Proposed 17 story tower for Charlotte Area

[monsoon]

This 17 story proposal is interesting in that it is located on Lake Norman and would be the tallest building in the North. I like the look shown in the rendering. The Charlotte area has lacked an aquarium and this proposal includes one of those as well. Included is an 800 ft elevated walkway to a upscale restaurant on the lake.

It will be interesting to see if the Mooresville planning board approves it or not.

Full story in this article.

Photo courtesy of the Lake Norman Times

[reverbandwhiskey]

Cool!

[atlrvr]

Ummmmm....ok......wow.....this is intersting......Mooresville has wanted this to be on the other side of I-77, but I have a feeling that they will approve it at this site just because they have been drooling over getting a convetion center.

I see that BB&T has financed it, but I have to wonder how serious this is since the esteemed Mr. Gellman didn't deliver the Charlotte Space Needle that he promised us for Uptown.

[UptownJ]

Ummmmm....ok......wow.....this is intersting......Mooresville has wanted this to be on the other side of I-77, but I have a feeling that they will approve it at this site just because they have been drooling over getting a convetion center.

I see that BB&T has financed it, but I have to wonder how serious this is since the esteemed Mr. Gellman didn't deliver the Charlotte Space Needle that he promised us for Uptown.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When was the space needle promised... I didn't know about that...

Anyway, It looks like a good project but I wonder if it would have any negative effects on the city of Charlotte. I think its pretty kool that they want an aquarium too. That however, I wish we had here.

It would be good for that area to get this kind of development I just hope it doesn't cause more harm than good.

[monsoon]

The Space Needle project that I remember was a proposal to build something on the scale of the Toronto's CN Tower in Charlotte. It would have been financed by selling shares of stock to local residents. The proposal was made to the Charlotte City Council who endorsed the project as long as they did not have to finance it. After that, the project simply disappeared. I don't know if renderings were even produced.

This was in the late 1980s I think.

[UptownJ]

The Space Needle project that I remember was a proposal to build something on the scale of the Toronto's CN Tower in Charlotte.  It would have been financed by selling shares of stock to local residents.  The proposal was made to the Charlotte City Council who endorsed the project as long as they did not have to finance it.  After that, the project simply disappeared.  I don't know if renderings were even produced.

This was in the late 1980s I think.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Still... Thats pretty cool

I think it would be a big boost to the residence and tourist if we actually had one of those. Charlotte has one of the most beautiful skylines of a city of its size or even bigger and what better way to show it off to people than to build something everyone can use check it out. Thanks for the info

[atlrvr]

Burt Gellman proposed a tower in 1992 that would be twice as high as the space needle in Seattle for the site on N. Tryon where the Transamerica Building is now. I don't remember the name he gave it exactly but it was something like Charlotte InSpire Tower........He tried to revive this tower to be built at Ground Zero in New York and called it InSpire Tower Memorial.

Needless to say, he never raised enough money for either venture. (or support in the NY case)

[atlrvr]

The architect for the New York tower is MIMS (the same as for this lake project....hmmmmm) There is a rendering of it and I assume it would looked similar to what he proposed here.......here's a link to his NY proposal.

http://www.inspiretower.com/index.cfm?cid=...9EAA&page=tower

Of course the NY one would have been 2,000 feet....haha...of course

[UptownJ]

The architect for the New York tower is MIMS (the same as for this lake project....hmmmmm)  There is a rendering of it and I assume it would looked similar to what he proposed here.......here's a link to his NY proposal.

http://www.inspiretower.com/index.cfm?cid=...9EAA&page=tower

Of course the NY one would have been 2,000 feet....haha...of course

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It sounds to me that this guy is just one big dreamer. Has any of his big projects ever become reality?

[atlrvr]

Well....he did own Jonathan's on Tryon....which then became Atlantic Beer and Ice, and then Fox and Hound.....so I guess that failed. Ummm, he owned an apartment building on Queens Rd. that was just demolised a couple of weeks ago......not sure he failed here...I've heard a rumor that the site will be built as condos. And that's it.

I wouldn't discount the Lake Norman project. A convention center has certainly been a desire of Mooresvilles, plus as the article says, he has financing from BB&T (not sure how solid it is or if it is contingent), but I'd give this one a 50/50 chance of happening.

[monsoon]

I believe that Huntersville, Cornelus & Davidson are working with Mooresville to bring a Convention Center to the lake.

[skysdalimit]

But do you think they would really build an aquarium and museum at the site? I mean, who would go?

[atlrvr]

Never underestimate the spending power of a NASCAR fan.......now if is a Ripley's Aquarium, it'll be a gold mine.....

[monsoon]

Never underestimate the spending power of a NASCAR fan.......now if is a Ripley's Aquarium, it'll be a gold mine.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Heh, its much more than NASCAR. There huge amount of activity around the Lake. I find that many Charlotte people miss out on the whats going on up here simply because they refuse to look beyond the city limits. (and often beyond I-277) I much prefer the lifestyle at the lake vs that found in most of Charlotte.

Have a look at this site for a good starting place. (check out the photos)

LKNFUN.COM

[atlrvr]

I was kidding.........

I've worked with several clients who are interested in developing in the northern towns as well as each of the planning commissions. The area is exploding and will continue to explode. The danger comes from Mooresville, which is building so much and has relatively limited connections to Meck. I-77 has no timetable to be widened into Irdell, nor does 115. I hope the people who moved there to escape "Charlotte's Traffic Nightmare" won't be too opposed to taking the commuter rail.

[monsoon]

LOL OK,

I agree that Mooresville has done a horrible job of managing growth. One trip to exit 36 will immediately confirm that. Fortunately much of the growth in the are due to jobs being created at the Lake rather than people commuting all the way into Charlotte. For example, the new Lowes HQ is not only generating 1000s of direct jobs, but a number of businesses that serve the HQ are being created as well. Unfortunately I don't see the political will in Iredell county to do much about it right now. And zoning decisions outside the city, transit funding, etc are actually controlled in Statesville which is the center of govt. there. Statesville is insulated from many of the problems that we discuss on this forum.

[atlrvr]

Not for long.....hahahahaha.......there is a GIGANTIC development planned south of Statesville........4,000 homes, over 1M sq. ft. of retail, and tons of office (though I have a hard time seeing this part happening). I don't remember exactly the acreage, but I know it's in the several thousands........hahahaha....take that Statesville!!!

[Norm2]

Charlotte and its northern neighbors seem to be getting more and more divided every day.

[uptownliving]

If you listen to monsoon it sure seems that way...lol

[thumper]

I like that hotel. I hope they build it and the restaurant. There needs to be more on lake dining in the Charlotte area.

[monsoon]

Article in the Observer about it. I missed the part earlier that this building will also contain condos. If this project is successful, I wonder if this will spark more highrise condos on Lake Norman? I could see a lot of development on the Denver side considering how the land is less expensive, and the state is spending great sums of money to expand Hwy 16 which will make that side of the Lake more accessable.

[skysdalimit]

True, but then again, it's Lincoln County.

[monsoon]

Looks as if the Mooresville City Council ruled against the project.

[atlrvr]

Actually, the planning board ruled against it. The commissioners will decide it May, and they are the ones that have the final say. The planning board just makes recomendations, though it doesn't bode well that they unanimously recomended against it.

[monsoon]

Thanks for the clarification. I guess we will see. That city council has been notorious for not following the recomendations of its planning board.