First Ward Urban Village / North Tryon Vision Plan

[HopHead]

Lawd, I'm sick of parking decks being built uptown. But thanks for the info.

Ditto... but wasn't this parking garage supposed to be underground? I think even under the park?

[New Name]

Yeah, under the park. But still think Charlotte has WAY TOO MANY parking decks. Why does every development need it's own parking??

[Norm2]

Because suburbanites will not venture uptown unless there is a place to park their car.

[sharkdawg]

Shoot I live a couple of miles away in PM and still drive my car uptown.

Because suburbanites will not venture uptown unless there is a place to park their car.

[49er]

"Surburbanites" drive into every other major city on the planet so why not Charlotte? What's different here is that the percentage of people using transit to visit downtown is still relatively small, but at least growing. It seems to me that there are a lot more pleasure riders that choose to take the lynx into the city for entertainment purposes What I really dislike is that so many of the new decks like this one are being built adjacent to the rail line. The biggest problem with transit in Charlotte is that so many neighborhoods were built in a fashion that is not supportive of transit ridership. If a bus route is serving a major arterial road but a subdivision snakes back a mile from that road, most people who own a car are not willing to walk a mile to the bus stop. The park and ride model will continue to be the most attractive imo.

[dubone]

This is really just the parking deck for both UNCC and an office tower that will abut the park, just like the CC-Green deck was for the new One BofA office tower. It is just that they're building decks for the hell of it. Until they get further along on the transit plan, it is perfectly reasonable to build parking decks that are associated to high density projects to cover a percentage of the demand created by those projects. In fact, I am pretty sure the city requires it.

What we need is to get rid of the existing surface lots, and this project gets rid of at least two. I just returned from Manhattan and can say I saw loads of P signs leading to garages under the buildings. I didn't, however, see any surface lots that covered any significant portion of a block.

[New Name]

I just wish that every possible inch of on-street parking was available and used. We've already paid taxes on these roads, why not use them to their potential? Have you ever seen Uptown in gridlock? I haven't, even after Panthers or Bobcats games let out. No need for 4 travel lanes.

[southslider]

^I believe both reconstructed 8th and two-way-converted Brevard will be only two travel lanes total, or one travel lane in each direction. But I agree, any street inside the "Graham-Stonewall-McDowell-11th loop" should only have two travel lanes total, except maybe Caldwell. For one-way streets (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, College, Church) such rule could still allow for two lanes in the same direction, but that would still add a lot of on-street parking, even both sides where going from four to two lanes in one direction.

[plaza-midwood]

I know it's day old news, but still...didn't see it mentioned on this site.

Mecklenburg County approves $32M for project in Charlotte’s First Ward

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2010/01/04/daily24.html

"Levine Properties owns 23 acres in First Ward. His development plan calls for 2 million square feet of offices, 280,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 2,000 apartments and condos and a 175-room hotel. City and county officials estimate the Levine development will total $700 million once it is built out."

Are there are any proposed renderings available for this thing? Sounds like it's gonna be a huge huge deal.

[HopHead]

^Hmmm, a new hotel? Wonder who it would be?? 175 rooms too small for that W hotel we all want? Agree, though. Would LOVE to see some renderings of this huge development.

[yorkconstruct]

I've heard rumors that this is suppose to have a couple of 20+ story buildings. Also, i don't know how accurate the conceptual drawings are but center city partners shows this to be quite extravagant.

First Ward Urban Village

[krazeeboi]

^Hmmm, a new hotel? Wonder who it would be?? 175 rooms too small for that W hotel we all want? Agree, though. Would LOVE to see some renderings of this huge development.

I could see a nice Hampton Inn or Embassy Suites there. A Hotel Indigo on the higher end maybe.

[plaza-midwood]

Another rendering:

http://cltblog.com/2449

[nonillogical]

as great as that rendering looks, but it must have been a mostly hypothetical one for uptown in general since Levine doesn't own a lot of that land. my block is totally redeveloped for one and i know that won't happen for a long time

the article is more specific about recent plans...i hadn't heard about the plans to create "Market Street" along the tracks from 7th st. out but that sounds like a great idea.

