First Ward Urban Village / North Tryon Vision Plan

[nowensone]

Quoting yourself quoting yourself is sure to either log itself as "legitimate" for the search engines, causing mass confusion and hysteria, or, cause a quantum blip which as I'm sure you've read recently can cause our universe to end.  Still, that may not happen before the BLE, so all good.

[dubone]

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Levine mastur bates to these articles:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/21/3547528/transforming-first-ward.html

 

There was no ground breaking in 12/12, as he told the O in 9/12.   Nor was there a ground breaking in Spring  2012, as he told UNCC in 3/12.   I could go back through the 41 pages of this thread and find dozens of articles quoting him about imminent projects and plans, and obviously none were true.   

 

The only project that has ever actually happened has been UNCC, which had tax benefits for him.   He spent years working with the city to work with him for putting an underground parking facility under First Ward Park, and when they finally agreed, including to RAISE BREVARD STREET to accommodate it, he finally did the back of envelope math that shows that it is expensive and not cost effective.    

 

Even the projects that were real, like Novare's TWELVE project across from what is now 7th Street Market, failed apparently because he was so difficult to work with.

 

"Imminent construction" of an office tower adjacent to UNCC afforded him the rights to tear down two historic warehouses, and he proceded to pave a surface parking lot.   It is all part of he city trying very hard to wag the dog and get this SOB to do something.  They have funded studies for First Ward Park and in 2010 made a PPP agreement as an economic development grant to build the park.

 

In 6/11, the CBJ got the tone right about Levine supposedly planning to break ground in spring of 2011, and noting that the 'silence was deafening'.   A key date, though, that I am reminded about is that in the contract Levine got for the First Ward Park agreement, he had to begin work by the end of 2012.   That means as of now, there is no agreement, there is no First Ward Park, there is no economic development grant, there is no incentive for Levine to move forward beyond traditional market incentives.  That means it is now LESS likely he will do something compared to sometime last year. 

 

This guy has 2 light rail stations on his land, an agreement to pay for a county park in the center of his land, a city funded arena 2-blocks from his land, an interstate freeway a block away from his land.  You couldn't hope for more government stimulus to develop this land.  

 

It is not rocket science to see his intent for this land: earn parking revenue in perpetuity at the lowest possible tax cost.    There is NO INTENT TO DEVELOP THIS LAND.  He is not a developer.  He has not built anything ever short of some horrifying suburban industrial office space with no windows.  He has a new development plan every 3 years for the last 2 decades and he starts at square one each time.  

 

There is no such thing as a First Ward Park or First Ward Urban Village and every article and every page of discussion on this site has been gullibility on all our parts.

 

And this is what the community loses:

http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/ParkandRec/Parks/ParkPlanning/Documents/FWPPPT031810final.pdf

 

And this is what it will get:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=35.22843,-80.835863&spn=0.00339,0.004195&t=h&z=18

 

My post the other day was satire, but I have little doubt that it will actually come true.   The CFD building will be razed for surface parking, and we will end up with absolutely nothing within blocks of a downtown light rail station.  

[Guest]

Thats a pretty extensive study for something that will never happen. 

[dubone]

Yep.  But there have been 3 past studies for the land that eventually got lost to time.  When I moved to Charlotte 13 years ago, there was an outright competition to pick a master developer (similar to the recent Gateway Station area 'development').  In the end the 'winner' was Cousins Properties of Atlanta.  How've they been doing lately?  They had lots of renderings and designs.

 

 

The city/county did fund the park design in earnest and paid for that.   The problem was, they didn't have the funds to build it, and hoped that a partnership with Levine would not only spur him to develop something, but that if he did, the added property taxes could be used to build the park.   So when he does not develop something, neither happens.   That's where we are.

[Guest]

Do you feel there is any reason to doubt the other projects he has his hands in currently? The Ballantyne and SouthEnd Publix, the Apartment building at Midtown, etc. 

[dubone]

Good question, I don't know.   Those other locations don't really have much revenue potential from parking.   

[michaelef]

Everyone should just send in letters to Daniel Levine, demanding he get started, then if that doesn't work just have the media pursue him. 

[carolinagarnet]

^^^ I think partnering with Publix makes sense for him, but I have been suspicious of the apartment building since it was announced. He really does not belong or seem to be interested in working in urban or residential development based on his body of work. Consolidating all of the land in First Ward was a brilliant decision, but as dubone pointed out he seems to be waiting for it to appreciate in value at which point he will likely sell it off in pieces. It's a shame that he has been fleecing the city for years and nobody has called him on it in a meaningful way. That said, he may be the smartest real estate investor in the city.

[carolinagarnet]

I sent a news tip to the Observer asking them to write a story about how Levine continues to push back development, so we'll see what kind of response I get.

[Missmylab4]

Hopefully they pick it up and interview him again so he can talk about the Disneylandesqe vision he has for the site.

[carolina_fan]

Last summer, Levine got the deadline in his agreements with the city and county extended.   So the park and parking deck(s) are still possible.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2012/08/city-county-cut-6-million-from.html

Edited February 25, 2013 by carolina_fan

[dubone]

So, I am not fully clear, but he may actually doing the parking deck only part of the office tower.   

 

https://aca.accela.com/charlotte/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=LandDevelopment&TabName=LandDevelopment&capID1=12LDR&capID2=00000&capID3=00270

 

I will crack up if this is the only successful implementation, an ugly parking-only structure.  

