Trade St. Gateway into DT....?

[UptownJ]

On a recent trip into DT, I noticed something. I got off I-77 to Trade St. and headed into DT. As you got you have Gateway Village on the left and JW Univ. and the Double tree, and Apts on the right. But what

[orulz]

Any other thoughts on the subject?

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I don't know anything about this particular situation in Charlotte, but I'd guess that this is probably the result of urban renewal gone awry. Based on hundreds of other similar cases from other cities, there was probably an active, vibrant neighborhood there at one time - probably up until the 1950s or 60s. It's very likely that the neighborhood was an older area of town, and either poor or predominantly black. Such areas were generally not seen as neighborhoods by the affluent white people who had begun to migrate to the suburbs; they were seen as slums. Lower income or minority-dominated areas were frequently targeted for "renewal," and were often simply replaced with highways (see example: I-277) or razed to make way for new development that never ended up happening.

Many people consider this to be the cause of the huge racial divides in cities like Detroit or Atlanta. I've heard that it's not nearly so bad in Charlotte, but if the redevelopment uptown fails to provide enough mid-to-lower income housing and squeezes more and more of the working class out of the area, look for problems to develop. Besides, an uptown population consisting almost entirely of upper-class yuppies doesn't make for a very interesting town.

[ElricSeven]

I don't know anything about this particular situation in Charlotte, but I'd guess that this is probably the result of urban renewal gone awry. Based on hundreds of other similar cases from other cities, there was probably an active, vibrant neighborhood there at one time - probably up until the 1950s or 60s. It's very likely that the neighborhood was an older area of town, and either poor or predominantly black. Such areas were generally not seen as neighborhoods by the affluent white people who had begun to migrate to the suburbs; they were seen as slums. Lower income or minority-dominated areas were frequently targeted for "renewal," and were often simply replaced with highways (see example: I-277) or razed to make way for new development that never ended up happening.

Many people consider this to be the cause of the huge racial divides in cities like Detroit or Atlanta. I've heard that it's not nearly so bad in Charlotte, but if the redevelopment uptown fails to provide enough mid-to-lower income housing and squeezes more and more of the working class out of the area, look for problems to develop. Besides, an uptown population consisting almost entirely of upper-class yuppies doesn't make for a very interesting town. 

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Classicism aside, they're working on filling that in with condos and student housing. It will require some patience, but it will come.

http://www.trademarkcentro.com/trademark/

As far as affordable housing, it can be had not too far away West of the inner belt loop. The uptown land is just too expensive to support mid to lower income housing for families and what-not. You'd be able to house ten families in other parts of town for each house you built in that space.

[uptownliving]

LOL...this is funny reading this....

UptownJ to answer your question...the EMPTY space you speak of on W Trade will be filled by the new Multi-Modal Train/Bus station. To learn more about it there is going to be a design meeting next week which is open to the public.

Conceptual Design: Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is soliciting public input on the conceptual design of the Charlotte Multimodal Station*. Project staff and architects will be on hand to discuss the benefits of the design and receive feedback from the community.

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center

600 East Fourth Street

Room 267

Charlotte, NC

7:00 pm

[uptownliving]

orulz....to answer your hypothesis about Urban Renewal....this area of the city that Urban J is refferring to has always been commercial/manufacturing.

The buildings that were torn down housed an Art Gallery, Sports Bar, Christian Book Distribution Center, and an old Hotel where you could rent the rooms by the hour.

[UptownJ]

orulz....to answer your hypothesis about Urban Renewal....this area of the city that Urban J is refferring to has always been commercial/manufacturing.

The buildings that were torn down housed an Art Gallery, Sports Bar, Christian Book Distribution Center, and an old Hotel where you could rent the rooms by the hour.

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Thanks for the Update... on the development of that location... Keep the news and the details coming!

[archiham04]

very recently there has been some talk about a baseball field or large urban park in this neighborhood as well... the long negotiations of public/private deals, politics, and changing real estate markets has left these blocks dormant for the last ten or so years. They will take off soon though... just like 1st ward is filling in btwn earl village and tryon (the arena being the catalyst there).

[monsoon]

orulz....to answer your hypothesis about Urban Renewal....this area of the city that Urban J is refferring to has always been commercial/manufacturing.

The buildings that were torn down housed an Art Gallery, Sports Bar, Christian Book Distribution Center, and an old Hotel where you could rent the rooms by the hour.

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In the 1970s, there used to be a lot of street whores, XXX Video and massage parlors on this section of Trade. The joke used to be, "Well they call it "Trade" for a reason".

[UptownJ]

In the 1970s, there used to be a lot of street whores, XXX Video and massage parlors on this section of Trade.  The joke used to be,  "Well they call it "Trade" for a reason".

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LOL...