on the trolley line in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina.

• Chelsea Southend- a Transit Oriented Design, LEED certified, $36 million urban mixed use building with 168 apartments and 20,000 square feet of commercial being developed proximate to the East Blvd light rail stop in the Southend neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. I remember there being a Chelsea SouthEnd that never happened, is this the same thing?

• 2171 Hawkins- a LEED certified, 192 unit, $38 million, Class A urban apartment community utilizing Transit Oriented Design being developed in the exciting Southend neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, contiguous to the newly opened light rail line.
 

We have 135 Morehead on the map already. 
• 135 Morehead- a 224 unit, $44 million Class A urban apartment complex being developed in the central business district of Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

After further review, I believe all of these are old Projects that never came to be, THIS INCLUDES 135 Morehead. However I'm not sure. 

Edited March 7, 2013 by Guest

[southslider]

For the PM Lofts, my guess is that it's either the NE or SW corner of Central/Hawthorne.  The other corners have too many parcels under different owners.  If it's the NE corner, Hatcher must have finally found an offer he couldn't refuse.  It would be sad to see the church, in which REM recorded music, get torn down.  But if it's truly replaced by mixed-use development (not just apartments), then I think it's worth it.

[Matthew.Brendan]

Which church? Which album? Wife is a big REM fan... neat little bit of trivia...

[southslider]

The church at the corner of Hawthorne and Central.

[DEnd]

The church at the corner of Hawthorne and Central.

 

It is the old Central United Methodist building.  CUMC moved from that location out to it's current location on Albemarle Rd in the 70's.  When the various Methodist denominations mearged to create the United Methodist Church, CUMC moved because of the large #'s of UMC churches in the area, and because Charlotte was rapdily growing eastward.  The move allowed the UMC to better serve the east charlotte population without overcrowding its existing churches in the area.  Central United Methodist Church is celebrating 100 years of services during the month of April. 

[jednc]

It is the old Central United Methodist building.  CUMC moved from that location out to it's current location on Albemarle Rd in the 70's.  When the various Methodist denominations mearged to create the United Methodist Church, CUMC moved because of the large #'s of UMC churches in the area, and because Charlotte was rapdily growing eastward.  The move allowed the UMC to better serve the east charlotte population without overcrowding its existing churches in the area.  Central United Methodist Church is celebrating 100 years of services during the month of April. 

Very cool and a nice story about some Charlotte History. Thanks for sharing.

[Guest]

I didn't want to post this in Charlotte Off Topic just because I feel it is something that hits home with all of us. 
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/14/3914797/doug-smith-retired-observer-columnist.html

Congrats to Doug Smith, a man who kept many of us UPers going in the early to late 2000s. He always had all the information on "The Next Big Thing" and I think we all enjoyed it. Its an honor he truly deserves. 

[HopHead]

I didn't want to post this in Charlotte Off Topic just because I feel it is something that hits home with all of us. 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/14/3914797/doug-smith-retired-observer-columnist.html

Congrats to Doug Smith, a man who kept many of us UPers going in the early to late 2000s. He always had all the information on "The Next Big Thing" and I think we all enjoyed it. Its an honor he truly deserves. 

 

I miss Doug's columns. I remember when I first moved here, it was UP and Doug's columns that always gave insight as to what was happening next (good or bad). Congrats to him.

[jednc]

I didn't want to post this in Charlotte Off Topic just because I feel it is something that hits home with all of us. 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/14/3914797/doug-smith-retired-observer-columnist.html

Congrats to Doug Smith, a man who kept many of us UPers going in the early to late 2000s. He always had all the information on "The Next Big Thing" and I think we all enjoyed it. Its an honor he truly deserves. 

I wholeheartedly agree although some on this board used to give him a pretty hard time in some of their posts. I miss his stories and wish the Observer had at least tried to find someone else to work the development beat who would approach things in the same way he did.

[kermit]

I have come to realize that I am largely blind to bad architecture. This morning as I detoured around streetcar construction I was forced to notice (for the first time in more than a decade) the AT&T building across Caldwell from the arena

 

(you can see it here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=28202&hl=en&ll=35.224598,-80.837072&spn=0.001577,0.002352&sll=35.202981,-80.866724&sspn=0.003155,0.004705&t=h&hnear=Charlotte,+North+Carolina+28202&z=19 )

 

Words can't do justice to the awfulness of this massive, windowless structure. I assume its insides are filled with vital telecom equipment, but surely modern telecom takes up less room than switching gear from the 60s and 70s (when I assume the building was built). I have not doubt that a robuts telecom infrastructure downtown is vital to its continued growth but does anyone know what is actually inside? Has AT&T ever shown a willingness to 'downsize' their real estate footprint?

 

This seems like an important site given the pending streetcar stub and federal courthouse highrise next door.  

