First Ward Urban Village / North Tryon Vision Plan

[atlrvr]

Quarterside is a 4-building "village" that will consist of three residential buildings totaling about 200 units, and 1 office building with around 15,000 sq. ft. of space. I believe the two larger condo buildings will have ground floor retail. I don't remember that exact amount, but I believe it's somewhere in the 10k-20k range. A lot of the condo units are really small <600 sf. ft. to help make them affordable. The first two projects, The Ledge and The Quad, which are the two larger residential buildings, are well under construction. The Row, which is a townhouse style building, I believe recently started, and the office building has either just started, or will be in the immediate future.

The project also will be contributing to the street grid by adding a street between 6th and 7th.

[atlrvr]

Well BB&D was back on top as of a couple of weeks ago with a bid of $40.6M. Upset bids were due Monday, I believe....anyone know if they were outbid? Grubb had stated they were going to back out, and people had expected Levine to drop out.....

[atlrvr]

Nevermind....I just called the county.

No upset bids were presented. Assuming the county commissioners approve their bid, BB&D is contracted to buy the Hal Marshall Center for $40.6M.

[QC-NC]

Anyone actually have a unit in quarterside that would like to explain why there attracted to it (pros), and some fears they have of their contract (cons)?

And ATLR thanks for the above comment that definitely puts the grand project scheme into a larger context.

[Charlotte_native]

According to my sources the bidding process is officially over. Levine was not the high bidder.

[dubone]

That is such amazingly good news for 1st and 4th Wards. If Hal Marshal had been absorbed into Levine's void, this land would remain fallow for years or decades. Now, it is presumable that these blocks will be in a position to be developed. North Tryon desperately needs momentum back. First Ward desparate needs to be connected by development to Tryon.

[Raintree21]

Anyone know what how long the county will be allowed to stay in the Hal Marshall building?

[dubone]

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/findpost-p805970.html

Levine was going to let them stay for two years, but I doubt BB&D is doing that, as they presumably would like to develop that land as soon as possible to recoup their investment.

The county is getting so much more for this land than they expected, so they can just use that cash to upfit their Freedom Center space sooner than originally planned and get those workers moved. It isn't like it takes that long to put cubes in an old mall store.

[Raintree21]

Thanks. Don't forget though that the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner's Office is there and they will need an area a little more in depth than what the Freedom Mall offices can offer. Also, while not a necessity, I would think they need to stay near the hospitals.

Also, Medic has a station on the backside of the building so they will have to relocate as well.

[monsoon]

^Isn't their job to examine corpses for crime purposes? I am not sure why they would need to be near a hospital for that.

[UrbanFuture]

I have a unit at The Quad in Quarterside. Furman and staff are saying late spring 2008 for move in . They also are admitting that Trademark walk throughs and closings are slowing them down. I guess they underestimated the back end of the schedule for Trademark. As far as contract concerns, I'm not too worried overall. They are staying within their budget, at least on the exterior from what I've heard. Just moving incredibly slow for a wood framed building with an incredible dry streak for weather. They should've had at least the Quad framed or close by now. It looks like they are waiting on floor trusses before they go the next floor up on the Quad. Back in contract they were saying they were just going to build the Row and sell at market prices since the Quad and Ledge sold well. I'm not sure if they changed their minds in the last year or so though.

EDIT:

I was running out the door this morning, didn't actually respond to the post.

Pros:

- Inside of I-277

- Walking distance to the Square, Epicenter, Bobcats, Nascar Hall of Fame (didn't know that at the time), Next door to post office, walking distance to future light rail, walking distance to Met Midtown, walking distance to government district, walking distance to grocery (Reids), Etc;

- Out of Uptown price point for Inside of Uptown address;

- Well known local developer.

- "Urban Village" feel of mixed use

- Retail in ground floor

- Not all of the condos in one building

Cons:

- Wood framed building (purely for the noise aspect)

- Pool is only included on The Ledge building (the biggest one)

- Busy developer (lots of open projects right now)

- Limited parking for amount of condos & retail

Overall the Pros far outweighed the Cons for me personally for this particular purchase. Hope that helped.

Edited August 23, 2007 by QCkid

[Raintree21]

Usually the deal with any traumatic death or any medical death that the patient's physician won't sign the death certificate for. I said they should be near the hospital for convenience factors.

[world44]

This city is unique. Are there other "villages" in Uptown? The term implies "a community smaller than a town". Seems as the developer of Quarterside is inviting a cornucopia of retailers for a self sufficient/independent niche. Nice!

[Raintree21]

I'm not aware of any other "villages" downtown. Nothing currently has their own shops within their perimeter to provide self-sustainability, unless you count the Harris Teeter that's on the ground floor of 5th & Poplar.

[dubone]

I'm sure there is other county land for that if need be. It isn't like the county doesn't have any land near the hospitals. But I'd also argue that Freedom Center is not that much farther from the hospitals, as it is only a little bit outside of downtown. Certainly there is someplace they can go, even so much as simply getting space in a medical office actually near the hospitals or something. They are getting $40m in cash for this land, I think they can figure out something to do.