[tozmervo]

Market St shows up in the plans for 9th St Station, too.

[plaza-midwood]

Can someone put this project a little more into perspective for me, in terms of cost and scale? That figure above of $700 million in total development...and the 2 million square feet in office space...and **THIRTY TWO ACRES** of development in Uptown. Is this the largest development project in the history of Charlotte? Does anyone know estimated development figures for projects like Epicentre, NC Music Factory, the various high-rises, light-rail, the Whitewater Center, etc.

I know it's never apples-to-apples with projects like these, but just curious if this thing is as huge as I think it is. It's not getting nearly the press of some other Charlotte-area projects, but it seems absolutely *massive* to me.

Edited January 8, 2010 by plaza-midwood

[tozmervo]

The DEC and Vue costs range between $240-280 million apiece. The Blue line ended somewhere around $460-470 million. Laid out flat, 2 million square feet of office space would cover a bit over 9 Uptown city blocks (which, incidentally, is greater than 32 acres). I think DEC has something like 4.5 (whoops) 1.5 million square feet, and 1BofA has 750k.

Edited January 8, 2010 by tozmervo

[plaza-midwood]

Awesome, thanks for the numbers.

The fact that it's been in the works for 10 years, to me, shows that Levine is *really* determined to get this thing done. It's no small task by any means...this thing is huge.

If the numbers above are accurate, then this IS likely the largest development project in the history of Charlotte. It may take 10-15 years to complete, but it's an awesome sign that major urban improvements to downtown are definitely coming. Not that there was any doubt.

[nonillogical]

i don't have the facts, but i don't see this coming together as a single master plan, nor do i really think it should. "urban village" is just the umbrella term to what will be done with Levine's land, and that its not really comparable to those other single developments. i think we'll see development spread organically outward from the park and UNCC building, but it will take a while.

[dubone]

Ahh, a new crop of believers. I'm still mighty skeptical of Levine's ability to get this done. Don't forget, he was handed a sweet partnership by Novare to build what became the Catalyst, which if Levine hadn't botched it up would have gone across 7th from Reids a year earlier than what happened (and could have potentially meant a successful sales cycle too). Instead, we still have vacant land there. So far, the only way that anything has happened on his land is when another entity forces it to be so (UNCC specifically, who spurred the park agreement so they knew how to design their building). He now has an incentive to build, but I do not put the potential to f it up past him.

Levine's land is an urban village because only 50 people live on his dozen blocks, and 50 people is a village.

[tozmervo]

Personally, I'm only interested in the park. Anything else Levine gets built is just frosting. I could eat cake all day, though.

Edit: Dangit, I just realized I passed 1,000 posts a few posts ago. This is like looking down and seeing 100,009 on your odometer.

Edited January 9, 2010 by tozmervo

[krazeeboi]

UNCC center city building, taken 1/16:

[InitialD]

1/18/10

[New Name]

This is the most encouraging quote I have read in years! First up for Charlotte's First Ward Levine lays out his plans for center city development

Levine says the economic downturn — and the resulting real estate collapse — has been a sobering experience. It has led him to steer his First Ward village toward a more diverse — and realistic — community.


Think affordable apartments and condos, reasonable restaurants that don’t depend on expense-account largesse and, more than anything, think unique.

[Guest]

This is the most encouraging quote I have read in years! First up for Charlotte's First Ward Levine lays out his plans for center city development

Levine says the economic downturn — and the resulting real estate collapse — has been a sobering experience. It has led him to steer his First Ward village toward a more diverse — and realistic — community.


Think affordable apartments and condos, reasonable restaurants that don’t depend on expense-account largesse and, more than anything, think unique.

There is also another good Business Journal Article about the plan to put the new Farmers Market in 1st Ward Park! That greatly excites me!

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2010/01/consultant_to_consider_first_ward_market.html

here that is!