Drive for 'Center City' retail

[ah59396]

that's awesome!  we need MORE.

[kermit]

7-11 is negotiating for a TWC Arena retail slot.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/going_green/2013/05/7-eleven-inc-to-open-shop-at-time.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2013-05-23&u=jDmEk+CKbYnAvaVfOFOlFGXcGSC&t=1369342662

[15895]

To anyone in the know on projects Yet to be announced if there is any reason to expect more retail (not counting restaurants) within 5 years or so?

[RaleighHeelsfan]

So someone said 17,000 is the uptown pop...but you have to figure if you got mall type retail uptown...along with the mom and pop type...people from the suburbs will go uptown in large numbers. People in the suburbs don't want to live uptown, but the majority love to visit. This goes for surrounding towns and communities. Charlotte is ready for anything uptown IMO...I was just in Minneapolis and they have everything downtown. What is their downtown pop??? They support all that retail and -30 temps in the winter. Not all that retail up there is "inside" with skybridge access. Charlotte is ready and if I was very rich I would be the one to do it. I would invest anything in Charlotte.

[mallguy]

So someone said 17,000 is the uptown pop...but you have to figure if you got mall type retail uptown...along with the mom and pop type...people from the suburbs will go uptown in large numbers. People in the suburbs don't want to live uptown, but the majority love to visit. This goes for surrounding towns and communities. Charlotte is ready for anything uptown IMO...I was just in Minneapolis and they have everything downtown. What is their downtown pop??? They support all that retail and -30 temps in the winter. Not all that retail up there is "inside" with skybridge access. Charlotte is ready and if I was very rich I would be the one to do it. I would invest anything in Charlotte.

Minneapolis also just lost a Neiman Marcus and a Saks Fifth Avenue downtown.

[Urbanity]

I don't know Minneapolis that well but I believe they never destroyed their street level retail opportunities the way Charlotte did.  

 

Charlotte doesn't even have the infrastructure of street facing retail spaces (significant ones).  I don't agree with a number of things from the Charlotte Center City partners, but one thing I do agree with is their idea to pursue getting retail spaces built into new buildings in certain areas (I think they were planning that on the proposed Market street by First Ward) and on Brevard.

 

Until we get some ability to actually offer desirable (and usable) spaces to retailers we are never gonna get them to consider center city.

[RVA2CLT]

I don't know Minneapolis that well but I believe they never destroyed their street level retail opportunities the way Charlotte did.  

 

Charlotte doesn't even have the infrastructure of street facing retail spaces (significant ones).  I don't agree with a number of things from the Charlotte Center City partners, but one thing I do agree with is their idea to pursue getting retail spaces built into new buildings in certain areas (I think they were planning that on the proposed Market street by First Ward) and on Brevard.

 

Until we get some ability to actually offer desirable (and usable) spaces to retailers we are never gonna get them to consider center city.

 

Being that retail is now generally over-built in America, especially with e-commerce reshaping the way products/service are purchased, any new retail development, especially on a larger, concentrated scale (vs. boutiques and cafes) needs to be developed in highly trafficked areas.

In my mind the area of biggest potential for this development is at Gateway Station & potential surrounding developments on Trade Street, Graham and adjacent to the railway. This area will be the perfect nexus of regional & local traffic, along with the increase in pedestrian activity due to the '3rd Ward Renaissance' catalysts of Bearden Park & the Ballpark. Not to mention Lynx Gold Line running through there as well as future SEHSR.

I think there is no other place in the city with this type of development potential. It seriously could be the 'Grand Central Station of the South' if it was developed properly.

 

Edited June 21, 2013 by RVA2CLT

[AuLukey]

I completely agree.  When I was uptown for the 4th, I couldn't believe how many people I saw spilling out of the greyhound station.  Missed opportunity Charlotte is going to watch slip right through its fingers.  But what's new?

[Twin Citian]

double post

Edited July 9, 2013 by Twin Citian

[Twin Citian]

So someone said 17,000 is the uptown pop...but you have to figure if you got mall type retail uptown...along with the mom and pop type...people from the suburbs will go uptown in large numbers. People in the suburbs don't want to live uptown, but the majority love to visit. This goes for surrounding towns and communities. Charlotte is ready for anything uptown IMO...I was just in Minneapolis and they have everything downtown. What is their downtown pop??? They support all that retail and -30 temps in the winter. Not all that retail up there is "inside" with skybridge access. Charlotte is ready and if I was very rich I would be the one to do it. I would invest anything in Charlotte.

 

As of 2012, downtown Minneapolis had a population of 36,500.

 

Minneapolis also just lost a Neiman Marcus and a Saks Fifth Avenue downtown.

 

Neiman Marcus is gone and will more than likely be part of Mall of America's expansion.  There is a Saks Off Fifth outlet store though.  Other downtown retail include Target, Marshalls, Banana Republic, Gap, Gap Kids, Ann Taylor, Talbots, Brooks Brothers, Men's Wearhouse, etc..  There are also the specialty stores including Hubert White, LD Blues, Martin Patrick 3, Len Druskin, and Allen Edmonds.  Other needs are being met such as full-service grocery stores.  A Lunds grocery store opened last year and Whole Foods is opening within a month or two.  I'm assuming more retail will come with all the current residential construction and rebound in downtown's workforce (now over 165,000).

