SouthEnd Midrise Projects

[Justadude]

South End has a tough hill to climb in terms of hotels. It's very close to the concentration of hotel rooms at Tyvola/77 (close in terms of interstate travel, which is how most visitors arrive), and it's very close to the concentration of hotels uptown but not SO close as to beat them in terms of location... so the competition is fierce and getting stronger within a 5 minute drive. Also, it's a nice area but has some ugly backside that can scare off random visitors ("I don't know honey, there's a railroad track running right behind it..."), and real estate in SE is expensive enough to drive the price of a room beyond what's really justified to a visitor. Of course it has the huge advantage of the rail line, which might drive some hotel activity in the future, but for now I don't think I'd choose that particular area if I was opening a hotel in Charlotte.

[rockhilljames]

I think a boutique hotel centered around the Design Center / Camden Road area would do VERY well.

[Charlotte_native]

Why is it so rare to see condos and rentals mixed in the same building? Neighborhoods (well, good neighborhoods) mix owner-occupied and rental houses without any problem.

Most lenders won't lend on condos in buildings with an intentional mix (as in the developer keeps a lot of rentals) and in the typical lender condo questionnaire that is filled out prior to a closing they ask if more than 20% (it varies, but this is the normal number they ask about) of units in a given project are rented and not owner occupied. Not sure their reasoning, but this has been the case for years.

[sleightofhand]

Just noticed the old pancake house is now 1300 Tavern of South End. They've put up two signs on the building.

[tozmervo]

SouthEnd in all of its glory. The Ashton is going to be huge.

[Guest]

That is a fantastic picture of southend. It makes it look like a legitimate warehouse-type historic district.

[Spartan]

That is a great shot

Has anyone been down the rail trail lately? They had some stakes out on the Silos site for the Poindexter extension alignment recently...

[sleightofhand]

That is a great shot

Has anyone been down the rail trail lately? They had some stakes out on the Silos site for the Poindexter extension alignment recently...

I just went by it and they are working away on the extension.

[Andyc545]

That is a great shot

Has anyone been down the rail trail lately? They had some stakes out on the Silos site for the Poindexter extension alignment recently...

Went by yesterday. The land has started being touched somewhat, but I didn't see much action on the site at around 3/4 yesterday. All 8 silos are still standing too.

Great shot, too, tozmervo! Would be incredible if those power lines weren't there though.

[joshuacc]

Saw blvdcentro has sign up for that old white apt building on Tremont. I believe it said Tre House starting at $140k and had a rendering.

[uptownliving]

Wasn't sure where to put this but the new Charlotte Trolley Barn (which will have some office space) got their building permit approved and issued yesterday. This 5000 sq ft building will go up adjacent to the Charlotte Art Legue at the Bland St Station on Camden Rd. Construction should start pretty soon.

[cltheel.sdl]

Wow! As others have said, that shot is remarkable! Too bad the power lines kind of ruin it.

[dubone]

In the CCCP development powerpoint, they show a siteplan for Circle SouthEnd that I haven't seen before. I think that it still isn't great, but it is better than I thought it would be.

While it only has a tiny retail unit, it does have walk out residential units all along the rail, which while not anywhere close to the benefit of retail, will still provide a decent use along that stretch.

They could have done a lot better, but I like the 5-10 story range for buildings (this is 5 stories), I like the density (365 units), and I like that they plan to build with some green benefits. We'll see how it turns out, but somehow I prefer this siteplan to what I was remembering seeing before it became Circle SouthEnd.

[Mobuchu]

That is still what I remember, crap!!! There is a tiny pocket of retail at the corner and this is the same site plan (i think) that had the wall the entire distance of South blvd. There were gates of some kind to access the green spaces between the buildings. Only accessible by the residents I'm sure. The ONLY thing this has going for it is density... Other then that, this is a complete waste of Southend space. What a horrible corporate citizen they are...

Yep, I'm annoyed!

[Spartan]

If there were 1 more shop next to the rail I could probably live with it. I'm having trouble seeing that one lowly retail space doing very well. Its frustrating that the city would not require more retail closer to a station. Have these people never been to DC?

[atlrvr]

Yep....same siteplan...same crappy commie-block design....

