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500 West Trade (14 story apartments on site of former Polk Building)


UrbanCharlotte

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1 hour ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I will leave my eulogy here, since I can’t get anyone to print it as is.

 

James K Polk Building 1925 to 2019 A Eulogy

 

Friends, family, readers I've come here today to pay my last respects to one of the largest, oldest and most mistreated buildings in all of Uptown Charlotte.

 

While we watch the James K Polk building be removed, bit by bit, brick by brick, I wanted to tell the story of a handsome, and stalwart building that did not deserve this fate. A building that should have earned a historic designation by the city and the state.

 

What we now call the Polk Building today, started its life out as the Coddington Building, a flagship Buick Dealership for local auto dealer C.C Coddington.

 

Built in the neoclassical revival style, by renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn, the building towered stoically over the corner of East Trade & Graham for the past 94 years.

 

Within the confines of the Coddington building was quite the operation. The first floor held a showroom for retail sales, and a grand lobby built to impress, with marble, gumwood and gilt accents. The second floor held executive offices, and a parts center where you could find most everything you needed. The third and fourth, storage for cars. The fifth served as a repair shop, with the type of equipment necessary to handle any repair task.

 

Every single floor was built to structurally handle dozens of two-ton automobiles, even the roof was used for test drives. Which leads me to ask why. Why is it that a building that was built to structurally support massive weights deemed too damaged to save and restore?

 

Think about it this way, London was nearly leveled in World War 2, Charleston was burned down in the Civil War, both were rebuilt. The fact that we let a 94-year-old building, in perfectly acceptable condition get demolished because of water damage, and falling bricks is insane.

 

If it was indeed in such a state of disrepair, it’s because of neglect nothing more. It should have been the obligation of every landowner since CC Coddington, to give this 1920s architectural gem its due diligence.

 

I've sat idly by while people celebrate the removal of an "old and decrepit eye sore," and I just want to remind people that some of the most prized and cherished spaces in Charlotte, for instance Atherton, Highland Mill, and the soon to open Optimist Hall, that we shop, work, and live in today were once old and decrepit eye sores too.

 

The city of Charlotte is constantly derided for its lack of history, and the fact that one of the last large pieces of architectural history is being torn down is completely unacceptable and we should be ashamed.

 

It’s time we take a long look at who we are as a city, and who we want to be. In a city devoid of historic properties, every single one deserves a chance to be redeveloped. Whether the end product be co-working, apartments, condos, a boutique hotel, artist lofts, every building with history and architectural integrity should be saved. Instead we will have another copy-paste residential tower that has no chance to weather time quite as well as the Polk building did the last 94 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We should print about 100000 of these  and do a leaflet drop.

I hope David Ravin can get a copy of this.  

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I think that this will be a very nice addition to Charlotte.   
I think that the replacement is beautiful and will add a lot of vibrancy to the area.


Beautiful is a strong word in my opinion. I’m indifferent on the replacement design, but I don’t think it’s the highest and best use of the land in 2020+ Charlotte. It will certainly add needed street presence and that is a positive.

This is one step above The Mint and Circa, but it is no 505 or Novel on Stonewall.
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This area has a lot of potential. If we couldn't keep the Polk building, I wish we had something more interesting than 14 floors with a 6 floor wraparound...

Especially since it was dual 22 floor buildings in 2008.


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The way I look at this project is it may be meh, but at least it eats up an underdeveloped parking lot which has sat vacant for years.  It increases density and foot traffic and could lead to better density and creativity around Gateway Station.  We will see.  It isn't my favorite project Uptown, especially given it is replacing the Polk building, but I still see upside to it being built.

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4 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

The way I look at this project is it may be meh, but at least it eats up an underdeveloped parking lot which has sat vacant for years.  It increases density and foot traffic and could lead to better density and creativity around Gateway Station.  We will see.  It isn't my favorite project Uptown, especially given it is replacing the Polk building, but I still see upside to it being built.

The parking lot remains.

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1 hour ago, queensguy06 said:

Meh....nothing about this project really grabs me.  I'd almost rather this lot sit for a few years and get something that would utilize the site to its full potential.

500 west trade.jpg

This is the kind of project that pops up in different parts of non-central London. I really like it and I believe it is a nice infill for Charlotte.

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