 

 

And don't mistake my cynicism for wanting him to fail.   I would love to be proven wrong and somehow this being the one moment where he springs to action and finds a development partner that gets it going.  

[49er]

I was working downtown back in 2001 when the master planning and developer selection was taking place. Fresh out of college, I was naive enough to think it would happen pretty soon. To put this in perspective, that was obviously the same timeframe as the 9/11 attacks. NYC will have a completed Freedom Tower and accompanying development soon and this site will still be tumbleweeds and parking lots.  

[dubone]

Same.  I remember buying in First Ward Garden District and thinking I was just a couple years away from some progress.   Instead, multiple booms have completely bypassed the neighborhood BECAUSE of his monolithic control. 

[uptownliving]

Last summer, Levine got the deadline in his agreements with the city and county extended.   So the park and parking deck(s) are still possible.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2012/08/city-county-cut-6-million-from.html

 

My understanding is that the deadlines were NOT extended as part of his renegotiations. He was requiered to start construction in December 2012 and that obviously didn't happen. That means the terms of the contract were not met by Levine and it is currently null and void.

[Prodev]

Do you feel there is any reason to doubt the other projects he has his hands in currently? The Ballantyne and SouthEnd Publix, the Apartment building at Midtown, etc. 

It's my understanding that Levine was really just a consultant for Stiles/Publix since Stiles had no prior experience in the Charlotte market. I don't think Levine deserves any credit as a developer for these deals happening. 

[HopHead]

It's a shame that Levine has been holding this uptown property hostage for so long... It's criminal. 

[nowensone]

This Levine interview I suppose sums it up well.  By his stated rationale(s) I'd give him another 10 years on this one.  He reads to be a bit full of crap, if he's not and really does subscribe to the 'It must be perfect or not at all' philosophy then we might prefer him to simply be full of crap.

[DEnd]

I hate to be a Levine  appologizer, but in a lot of ways he is right...  The city is eventually going to need his land for high density development, and by keeping it in the white (so to speak), he is positioned to jump on the opprotunity when it presents itself.  Unfortunately I don't think he has the capitol (he would probably need a couple of billion) to be able to do it himself and keep the amount of control over it that he wants. 

[Guest]

I hate to be a Levine  appologizer, but in a lot of ways he is right...  The city is eventually going to need his land for high density development, and by keeping it in the white (so to speak), he is positioned to jump on the opprotunity when it presents itself.  Unfortunately I don't think he has the capitol (he would probably need a couple of billion) to be able to do it himself and keep the amount of control over it that he wants. 

 

His family's company is multi billion dollar company with 7,000 locations. I don't think he'd have a problem raising capital.

[dubone]

The problem is there is no way to absorb development on a 12 block high density zone all at once.  The whole concept that it could be developed en masse is a straw man argument and it is the reason it has remained parking-only under his control. 

 

Of course the real value will be unlocked when he develops it, but he has a very long term horizon, and is content to reap the cash flow income from the parking revenue.

 

 

There would be a ~35 story TWELVE across 7th Street from the market if he had worked reasonably with Novare.  The rumors coming out of that canceled project which caused them to buy the land that became Catalyst and Ally instead was because it seemed his demands were so high that he didn't really want it to happen.  Certainly the same goes for First Ward Park, with his grandiose plans for an immense underground parking facility.  

 

He could have had capital handed to him freely during the finance boom/bubble for a few condo projects or even office projects.  Even now his proposed midrise apartments are fairly reasonable and SEEM doable, but he just seems to have no urgency, so it already has the feeling like he will miss the current growth in apartment markets.   

 

I mean, it's all well and good, but does he really believe he needs to make sure he has a foundation strong enough for a tower on the project at 11th and Brevard?

[nowensone]

^^His Uncle's fortune is not his own, who knows what the private family dynamic is the reality there, but I'd guess he feels the need to amass his own wealth the "hard way", and earn respect not tied to Family Dollar (beyond what relatively "little" got him started).

 

^As to the 9-12 block super-development, I would rather Family Dollar collapse and he along with it before we get a planned multi-block super-development like this, downtowns are supposed to be eclectic beasts, sprung for organic and economically valid reasons, not planned "neighborhoods".  Sure there are examples proving me wrong, but there are also many planned cities all over the world that feel like inhuman prisons because of this concept.

[carolinagarnet]

^ The risk of leaving development purely to economic viability is that the area may not have the kind of diversity you need to make it livable and workable. Sure, planned developments can feel somewhat forced and even sterile, but the biggest risk is that with real estate funding the way it is, the area could be all apartment buildings with little or no ground floor retail. Alternatively, Levine could wait until after the apartment boom has waned and the area could become all office buildings and parking structures without any presence at night. I like that Center City Partners is taking an active role in at least trying to guide the nature of development in First Ward, even if Levine is not playing ball.

[michaelef]

He could at least build the park, that would help things. 

[dubone]

It is a catch 22 in perpetual inertia.  The park is funded by skimming revenue from significantly higher property taxes generated from developed land.   Developing the land at such density requires capital by way of loans, which require a market for what would be developed.  The market would not be able to absorb such a massive development to cover all of the land at once, but could potentially for smaller projects.  Smaller projects, however, are not as valuable because they lack a park and instead are surrounded by a wasteland of parking lots.