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monsoon

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The Drakeford Project on 8th is much improved. They now have the units facing the street. There will be 16 units...all 3 story townhomes. They will be brick with 3rd floor porches in what I call "Charleston" style. They will go for $250-$350k each. I have the renderings...but not a scanner...I am sure they will be on the Planning Dept website soon. This development would take out 4 of the 8 single family homes on that section of 8th St.

Some residents of the homes have gone to the Meck Historical Landmarks Commision to see if they can get the homes designated as historical. No word on that outcome yet.

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I just received a letter in the mail yesterday from the Historic Commission with a list of proposed projects in historic districts and it mentioned a 6 story condo building at 715 N Church as being proposed.......maybe a Phase II to the building already there??????

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The Drakeford Project on 8th is much improved. They now have the units facing the street. There will be 16 units...all 3 story townhomes. They will be brick with 3rd floor porches in what I call "Charleston" style. They will go for $250-$350k each. I have the renderings...but not a scanner...I am sure they will be on the Planning Dept website soon. This development would take out 4 of the 8 single family homes on that section of 8th St.

Some residents of the homes have gone to the Meck Historical Landmarks Commision to see if they can get the homes designated as historical. No word on that outcome yet.

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That is really exciting news about the redesign of this project. I'm intrigued by the top floor "Charleston" porches. Is that a skyline terrace with a roof or something?

You already know how i feel about the historicity of those houses, but i am confused by the last point. Are the landlords fighting the development, or the tenants. I thought they were owner-occupied for some reason.

Also, maybe you can take a digital picture of the rendering. :)

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That is really exciting news about the redesign of this project.  I'm intrigued by the top floor "Charleston" porches.  Is that a skyline terrace with a roof or something?

You already know how i feel about the historicity of those houses, but i am confused by the last point.  Are the landlords fighting the development, or the tenants. I thought they were owner-occupied for some reason.

Also, maybe you can take a digital picture of the rendering. :)

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Some of the neighbors, not those who actually are under contract to sell the lots, are fighting the change. They're looking for a refusal of zoning or a historic designation.

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Some of the neighbors, not those who actually are under contract to sell the lots, are fighting the change.  They're looking for a refusal of zoning or a historic designation.

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That's odd, considering the big improvement in the project design. I would have expected them to embrace it - shouldn't it be beneficial and add value to the area? :unsure:

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Sounds like the last 4 houses on the block are holding out for more money to me :).

Seriously, for all of amazing buildings that Charlotte has torn down, it would be some serious over-compensation if these mediocre dwellings get special historic markings. I think it is easier to explain to newcomers that Charlotte has torn down much of its grand history than to say that these buildings are representative of what was best about early 20th century Charlotte.

Anyway, I doubt their efforts will succeed if the design is attractive.

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Its the story of these homes and their owners that in my opinion makes them historical. They sued Charlotte so that their homes would not be torn down for a public housing complex. They are the ONLY people to be succusful in suing the city in this type of case.

I think the developer may have shot himself in the foot. When putting this project together the developer had private meetings with owners on 9th St...the people behind this project....but did not have a private meeting with the people on 8th St. That will not sit well with the City Council.

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Sounds like the last 4 houses on the block are holding out for more money to me :).

Seriously, for all of amazing buildings that Charlotte has torn down, it would be some serious over-compensation if these mediocre dwellings get special historic markings.  I think it is easier to explain to newcomers that Charlotte has torn down much of its grand history than to say that these buildings are representative of what was best about early 20th century Charlotte.

Anyway, I doubt their efforts will succeed if the design is attractive.

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Not all of Charlotte's history is "grand"...in fact most of Charlotte's history is not grand. Go look at the buildings pictured on http://www.cmhpf.org/ and you will see a lot of non-grand homes designated as historical. Charlotte has a bad history of wiping out things that at the time are not considered "grand." Its the story that is really preservred in the historical buildings in Charlotte....and these houses have a good story to tell and one that should be preserved.

