First Ward Urban Village / North Tryon Vision Plan

[CLTProductions]

^ Shhh! You'll startle it and scare it off

[Guest]

[uptownliving]

Here we go again.... Levine is asking City Council to change the requirement of structured parking next to future First Ward Park to SURFACE PARKING.

This is no joke. He is saying he can't get financing for structured parking next to First Ward Park to build by 2019.

 

Also he is asking for a 6 month extension on the parking deck at 10th and Brevard to have it complete by July 2016.

 

More of the same old crap: Delay and break past promises.

[HopHead]

It's a shame the city just can't strip him of ownership of the land. This has gone way beyond absurd...

[tozmervo]

May have to draft up an email to Patsy...

[DMann]

Maybe Cannon will manage his lot.

[Niner National]

why does he even hold onto the land? Parking can't be THAT lucrative can it? All the land he owns has to be worth tens of millions. Does he just think someday it will be worth way more than that if he just keeps holding onto it?

 

Honestly, at this point I'd love to see this land going to someone else even if they didn't develop it for 10+ years. Even if Levine start work on something, I'm confident it will be underwhelming and not in Uptown's best long term interest.

[Windsurfer]

why does he even hold onto the land? Parking can't be THAT lucrative can it? All the land he owns has to be worth tens of millions. Does he just think someday it will be worth way more than that if he just keeps holding onto it?

 

He's done alright so far just holding on to it, no? The return on his investment must surely been better than CD's or T-Bills (if he just out and out sold it today). 

[dubone]

There is no one saying he isn't savvy to hold it forever.   Being the LAST to develop may well be to his ultimate advantage.   But it is terrible for the community and city, which makes him a selfish a ss. 

[Urbanity]

^I'd also add that I wouldn't mind that parcel (parcel - that's an understatement) being developed last if there was a real master plan that excited me about what could go there.   As it is now I feel like I'm just holding my breath for a some South End type condos and maybe a hotel...

[km1789]

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/06/how-parking-lots-became-the-scourge-of-american-downtowns/372207/

 

great little video about parking craters and their detriment to American downtowns. Not too long ago most of third ward would have very easily been our obvious Charlotte Parking Crater. Now with Romare Bearden, BB&T Ballpark, and the subsequent housing that is blossoming there, I believe Levineburg is our official parking crater, although the few blocks around the transit center and Skye certainly make a good case....

[Third Strike]

How do you guys feel about UNCC expanding their presence in Uptown, especially in First Ward? Maybe purchase the nearby lots from Levine (lol), and open it towards more under-graduate degrees, and maybe even a dormitory. Being next door to the Lynx would make the uptown campus seem seamless with the main campus.

[ah59396]

How do you guys feel about UNCC expanding their presence in Uptown, especially in First Ward? Maybe purchase the nearby lots from Levine (lol), and open it towards more under-graduate degrees, and maybe even a dormitory. Being next door to the Lynx would make the uptown campus seem seamless with the main campus.

 

I wish the whole damn campus was in uptown.

[Urbanity]

I believe there is plans for at least one other UNCC building on site (probably at the blank wall side of the current Uptown building. 

[uptownliving]

Well good news is that the City Council did not pass his request for surface parking. The item was pulled from their agenda at the last minute. Not sure why...but at least for now the original contract stands.

[15895]

Well good news is that the City Council did not pass his request for surface parking. The item was pulled from their agenda at the last minute. Not sure why...but at least for now the original contract stands.

What is the current contract? Levine land has the potential to be the biggest game changer if done like metropolitan or birkdale or any village/

Are there no carrots we can dangle the man? Maybe call up Cannon and get him to offer Levine some free genuine hygiene products or something

Edited June 25, 2014 by AirNostrumMAD

[kermit]

I wish the whole damn campus was in uptown.

 

I do too.

 

However, I can confidently say that the UNC System / NC Legislature will never fund more than one new uptown UNC Charlotte building in our lifetimes. (for a long list of political reasons).

[Niner National]

I often wonder what UNC Charlotte and Uptown would be like if it had remained in its original location where CPCC is today.

 

I think the east side of Uptown would look significantly different than it does today and obviously Elizabeth Avenue would be a lot different.

 

I imagine the school would have started football decades ago with Memorial Stadium being right there.

 

I think it would also be pretty likely that we'd have a med school with Presbyterian and CMC blocks away.

 

More than anything, I think the school would have a lot better of a relationship with the city than it does. If it were Uptown, I feel like the movers and shakers in town would have fought for the school more and represented it better at the state level.

 

Instead, it has never really felt much like a part of the city and never became a destination within the city. A real shame. I love my school, but I really feel like its location and poor planning around that area will continue to hold it back. It's a really beautiful campus with some great programs, but it is surrounded by 4 line highways and strip malls.

[ah59396]

I often wonder what UNC Charlotte and Uptown would be like if it had remained in its original location where CPCC is today.

 

I think the east side of Uptown would look significantly different than it does today and obviously Elizabeth Avenue would be a lot different.

 

I imagine the school would have started football decades ago with Memorial Stadium being right there.