[dubone]

Um, there is Gateway Village.

Furman will not truly be able to make this a village unless he can get retail that the residents will use often.

I think of all the "new towns" that Singapore creates, which are high density areas entirely built by the government around a transit station. Basically, all of the major daily life type retail can be found on the ground level of the connected high rise. I somehow doubt that Furman will be able to pull off that. He is pretty much just making higher density residential on an entire city block and place holders for 'more to come'.

[world44]

The block should be termed "complex" instead of "village". Hopefully the developer attracts the retailers adequate for this type of micro community within the macro one. This benefits everyone.

[world44]

I have a unit at The Quad in Quarterside. Furman and staff are saying late spring 2008 for move in . They also are admitting that Trademark walk throughs and closings are slowing them down. I guess they underestimated the back end of the schedule for Trademark. As far as contract concerns, I'm not too worried overall. They are staying within their budget, at least on the exterior from what I've heard. Just moving incredibly slow for a wood framed building with an incredible dry streak for weather. They should've had at least the Quad framed or close by now. It looks like they are waiting on floor trusses before they go the next floor up on the Quad. Back in contract they were saying they were just going to build the Row and sell at market prices since the Quad and Ledge sold well. I'm not sure if they changed their minds in the last year or so though.

EDIT:

I was running out the door this morning, didn't actually respond to the post.

Pros:

- Inside of I-277

- Walking distance to the Square, Epicenter, Bobcats, Nascar Hall of Fame (didn't know that at the time), Next door to post office, walking distance to future light rail, walking distance to Met Midtown, walking distance to government district, walking distance to grocery (Reids), Etc;

- Out of Uptown price point for Inside of Uptown address;

- Well known local developer.

- "Urban Village" feel of mixed use

- Retail in ground floor

- Not all of the condos in one building

Cons:

- Wood framed building (purely for the noise aspect)

- Pool is only included on The Ledge building (the biggest one)

- Busy developer (lots of open projects right now)

- Limited parking for amount of condos & retail

Overall the Pros far outweighed the Cons for me personally for this particular purchase. Hope that helped.

QCkid,

Does the developer have any intentions for a self sufficient micro niche?

[UrbanFuture]

QCkid,

Does the developer have any intentions for a self sufficient micro niche?

Unfortunately, most likely not. That development is not dense enough to warrant or support its own village atmosphere, Gateway Village is much more of what you are thinking of. Furman has 12,000 sq ft of retail in his plans the last time I checked. Unfortunately I worry that we will see the same slew of businesses that inhabit the street level of most midrise mixed use in Charlotte right now; Drycleaners, nail salon, small businesses etc. that don't enable a self sufficient micro niche. On the other hand, everything you would need to survive/thrive is walkable, so while not in the actual block that makes up the Quarterside Development, it and several other buildings in Uptown are approaching the point where owning a car if you work and live in the city is optional.

[Charlotte_native]

This city is unique. Are there other "villages" in Uptown? The term implies "a community smaller than a town". Seems as the developer of Quarterside is inviting a cornucopia of retailers for a self sufficient/independent niche. Nice!

Not directly Uptown, but I think Southend (especially with what is coming) and the Thomas Street / Central Avenue area as well as NoDa would qualify. They are all within a mile or two of downtown.

[Raintree21]

Um, there is Gateway Village.

I assume you mean in name only. The only retail there is Starbucks, Gateway Dry Cleaners, Chick-fil-A, Bytes Caf

[dubone]

That is considerably more retail than will go into Quarterside and Enclave. You can live, work, eat, drink, and get basic groceries without leaving Gateway Village. There is no hope of that in Quarterside.

[world44]

Uptown will be comprised only of banks, arenas, hotels, and dwellings with a miniscule of scattered retailers. No competition will mean that residents living downtown are either obligated to foreage to the subs or pay high prices in their area. Unfortunately retailers (chains, etc) do not see the potential opportunities. Parking is not an excuse. The idea is to cater to the masses withing the radius of the wards. More than enough people live within the confines and with additional construction of dwellings, not astronomical but steadly rising, more of a demand for the basics will necessitate. Downtown cities, self sustaining, as for example Denver, Seattle, and Houston, were in the same logistical issue of space however were able to incorporate the economics. Someone, whether local government or else, needs to put on the thinking cap on this issue.

[voyager12]

The most prominent retail in Uptown near the projects mentioned in this thread will be Metropolitan. And yes I know it's not technically "Uptown" but that's as close as we can get for now. I plan on walking to shops and restaurants from Dilworth so Uptown residents will surely do the same.

Edited August 26, 2007 by voyager12

[uptownliving]

From the begining the builder of Quarterside has billed it as a mixed use development. I don't think it was ever designed to be a self contained/self supporting "village." From what I understand this is being built to connect with existing streets and development and be well intregrated into the neighborhood.