[dubone]

Did it have the deck before? I thought the whole thing was just those fingerling sections.

Is anyone able to tell from what is currently going up, as to whether that siteplan is the final one?

There is a trade-off on those fingerling sections. It is the same thing that Citadin is now planning on a side or two (although not as deep). That is a way to have a higher number of smaller units with windows.

I really just wish they'd follow the European model to solve that problem, though, with air shaft courtyards inside the blocks to serve the same purpose, but to have more solid facade along the street. They also are really ridiculous not to provide street retail space on more of this project, no question.

[Andyc545]

That site plan isn't new, it has been posted and on the CCCP site before. It's hard to see the whole site because the block is so large and there are many interferences, but from what I could see from Bland St Station and well driving along S. Blvd, it does appear they are sticking to the site plan posted. They have been pouring foundations for a little while now. The site is such a valuable site to have this crap wasted on. Also how close it is built along Bland, it doesn't appear there will be a lot of room for sidewalk/pedestrian space. Can't tell about how the complex will interact with the station yet, they haven't really came to that space yet. I'm disappointed overall with this and I don't know why it was approved in the first place with TOD zoning.

[Wookie]

That is still what I remember, crap!!! There is a tiny pocket of retail at the corner and this is the same site plan (i think) that had the wall the entire distance of South blvd. There were gates of some kind to access the green spaces between the buildings. Only accessible by the residents I'm sure. The ONLY thing this has going for it is density... Other then that, this is a complete waste of Southend space. What a horrible corporate citizen they are...

Yep, I'm annoyed!

FYI, I corresponded with the project manager for Circle, and he sent me the exact same rendering except he indicated that there would be 2,000 sf each of retail space on the "Renssalear" corners at South and at the Light Rail. These, coupled with the 4,000 sf already deplicted at South and Bland brings the total retail sf to 8,000. This was February 20th when he told me that.

I remain disappointed that they are squandering an opportunity like this. The Light Rail is getting excellent ridership, and South Blvd is as busy as they come. They had a tremendous opportunity to augment the retail, bar and restaurant scene in Southend, and are absolutely blowing it.

[JBGB]

I drove down South Tryon today and saw that Citiline is building their final building to their Citispace at South End complex. They had all kinds of construction people out there today.

[83alphaunder]

Circle Southend has an ugly prefab elevator shaft up, looks like we're about to see some verticle movement. You usually don't actually see prefab elevator towers, usually they are at least cinderblock or poured in place concrete.

[dubone]

Could the pre-fab be part of their green stuff? It is my understanding that there is considerably less waste in prefabrication versus pour on place, but I'm not sure about that.

[tozmervo]

Pretty much everything made in a factory will be more efficient, material wise, than site work.

The thing that could cancel out that efficiency would be trucking in those precast sections from across the country (I don't know where they were produced). Hopefully they also used recycled content (fly ash) in the concrete mixture.

[dubone]

Most precast sections around here are made at that plant on Craighead near NoDa. I'd guess that if they are still going for some green credentials for an otherwise mediocre project, that this would be part of that effort.

Just my hunch, though.

[2inthePink]

nibbletodell

I am absolutely delighted to have my view turn from the whole downtown skyline to looking directly at the backs of a 230" tall building and two 160' ones just 60' to 100' from my windows! I'm super excited to see my property values go down to the point I could be upside-down in my mortgage. Woo Hoo! I get a hotel and office and small apartments and that will bring lots of traffic congestion to my block, wow wee cant wait.

Wait there more, the nice walk along the tracks will now be a cavern with 230" wall straight up on one side 15" from the tracks and a solid

wall of 4 stories on the other side. Just a nice clastophobic 50' between them. Grass, open areas, that for sissies. Give my that good old concrete.

Oh I forgot the spa to service the hotel. Hmm already have one in the building.

So if I get this right the new restaurant will be the only positive thing for us here at the Arlington. Wow my choices go from 10 to 11 restaurants within walking distance.

We purchased here in the South End because it was not as nice as downtown, but we hoped that with some hard work we could ruin it and make it an extension of downtown. Happy Days!

Delighted, simply delighted!