Edited March 21, 2013 by kermit

[Niner National]

I have come to realize that I am largely blind to bad architecture. This morning as I detoured around streetcar construction I was forced to notice the AT&T building across Caldwell from the arena

 

(you can see it here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=28202&hl=en&ll=35.224598,-80.837072&spn=0.001577,0.002352&sll=35.202981,-80.866724&sspn=0.003155,0.004705&t=h&hnear=Charlotte,+North+Carolina+28202&z=19 )

 

Words can't do justice to the awfulness of this massive, windowless structure. I assume its insides are filled with vital telecom equipment, but surely modern telecom takes up less room than switching gear from the 60s and 70s (when I assume the building was built). I have not doubt that a robuts telecom infrastructure downtown is vital to its continued growth but does anyone know what is actually inside? Has AT&T ever shown a willingness to 'downsize' their real estate footprint?

 

This seems like an important site given the pending streetcar stub and federal courthouse highrise next door.  

That building is filled with servers. No windows helps keep it cool. There are vents over many of the window openings to let the heat escape.

 

That building has only a handful of workers apparently. It is a tremendous waste of space in Uptown

[Urbanity]

And at least ours isn't a 32 story building with a prominent location in the skyline as the NYC Verizon building which is located right next to the Brooklyn Bridge!

 

[nonillogical]

It is really ugly, but its not alone; most buildings for this use that you'll find in various downtowns are equally bad and often even more monolithic/dystopian-looking.
http://weburbanist.com/2013/02/03/windows-zero-9-telecom-infrastructure-buildings/ 

[jednc]

but surely modern telecom takes up less room than switching gear from the 60s and 70s (when I assume the building was built).

This building probably dates from the 1940's or very early 1950's. My aunt worked in that building as an operator sometime around 1952.

[atlrvr]

1.   A couple of new submittals for "pre-meetings".  This is a 180-unit apartment building on W Trade between the Federal Courthouse and the old Presto (now horribly named "Celebs") at the corner of Graham and Trade.  Not sure who the developer would be.  The site is owned by the owner of Preferred Parking.

 

https://aca.accela.com/charlotte/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=LandDevelopment&TabName=LandDevelopment&capID1=13LDR&capID2=00000&capID3=00065&agencyCode=CHARLOTTE&IsToShowInspection=

 

2.   There is also a meeting request (and tenantive building permit submission that has yet to be reviewed since last summer) for 225 N Cedar, which is a site that Chris Branch has controlled for a long time, and back pre-recession planned a 10-story gothic looking condo tower.  The site is across Cedar from Elmwood Cemetary and has great skyline views.  It appears this new plan is very similar in scale to 1449 S Church which ricky_davis_fan provided a link to last week.  2 floors of parking, topped by 5 floors of apartments.

[kermit]

^ the ballpark and park are doing a great job of catalyzing new projects.

 

I have a tremendous grasp of the obvious....

 

I hope to hear more about the two (?) pending projects on the ballpark land soon.

[DMann]

1.   A couple of new submittals for "pre-meetings".  This is a 180-unit apartment building on W Trade between the Federal Courthouse and the old Presto (now horribly named "Celebs") at the corner of Graham and Trade.  Not sure who the developer would be.  The site is owned by the owner of Preferred Parking.

 

https://aca.accela.com/charlotte/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=LandDevelopment&TabName=LandDevelopment&capID1=13LDR&capID2=00000&capID3=00065&agencyCode=CHARLOTTE&IsToShowInspection=

 

2.   There is also a meeting request (and tenantive building permit submission that has yet to be reviewed since last summer) for 225 N Cedar, which is a site that Chris Branch has controlled for a long time, and back pre-recession planned a 10-story gothic looking condo tower.  The site is across Cedar from Elmwood Cemetary and has great skyline views.  It appears this new plan is very similar in scale to 1449 S Church which ricky_davis_fan provided a link to last week.  2 floors of parking, topped by 5 floors of apartments.

Oh please don't tell me we will lose yet another surface parking lot!

[HopHead]

The lot bounded by Brevard/4th/Trade/Caldwell has had a for sale sign up for a little while... At least since the end of 2012 that I can remember. This is across from the transit center. Does anyone know what it's zoned for (if at all) other than being the current parking lot that it is? 

[Dale]

Question: at the rate that these parking lots are being gobbled up, how much longer will anyone be able to call the city 'Car-lotte' ?

[DMann]

A bit off topic perhaps, but HERE is a story about Cleveland wanting to build "Skyways" and accompanying reports of cities that have them.  Baltimore is apparently taking theirs down, as is Cincinnati.  Seems like planners generally feel it kills street level activity.  Duh!

[southslider]

Hopefully, hotel guests are big rail enthusiasts.  Not only will they be on the Blue Line, but also Streetcar.  The non-revenue track for the starter project runs directly along 5th Street, and not within the street (since bi-directional track), but behind the sidewalk along this parcel.

[Dale]

I was Uptown today and they were ripping hell out of E Trade. Resurfacing ?

 

Also, I saw some digging on Stonewall and Caldwell (?), basically kitty-corner to MASCAR. Is that the Embassy Suites already ?

[Guest]

Streetcar construction.

I was Uptown today and they were ripping hell out of E Trade. Resurfacing ?

 

Also, I saw some digging on Stonewall and Caldwell (?), basically kitty-corner to MASCAR. Is that the Embassy Suites already ?