 

I think it would also be pretty likely that we'd have a med school with Presbyterian and CMC blocks away.

 

More than anything, I think the school would have a lot better of a relationship with the city than it does. If it were Uptown, I feel like the movers and shakers in town would have fought for the school more and represented it better at the state level.

 

Instead, it has never really felt much like a part of the city and never became a destination within the city. A real shame. I love my school, but I really feel like its location and poor planning around that area will continue to hold it back. It's a really beautiful campus with some great programs, but it is surrounded by 4 line highways and strip malls.

 

 

All of that would probably have happened.  I'll also add that Elizabeth would probably be much more heavily developed and Uptown would have a much more eclectic feel to it, due to the population of students in the area.  More head shops, coffee shops, dive bars and little businesses would likely dot the landscape along 7th, elizabeth, ect.  The lack of a major university in uptown or the ring neighborhoods, in my opinion, is a major cause of Charlotte's "vanilla" reputation.

[Miesian Corners]

Levine is just an out-of-control ego.  He could have partnered with many different development companies over the past 12 years to build First Ward Village, but his ego won't allow him to relinquish any control.  

[ChessieCat]

Question:  Would the BLE have occured if UNCC had stayed in its original location in Elizabeth?  Or would the BLE have been like the Red Line, much ado about nothing due to low ridership projections?

[Niner National]

Question:  Would the BLE have occured if UNCC had stayed in its original location in Elizabeth?  Or would the BLE have been like the Red Line, much ado about nothing due to low ridership projections?

Definitely not. The university has spurred most of the growth in that part of town. That area probably look much different today if the university had stayed in its original location.

[kermit]

Nice article from the Meck Times on the latest on Levineland. I'll include a few selected highlights:

 

Patsy Kinsey on the change requested by Levine last week:

 

 

“We’ve tweaked it to death,” said Charlotte City Councilwoman Patsy Kinsey, who as the representative of District 1 – which includes First Ward – is a key vote.

“This comes back to us every six months. I’m not happy with this. I’m not happy with this.”

The general tone of the article was of general exasperation on the part of the city council and county commission. Lots of concern was noted about Levine's desire to shift some parking to surface lots (even if the shift is 'temporary'). However, everyone interviewed was consistent in saying that they still want the project to happen.

 

Levine on when he will finally get started:

 

 

Levine says the latest delay is holding up a project that is finally ready to go after nearly five years of hold-ups and false-starts. The public financing involved in the project, he said, requires that he hit deadlines looming as soon as next year. That, in turn, means he needs to get going.

“We’ve been approved for the permits and we have a contractor, Rodgers Builders,” Levine said an interview about what is being called simply “the 10^th Street Apartments,” but actually involves building two parking areas with a total of nearly 1,400 spaces, a new public park, a new street and major modifications to another – as well as the 264 apartments themselves.

 

The article does mention that some utility relocations necessary for the project began two weeks ago.

 

There was some recognition by Levine that he is the cause of 'some' of the projects problems. Levine on the most recent renegotiation:

 

 

In retrospect, this [the timing of City and County reimbursements] was an important detail,” Levine said. “I didn’t think about it, and I should have, and now we have a problem.”

 

Finally, the article concludes with this: (why does it sound like I have heard it before?)

 

 

Despite all the headaches involved – and especially that he’s finally ready to get the project going after all the delays – Levine said he’s grateful that the city and county have been as flexible as they have been in helping to realize his First Ward ambitions.

“I’m not complaining,” Levine said. “This is the way public-private partnerships work.”

 

Its a substantial article, although perhaps more optimistic about it getting moving than I would be at the moment. It does contain lots of history and some solid quotes from the council and Levine.

http://mecktimes.com/news/2014/06/30/gradual-development-decades-in-the-making-plan-for-charlottes-first-ward-faces-new-delay/

[dubone]

Him not thinking about the deadlines is a weird piece of BS.  Of course he thought about them because he certainly would never have wanted them.  It is the very thing he had to give up in contract negotiations to make it happen to warrant the city to go along with the deal.   The city does not have deals to build infrastructure and parks just anywhere, it has them with him because he owns a sizable chunk of the heart of the city, and they need to make something happen.   The deadlines ARE the deal, so he is implying he negotiated in bad faith.  

 

It makes perfect sense that he is trying to get his side of the deal adjusted, because that is what he always does.

 

I think the city should play hardball and start to make public policy directly targeting his type of misdeeds.   The city has attempted to use carrots but never bothers with the stick.   It is time for something like higher taxes on these urban surface parking lots or some other policies that will put some pain on the status quo.   These should never be allowed in a city in the first place, we now know it, so let's start making them hard to keep like that. 

[Miesian Corners]

I caught the last five minutes on the Government Channel last night about this.  It was the city council meeting from 7/28.  It was a vote that said Levine would be allowed 400 surface lot spaces adjacent to the park.  The spaces could not be expanded or improved from their current form (at least that's what I think I heard).  The parking garage will have to be completed by late 2015 or he will face considerable fines.  Can anyone offer what else took place in the meeting regarding his highness?