First Ward Urban Village / North Tryon Vision Plan

[peaceloveunderstanding]

M Street is looking mighty good, especially the first picture. Garden district row looks like it will be pretty nice. It will really clean up that area.

[swh1972]

It looks like no more basketball in First Ward Park

[graydog]

The courts will be missed. However, there's a great net gain. In 3 years (maybe less) we won't recognize this area with all of the low and mid rise resdiential, the greenway, new retail shops, the redev of Piedmont Courts and the nearby Midtown. For me this is an great example of modern era, urban residential. IMhO.

[dubone]

I agree that the neighborhood has a net gain. I wonder if they could just place the old hoops in the parking lot of the rec center. At least there could then be some playing in the usual case that the parking lot isn't full.

[ElricSeven]

I agree that the neighborhood has a net gain. I wonder if they could just place the old hoops in the parking lot of the rec center. At least there could then be some playing in the usual case that the parking lot isn't full.

Plans are in the works for putting hoops in the new park area. Hopefully that will get off the ground here sooner, rather than later. I think the aforementioned continued intense development will give the county some more urgency on that one.

[atlrvr]

Plans are in the works for putting hoops in the new park area. Hopefully that will get off the ground here sooner, rather than later. I think the aforementioned continued intense development will give the county some more urgency on that one.

In the Levine park area? I agree that that park should be at least 50% dedicated to active recreation.

2 Basketball Courts, 2 Volleyball Courts, and maybe something unique like Bocee (sp?) and Croquet courts.

[dubone]

I don't like that idea at all. It is a center city park, why would we dedicate it to something that would be paved with asphalt. There are so many surface parking lots that are almost empty during the evenings, can't we just put up some hoops there? They could put hoops in the FW Elementary School parking lot, as that is definitely empty in the evenings and non-school days. If you are meaning the playground park they are planning on the old FW Elem block, then I'd be fine with it, but the Levine Park should definitely be an urban getaway, not an asphalt or concrete basketball court.

[atlrvr]

Uptown should be more than a showcase for suburbanites to bring their out of town relatives to show off tall buildings and manicured lawns.....it's also becoming a neighborhood.....

Not ever patch of public space needs to be flower-bed and public art. We have the green, we will have a new 3rd Ward Park.....4th Ward has a small playground, but other than that, its just passive space.

Why can't we have something that serves the people Uptown? The areas around Levine's park will be the densest blocks in the city. It will also be adjacent to a light rail line, therefore will eventually make a good central meeting space. (city-wide 3-on-3 basketball tournaments? beach v-ball?....what a great central venue for the city, while still mostly serving those living nearby).

[dubone]

I see what you are saying, but there are so many active uses available elsewhere nearby. For example, Little Sugar Creek Greenway has significant areas for active uses like basketball courts, bocce ball, volley ball, etc. There are already basketball courts near 12th and Alexander on LSCG very close to First Ward.

Active uses fit the greenway much better than Levine's Park.

Also, a basketball court is the easiest thing to colocate with parking, so why wouldn't we do that? If we wanted, we could have hundreds of basketball courts uptown right now. We could put them on the top floor of many parking decks, that rarely ever fill up when basketball courts would be used. There are church parking lots which are only full Sunday Mornings. There are school parking lots, which are only full when school is in session.

I'm not saying Levine's Park should just be grass photo-op for the towers, but there are plenty of active uses other than full recreational activities. This plans for the park have been carved up so that it is now just a sliver of the original 2-block size, I just can't support paving part of it with asphalt for basketball when there are so many other options.

[crispin]

Green space isn't the same thing as passive space.

I've seen the grassy part of Fourth Ward Park used as a volleyball court, a soccer field and frequently by people throwing frisbees. I've even seen drunken people set up a giant slip and slide with a tarp and a hose drawing water from their condo.

A nicely landscaped greensward would be a real asset for that area, and not just because it would be nice to look at.

[swh1972]

Small tidbit of information from Charlotte Center City Partners

Lane Closure Notice - East 6th Street

Starting on Tuesday March 28, 2006 one lane of 6th street located between N. Myers Street and N. Davidson Street will be closing down to allow the construction for a storm drainage project associated with the new Renwick Project. This lane closure will also be associated with an additional lane closure during non peak hours from 9:00am-4:00pm to allow for additional working area. This will put 6th street down to one lane from the hours of 9:00am-4:00pm. This construction is scheduled to last until May 8, 2006. Traffic control will be in place.

[atlrvr]

Faison is purchasing the CHA parcel on 6th street on the east side of Davidson (across from the 1st Ward Comm Center).

It will be developed as a mid-rise condo building. More info to come.

I hope they include parking for the Children Services Center on the 5th street side of the block so that horrible parking lot next to the CSC can be developed.

[28202]

It appears that 7 of the 11 houses to be built on 8th st. sold in the first week. That is fast!

[UrbanCharlotte]

Don't think I saw this rendering anywhere on here.

[Rickydavisfan21]

not a very professional rendering but the area looks nice

[swh1972]

Does TWELVE technically count at the first piece of the First Ward Urban Village?

[Rickydavisfan21]

Its on levine land so yes I believe it does

[UrbanCharlotte]

Yes.

[swh1972]

I wonder if it is a good sign that we will start to see more announcements on more of this project.

[dubone]

Don't think I saw this rendering anywhere on here.

Sadly, UC, that is an obsolete image. You can see other remnants of the Levine plan from the days (circa 2001) when they were competing with Palladium for the Hal Marshall Land.

http://www.coopercarry.com/portfolio/loadD...er=76&imageID=1

They ditched the plan for a full 2-block park, have gotten some terrible renderings for the district from Civitas, and have decided to wack the old buildings, like Dixies, Treloar, and, well, all the rest. Granted, we now have TWELVE, but the rest of the plan, seems a little less desireable in my view.

Much of the previously planned park site was sold to UNCC (you see the plans to put the Mint on 9th Street in that rendering), so now the park kind curves around and will be much smaller in size.

Also, not only does TWELVE count, but Imaginon probably counts, too. If I'm not mistaken, Levine sold or gave the land for Imaginon.

[UrbanCharlotte]

Hmm, CC Partners put that rendering in their development report power point. Thought it was new since I didn't see it before. Anyone seen any other renderings?

[dubone]

Hmm, CC Partners put that rendering in their development report power point. Thought it was new since I didn't see it before. Anyone seen any other renderings?

Well, look at it this way, it validly represents a First Ward park and surrounding development in Levine's planned urban village. That is still the plan, so it makes sense for them to include. However, don't scrutinize the content of the rendering as the specific details and the specific design of the park have changed.

[UrbanCharlotte]

Yea, obviously it is just a vague rendering of what they're going for. There have been many different renditions of what this will look like, but we wont know what the final product will be till the whole project is complete. This won't be developed in one phase, but over a long period of time with many projects like TWELVE, so right now all we can have is a very vague idea of what the whole thing will look like. So far i'm very pleased with imaginon and twelve, and am looking forward to the next project Levine will put in the urban village.

[carolina_fan]

^ UNCC's building will add some nice foot traffic too. Hopefully the state legislature will vote to fund this next month.

Edited April 10, 2006 by bja

[graydog]

Grabbed some pix at M Street Sunday. We're doing a walk-through Friday and I'll post again after that. Enjoy.

North McDowell near 11th:

Corner of 7th and McDowell:

7th St. looking north:

On McDowell between 7th and 8th looking toward 277:

Back of lot just off 7th:

On 7th looking toward Elizabeth:

The section of 8th St recovered from the building of 277: