SouthEnd Midrise Projects

[ScottCLT]

Oh gross....each unit is going to have their own garage. I hope they will at least be oriented away from Camden.

The garages will be away from Camden. They will actually face the Canine Cafe. The front doors of the townhomes will face the Trolley Museum.

[tozmervo]

Ok, so I'm going to give Millennium some credit where credit is due. They actually did a nice job along the light rail trail. They have some very tasteful landscaping, some pretty cool benches, and the classic brownstone style layout. It's like a whole different project.

[InitialD]

Ok, so I'm going to give Millennium some credit where credit is due. They actually did a nice job along the light rail trail. They have some very tasteful landscaping, some pretty cool benches, and the classic brownstone style layout. It's like a whole different project.

Yeah, last time I was on LRT I noticed all the benches. It does look good as long as the parking deck is hidden. Getting something to replace the surface lot at the tracks and Bland would help.

[InitialD]

Here come the NIMBYs. http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Neighbors-question-plans-for-South-End-towers-85453747.html

[southslider]

^I don't get the opposition. The "tower" would be on the stretch of South Boulevard closest to Uptown, across the street from the infamous Arlington, and even 100 feet SHORTER than that tall building.

Plus, there's already another relatively tall building on the "Dilworth side" of South Boulevard at Bland Street, the Housing Authority's "tower," which would remain, according to the rezoning site plans.

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Planning/Rezoning/Rezoning+Petitions/2010+Petitions/2010-022.htm

[Forrest]

Did WCNC need to caption the story "Monster Project"? Ridiculous.

[InitialD]

Maybe Southend needs to become its own neighborhood. It seems like Dilworth residents are always whining about what goes on over in Southend, maybe the two need to be separated. Dilworth can worry about Dilworth (i.e. Morehead and East Blvd) and Southend can worry about Southend (S Tryon and South Blvd).

[Guest]

I liked what I saw in the video as far as renderings and massing diagrams go, I wish we could get a hold of some of those so we could show it off! If we could get this and the adjacent project off the ground, as well as the design center projects, we would really have quite the south end skyline forming.

[dubone]

"Monster" ?? That is absurd. Meanwhile when SouthEnd boundaries were being made they conspicuously included this Housing Authority land in SouthEnd presumably because Dilworth would as soon be free of the demographics.

[nyxmike]

I don't understand the resistance to this project. The "monsters" are on SOUTH BOULEVARD along a transit corridor, which is where this type of development makes sense.

[Spartan]

For what it's worth, the local media very rarely explains the entire story - so the amount of "resistance" is questionable. I wouldn't read too much into the complaining residents at this point. There's always someone willing to complain about anything if you ask the right questions.

[southslider]

Besides, this is not an encroachment upon existing single-family areas of Dilworth. Areas northwest of Euclid were long ago lost to suburban office parks and institutions. Now, this development concept has the opportunity to brake up these superblocks and reconnect Dilworth to South End via context-sensitive, urban fabric.

And the redevelopment is appropriately scaled with respect to its surroundings. The plans range from a shorter tower closest to the Arlington down to townhomes on Euclid closest to Dilworth homes. That's about the best application of the "urban transect" you can get within two Charlotte blocks.

[atlrvr]

Just a little background.....when DCDA was formed 30+ years ago, it really was a non-profit Community DEVELOPMENT Association, and their first project that they initiated was the Strawn Village cottages that this proposal seeks to replace. Of course, they no longer are partners in any development, but knowing that history does lend credibility to their claim that they have a large stake in that site.

Dilworth is a funny little community. They honestly would support lower incomes if the pay-off was lower density. Of course, in todays economics, that doesn't make any sense, but that is a good sense of their ideology.

As far as why they are anti-density, who knows. The only argument that they have ever attempted to legitamately present is the concern of parking, i.e. multi-family properties won't be built with enough parking to accomodate residents, so the overflow will spill into the single-family portion of the neighborhood.

That said, yes, this project is absolutely appropriate given its proximity to transit, downtown, and street connectivity. The argument against height is baseless unless their is some quantifiable measure that suggests the height will cause some hardship on existing residents. If there were shadow concerns, I'd be mildly tempted to hear that debate, but given the towers' northern proximity to the single-family homes, that argument is moot.

The underlying issue is the ego's of a few neighbhorhood individuals who feel that the contributions of their time over the last 5-10 years is of greater value than the agenda of the CHA. It's all relative I suppose.