At the same time I am not going to shed a tear if this development does go through...it probably will help the property values continue to go up...but they won't have a story to tell...they will just be an extention of the First Ward "movie set"...thats the first thing most of my friends say when they come to First Ward...that it looks fake....well those homes on 8th St look very real.

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  • 1 month later...

Topic to discuss the Avenue

Construction starting

Looks like the tallest residential tower between DC and Atlanta is about to start construction. Interesting to note the developers have added an additional floor. 36 total floors.

Admin note" since this was announced, a 50 story and 53 story tower was announced

avenue.jpg

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The rendering makes the Avenue tower look shorter than IJL, which is 30 stories. I wonder how accurate the rendering is? Is the floor height in a residential building usually that much shorter than in an office building? It would be cool if Novare would specify the height in feet and set-up some computer generated models like on the trademarkTrademark tower's site - it rocks. I'm also curious to see the floorplans.

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There are usually 11 feet between floors in a residential building and 14 feet in a office tower......when everything is taken into account, it's safe to assume about 12 feet per floor on a residnetial project (usually higher ceiling on the ground floor and roof ornamentation to hide HVAC/elevator equipment etc.)

That would put this at 432 feet high....IJL is 447.....however, building ontop of a parking deck might lower it since parking deck floors are generally shorter than condo floors so take out 14 feet and I would say a really close guess in height is 418 feet or 126 meters, making it the 10th tallest tower in Charlotte.

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Were there many changes in this rendering? Dougie says this is the first rendering out, but it looks the same as they've had on their website for months.

I hadn't known the background on novare. I find it kind of fascinating that they self-finance, don't presell, don't reserve, and all that. That is some serious self-confidence.

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This rendering has actually changed a little.....if you look along the right hand side of the building, you can see that this building has some depth along 5th street.....I believe the idea now is to make it wedge shaped with the curved area protruding on the wide side.......this probably doesn't made much sense the way I explained it.....I believe the original plan the building more rectangular.

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Don't forget that lot slopes downhill, so the condo tower could still be "taller" and appear shorter due to the topography. I love this tower. I love even more that they will break ground in 60 days.

If the Park starts construction and when Trademark breaks ground, we're going to have some serious cranes in the air.

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i would be interested to hear other comments about the Novare buildings in Atlanta. they look incredible (links from their website at novaregroup.com). the pricing implied in doug's article is seriously below trademark and the amenities describing the condo interiors seem just as good ("very high finishes ... these aren't lofts," - from article), although I would guess they are more homogeneous. the building amenities will be better than trademark - but surely association fees will be higher. it would crush buyers in trademark (myself included) if Novare really comes in at $30-$40 psf cheaper.

trademark started at around 285 psf on the low floor up to 350 for the same floorplan high in the sky.

Article implies Novare: 240 - 260 psf. the way its worded it sounds like that is a cap, but i can't believe it. Eclipse and Metropolis in Atlanta though are this cheap.

its got me worried. either way great news for charlotte to see this building. please send comments on the Novare buildings, strategy, and pricing if you have any information. thanks.

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I asked a lot of these questions on SSC a couple of months ago.....there were some quality concern issues from buyers in Atlanta, however it seems their newer projects at least were defect free, but as uptown said, hollow doors, flimsy curtain rods and towel hangers...etc.....of course it is cheaper soooo.......if you're into ungrading yourself (and have extra cash laying around), then it might make sense to go with Novare, however I TradeMark probably has higher fit and finish and the expense is amorotized. (Furman has had quality issues too though in both Gateway Lofts and some of the Garden District stuff)

As far as HOA.....people in Atlanta were saying they pay $300/month for Novare.

If you are serious about Novare, I would suggest trying to dig up the thread on SSC....it was under the Southeast Forum.

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I have to believe you basically get what you pay for most of the the time. Since the demand in Uptown is there and assuming relative similarities in quality, why on earth would Novare leave money on the table by pricing theirs at $240-260 a foot when Trademark is $285-350 and 230 S. Tryon is a shade under $400? Most developers are not in the charity business.

Doesn't make sense, unless Novare's prices are just teasers and not real. If they are real, the only other viable explanation would be cheaper development costs, i.e. a lesser quality product.

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