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SouthPark Mall


uptownliving

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I don't think sp being one story has anything to do with competition. I think indoor retail malls have an intangible mojo that defies logic. To me the sp mojo is intertwined in its one story-ness somehow. I don't have any proof of this... Just an intangible feeling.

Visit Aventura Mall in North Miami for an example of what Southpark could be if it had a second/third level.  I know Miami/South Florida is a completely different type of market than Charlotte, but the possibilities are endless for what Southpark could become if it opened up that much space.  I just feel like the construction itself would be too disruptive in the short-term to ever justify an upward expansion of SP.

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I don't think sp being one story has anything to do with competition. I think indoor retail malls have an intangible mojo that defies logic. To me the sp mojo is intertwined in its one story-ness somehow. I don't have any proof of this... Just an intangible feeling.

Well, the clerestory windows...they let in light. But I agree with you.

It's already a large mall, 1.6 million square feet? Additional levels would destroy its vibe.

I'm just hoping Federated closes the SouthPark Macy's and replaces it with a Bloomingdale's.

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Adding space is much harder said than done.  The mall already is conditionally zoned for it's sq ft., and the zoning to increase it (i guess maybe 15 years ago) was VERY contentious, with Foxcroft and Barclay Downs people highly opposed.  This was right around the time that Simon bought the mall, so I don't recall who last went through the process, but they should be aware that expanding sq ft would be no easy task.

From that angle, I think an Uptown store makes sense for them, though I wouldn't expect to see many unique stores uptown that aren't also at SP.

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Adding space is much harder said than done.  The mall already is conditionally zoned for it's sq ft., and the zoning to increase it (i guess maybe 15 years ago) was VERY contentious, with Foxcroft and Barclay Downs people highly opposed.  This was right around the time that Simon bought the mall, so I don't recall who last went through the process, but they should be aware that expanding sq ft would be no easy task.

From that angle, I think an Uptown store makes sense for them, though I wouldn't expect to see many unique stores uptown that aren't also at SP.

A friend of mine at a big Commercial Real Estate company has been hearing chatter about retailer interest steadily increasing in Center City. Hopefully that translates to some sort of Uptown presence for national chain retailers sooner rather than later. I wouldn't mind a JCrew, Victoria Secret, Banana Republic, and the likes uptown. I feel like it would mean the Center City has finally arrived. 

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A friend of mine at a big Commercial Real Estate company has been hearing chatter about retailer interest steadily increasing in Center City. Hopefully that translates to some sort of Uptown presence for national chain retailers sooner rather than later. I wouldn't mind a JCrew, Victoria Secret, Banana Republic, and the likes uptown. I feel like it would mean the Center City has finally arrived. 

You'll see some of those names at Atherton.

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  • 1 month later...

I'd think that Metropolitan/Midtown could expand and really become the center city retail destination.

If downtown Greenville, SC has stores ranging from Brooks Brothers to Anthropologie and the like, I still don't see why Charlotte doesn't, but at least something near uptown would be about as good.

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I'd think that Metropolitan/Midtown could expand and really become the center city retail destination.

If downtown Greenville, SC has stores ranging from Brooks Brothers to Anthropologie and the like, I still don't see why Charlotte doesn't, but at least something near uptown would be about as good.

Anthropologie recently opened a store in Atherton Mill @ South End.

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In other news, I really like the renovations to the food court, and the new furniture throughout SP. Much more variety in seating, high community type tables. It feels a little less like a high school cafeteria when you walk through it now. I"ll try to get a picture if I go there after work. 

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As an agnostic, I think this is incredibly dumb.  Leave the bloody Christmas tree.  What's next, a giant snowball at the Rockefeller center?  Geez man.

I know...is anyone actually offended by a Christmas tree?  And btw it looks nothing like a glacier.

There was a petition started yesterday and it's already received nearly 13,000 signatures already.

 

 

 

 

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At this point, I just hope they bite the bullet and take whatever consequences come. These signatures... Are they people that even shop at South Park? And if they do.... I wonder how many "protest" by going to other Simon malls?

 

i say just double down. They've already done it.  I rather not embolden the war on Christmas crowd anymore than need be

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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^^^The festive iceberg in Southpark will be taken down after the public outcry over it.  The petition that was started just two days ago reached nearly 25,000 signatures, and the whole debacle caught the attention of the national media.  The CEO of Simon Malls publicly declared the display a mistake, and said they would be replacing the display with traditional Christmas decor. 

The glacier was an unambiguously bad idea.  Some people made it out to be a war on Christmas type thing, but you don't have to be a Christian to realize that the glacier looked awful compared to a Christmas tree.

Having said all that, I am kind of sad about this whole episode.  It makes me sad to think that there was that much of an outcry over a temporary Christmas display, but there hasn't been nearly that level of outcry to save the Common Market cluster of buildings in Southend or the Belk Tower (last time I checked that petition had less than 1000 signatures and it has been in place for almost a month).  I mean, come on people of Charlotte-you're ready to start an uprising over a Christmas display that will be gone within two months anyway, but you can't muster up enough to challenge these other happenings which will kill actual pieces of our civic identity.  I'll bet if DFA saw a petition that reached 25k signatures in a period of 48 hours telling them to save the Common Market Buildings they would listen;  I'll bet Dubois would cancel the tear down of the Belk Tower by the end of the week if a petition with 25k signatures showed up. 

We really need to start channeling our collective indignation into matters of actual consequence way more than pissing and moaning about holiday decor. 

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I think there's room for protest about Christmas trees, old buildings and brutalist bell towers.

The issue is the size of the audience.

The vast majority of people in Charlotte like Christmas trees and many of them are regular SouthPark shoppers. But few people in Charlotte can even identify where the South End parcel is located. Very few could tell you who wants to build there and why. Fewer still care about the bell tower and if they gave either it or the DFA parcel a thought, they'd probably give them both a heave-ho because one is old (in Charlotte years) and the other is modernist.

This is just who Charlotte is. Boomtowns seldom have time or interest in preserving the past and Charlotte set its cap for Boomtown in the 1920s. This ethos is changing-it's far better than it once was-but it's like turning a battle ship in a bathtub. And it's not like we're losing something from the 19th or 18th century. These are 20th century artifacts that are at risk-not that old and so in (too) many minds, not all that worthy of preservation.

I'm rejoicing because the old Brodt's building is being re-purposed for a brewery. But it was built in 1954. Not 1854 or 1754. And I'm sad brcause Sharon UMC-the 'ski slope' in SouthPark-is going to be demolished for another mixed-use development. But it dates only to c.1970, give or take.

Despite being incorporated in 1768, Charlotte is in many ways a very new city. So preservation is always going to be an uphill battle.

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