 

Downtown shopping isn't what it used to be due to the likes of the Mall of America, which is only 9-10 miles from downtown MPLS and a change in shopper demographics and preferences.  MPLS leaders realize this so instead of trying to land the likes of a Neiman Marcus, they are encouraging the smaller, boutique stores.

 

Funny I came across a thread mentioning MPLS. I will be onsite at a Charlotte client next week so, I thought about checking out this site for things to do.  That said, any suggestions?

Edited July 9, 2013 by Twin Citian

[Urbanity]

Nice research on the history of Retail in Uptown  http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs%20Alphabetical%20Order/Surveys&rhovissprattfuneralhome.htm

[mallguy]

Nice research on the history of Retail in Uptown  http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs%20Alphabetical%20Order/Surveys&rhovissprattfuneralhome.htm

Thanks for posting- very interesting!  It has the photo of the Square when Belk was still there- lined with seedy-looking retail buildings.  Yes, I'd like to have a real department store uptown, but the BofA building is much more visually attractive (to me) than that was.

[Guest]

Thanks for posting- very interesting!  It has the photo of the Square when Belk was still there- lined with seedy-looking retail buildings.  Yes, I'd like to have a real department store uptown, but the BofA building is much more visually attractive (to me) than that was.

I may be WAY WAY wrong, but is Hal Marshall a former Sears?!

[tozmervo]

^yup

 

I'm also shocked about the Home Finance Building on S Tryon. It's a run down Enterprise Rentacar now. That building always fascinated me - no idea it was a Pease design.

[Guest]

^yup

 

I'm also shocked about the Home Finance Building on S Tryon. It's a run down Enterprise Rentacar now. That building always fascinated me - no idea it was a Pease design.

Woah, I just found the building on streetview, I've never seen in my 27 years (first 18 of it in Charlotte) on this earth.

http://goo.gl/maps/7aIeX

[ah59396]

Woah, I just found the building on streetview, I've never seen in my 27 years (first 18 of it in Charlotte) on this earth.

http://goo.gl/maps/7aIeX

 

 

I want to buy that place and live in it.  Coolest house ever.

[Guest]

In what seems to be quite a head scratcher Charlotte is getting a "Jason of Beverly Hills" a store that is only in Beverly Hills & Vegas. The Beverly Hills Showroom requires you to spend at least 100,000 bux!!! The new store will be in the Ritz Carlton. At first I questioned whether we could EVER support something like this. But then I realized if you were going to spend that kind of money on jewelry, what is an extra couple hundred bucks in airfare... This will be the only east coast store afterall.
http://jasonofbh.com/

Edited July 17, 2013 by Guest

[MilZ]

I can't imagine how their research would pick Charlotte as a market for that type of clientele.  Well I hope it succeeds but I'm having a hard time believing in it.

 

People can fly in, buy jewelry, watch sports from our many luxury box options, fly out. Maybe...

[Guest]

I can't imagine how their research would pick Charlotte as a market for that type of clientele.  Well I hope it succeeds but I'm having a hard time believing in it.

 

People can fly in, buy jewelry, watch sports from our many luxury box options, fly out. Maybe...

Nice Central Location between Miami, Philly, DC, NY, and Atlanta? Maybe... lol

[MilZ]

and a way to kill time on a 4 hour layover haha

[Urbanity]

I have a feeling it's going to be no more than a few strategically placed mini-cases in the lobby area versus a "store"

[jordan704]

In what seems to be quite a head scratcher Charlotte is getting a "Jason of Beverly Hills" a store that is only in Beverly Hills & Vegas. The Beverly Hills Showroom requires you to spend at least 100,000 bux!!! The new store will be in the Ritz Carlton. At first I questioned whether we could EVER support something like this. But then I realized if you were going to spend that kind of money on jewelry, what is an extra couple hundred bucks in airfare... This will be the only east coast store afterall.

http://jasonofbh.com/

 

 

"Jason of Beverly Hills" has been in the Ritz in cases by the elevator for over a year now maybe longer. They have now moved into the mini store to the right as you walked in. Most people never even know the space exist. It was a Ritz Carlton store then turned into a pottery shop/gallery. I really don't understand the placement when it was in the cases by the elevator. Some of it was fun to look at but I would always ask myself 'Who buys this stuff?" But it must be doing well to move into the shop.... 

[Urbanity]

"Jason of Beverly Hills" has been in the Ritz in cases by the elevator for over a year now maybe longer. They have now moved into the mini store to the right as you walked in. Most people never even know the space exist. It was a Ritz Carlton store then turned into a pottery shop/gallery. I really don't understand the placement when it was in the cases by the elevator. Some of it was fun to look at but I would always ask myself 'Who buys this stuff?" But it must be doing well to move into the shop.... 

AHA - Those mini cases were what I had in mind when I wrote the post as I remember seeing Jewelry in them when I was last there last fall/winter for Urban Sip.  I honestly had just assumed it was a local jeweler as I really didn't look at the merchandise

Edited July 18, 2013 by Urbanity

[jordan704]

"Jason of Beverly Hills"

 

 

[kermit]

Belk has just spent $75 million on upgrades to existing stores.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2013/10/16/belk-invests-75-million-into-new.html?ana=e_clt_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2013-10-17

 

I have no doubt that in pre-2008 Charlotte some thoughtful power broker could have twisted some arms to encourage Belk to open a downtown store.

 

This post is not meant to imply that the future of downtown retail is a department store (they are very much a relic of the 20th century IMO), I am just lamenting a lost opportunity.