[Forrest]

Yeah, there is definitely a distinctive difference between the Ballanytne opposition and the issues raised by DCDA. The latter's questions with the project are based on form and size and not animus toward the residents. The complex has been there forever and I don't recall of hearing about major problems with it over the years. Not to mention that I have lived in Dilworth for five years. I am in my second quad in the neighborhood that rents in the same range in the private market that CHA publicly subsidizes. This neighborhood is covered with such buildings including along some of the most expensive streets. Other examples can be found in Myers Park although to a lesser extent. They are older and blend in with the surroundings. The same concept would have worked in Bytne.

Anyway, regarding Strawn the scope does not bother me either. It's in line with Southend's growing vertical nature. Although I was a little surprised that CHA is going the tower route since the trend in public housing is midrise. They seem to be planning on having a good chunk of the redevelopment be market rate. And use the ROI as a vehicle for majority public housing elsewhere in town.

[southslider]

^A new tower may not be public housing. This rezoning allows the Housing Authority to use market-based solutions to build a mixed-income community, even if some blocks of that development are sold off for fully market-rate development.

Granted, the existing tower will be retained for senior housing. But any mixed-income housing will likely be in new mid-rise buildings, which seems to be the predominant form proposed in the concept plan.

I think most of the site will be four to six stories. Any new tall buildings are limited to the block of South Boulevard closest to the Arlington, and maybe another block of Caldwell closest to the YMCA. Shorter buildings are limited to the edge of the site along Euclid.

A rezoning can't specify owner-occupied or market-rate. But my guess is that the tall and short stuff is more likely to be owner-occupied and market-rate than the more predominant medium stuff. If parking-deck-wrapped urban flats, the predominant building type could be similar to Circle at South End.

Edited March 3, 2010 by southslider

[Guest]

was looking at Circle's new website and I had not realized there are actually 3 retail spots on in the project, thats MUCH better than I thought...

http://www.circleatsouthend.com/swf/siteplan.asp

[atlrvr]

The first retail spot to open is supposed to be the one actually facing the rail, back near the Trolly Museum. It is planned to be a bar called Rails & Ales, or something like that.

[nonillogical]

sweet. i had NO idea that there was a retail spot oriented towards the tracks.

i hope some future developments will follow suit...maybe one day this will be extended into a full-on pedestrian bar/restaurant strip by developing the parking lots on both sides of the tracks at Bland. also i know its on hold but was there anything rail-facing retail in the renderings for that massive development at the Simpson Lighting site?

[Forrest]

I wish they would add more retail to build on the small amount already present. We need more stores more than another bar.

[nonillogical]

^agreed but that might not be the most appropriate for the rail-facing spots...most shoppers will be driving but bar-hopping along the light rail could become a cool attraction. i'd like to see more shopping develop around Park & Camden where there is a good starting point already and a bit of decent storefront vibe.

[Forrest]

Speaking of retail I was in AA Southend's store this past weekend and there were actually other shoppers besides myself. They have never been busy in my experience but three other shoppers made a world of difference to me. Prior visits have felt like a private shopping appointment, and it can feel a little awkward.

The space is still For Sale but daily operations are status quo for now. If it does get replaced in the future I hope other retail takes it place, the location is a linchpin for the block.

[tozmervo]

EQ3 is having an "end-of-season inventory liquidation" that looks suspiciously like is a store going out of business sale.

The commercial real estate available sign in front isn't too promising, either. It's really too bad, I like EQ3's merchandise quite a bit. Well, it's primo retail space, so I hope it isn't empty for too long.

Edited March 14, 2010 by tozmervo

[Urbanity]

EQ3 is having an "end-of-season inventory liquidation" that looks suspiciously like is a store going out of business sale.

The commercial real estate available sign in front isn't too promising, either. It's really too bad, I like EQ3's merchandise quite a bit. Well, it's primo retail space, so I hope it isn't empty for too long.

Stores like EQ3 is what is missing from Uptown. It's also the kind of lifestyle type retail that I think would do well in that area. I honestly wish they were closing to move there but I no that's not the reality.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Urbanity

[HopHead]

Sorry to see this place go, but I drive or walk by it almost daily and never see anyone in there. Surprised it lasted this long. Though, I agree it's a prime spot. It won't sit empty long.

[Temeteron]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier, but Jillian's in SouthEnd has closed. I spoke to the owners of Greek Isles and they told me that the employees of Jillian's weren't even aware it was closing, they just went to work one day and saw the door closed with a sign on it.