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UNC Charlotte uptown campus


atlrvr

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That is quite a striking difference between early 60s and early 90s Charlotte. I think I had in my mind that the development of UNCC was roughly the same time that downtown was already being leveled into asphalt lots.

There is no question that they made the right decision to not tear down the buildings based on the picture that you paint.

In the current world, though, it is good to see UNCC trying to take advantage of the new urban growth downtown. I just hope that, over time, they will add more projects downtown.

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When was the CPCC campus built? When were all of those parking lots- particularly the ones east of about 6th & Tryon and west of about 3rd & Tryon- made?

This is all really interesting. My view is generally that things should be put in central cities as much as possible, even if it means redeveloping existing buildings and spaces, just as large buildings were built in NYC even if existing buildings had to be demolished; for a good example, see the article in this past Sunday's New York Times about the redevelopment of fancy brownstones on 57th Street to make large commercial buildings. But cost and dislocation are certainly good reasons not to do this, as the posts above point out.

The good thing about all of those parking lots uptown, as much as I dislike them, is that they allow opportunities now for good development without dislocating people and businesses.

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I don't know the time line, but CPCC was built out organically over a period of time until they amassed a campus. Even now, as they need to expand, they reclaim nearby parcels and replace them with college buildings. I believe they originated in the Central High School building and grew from there.

That is the manner I wish UNCC had followed. However, given that so much of UNCC was built at once, the lack of land availability, and the fact that the state was spending the money, there was really no choice but to locate outside of the city-proper.

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I don't know the history of CPCC either, but the vast majority of the parking lots showed up in the 1970s. I remember hearing that something changed in the tax law that made it attractive for property owners to level their buildings instead of leaving them there empty. Three was a huge amount of urban renewal that occured around the skyscraper boom of the early 1970s in the downtown. The building of the First Union, Wachovia and NCNB towers leveled many square blocks of land. The Brooklyn neighborhood was also leveled to make way for the brookshire freeway and what you see now in 2nd ward. It was a very bad time for the city.

E. Trade used to be lined with small mansions that the movers and shakers of Charlotte of past days lived in prior to Myers Park being built. The last of these homes was leveled around 1991 or so.

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As was mentioned, UNCC is a fairly young university. The urban Carolina universities, such as College of Charleston and USC, are very old schools (by American standards) and were established when there was still a lot of land to be developed within the city's center. It's too bad UNCC couldn't have been one of those. But still, the school is an asset for Charlotte that should be celebrated.

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In a semi-related announcement, Pfeiffer University has announced that is it starting an MBA program in Cornelius. This program will be geared towards evening students living at the Lake who want an advanced degree but don't want to travel to the other schools. The University is or plans to talk to town official about building a new facility near the Cornelus planned commuter rail stop.

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It's my understanding that Charlotte College (the predecessor to UNCC) originally held classes at the old Central High beginning in 1946. One of the founders, Bonnie Cone, secured the new (current) location and the new campus opened in 1961. It's former location went on to become CPCC in 1963 and it was not until 1965 that Charlotte College became UNCC and part of the UNC system.

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It's my understanding that Charlotte College (the predecessor to UNCC) originally held classes at the old Central High beginning in 1946. One of the founders, Bonnie Cone, secured the new (current) location and the new campus opened in 1961. It's former location went on to become CPCC in 1963 and it was not until 1965 that Charlotte College became UNCC and part of the UNC system.

CPCC and Central High discussion moved to the Elizabeth Ave/CPCC Thread:http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=3500&view=findpost&p=239707

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  • 6 months later...

This was from this week's CBJ.

Although the university released a rendering last year when announcing plans for the uptown facility, the building "won't look like that," Hardin says. "We want something a little more appropriate for the uptown area."

The building is still expected to be five stories. Gantt Huberman Architects is developing the initial plans. A project timetable isn't set, but Franz hopes a design architect can be selected in about 18 months. He anticipates an 18- to 24-month construction period.

It pretty much confirmed what we thought, which is that the design would not be that horrific "regent" :sick: style, and instead something more fitting. With Gantt Huberman doing the design, I'm expecting relatively good things, especially since they had a role in the Imaginon design, so hopefully the two buildings will compliment each other on opposite ends of the park.

I think this may have been mentioned earlier, but I'm almost positive that this building was designated by UNCC to be designed to LEED standards.

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  • 3 months later...

The CBJ is reporting that they are moving up the timetable for the UNCC building uptown. UNCC owns the land, and the budget passed this past summer includes all of the funding. The target date (if memory serves) is now in 2009.

I thought '09 was the original date for completion. Did you read/hear something suggesting a later date?

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It was easy to misread, but you are right, it has always been a 2009, but now they are looking to speed up the completion. It is apparently just a general pursuit, and they didn't report any different date.

...that may prompt arlier construction -- and an earlier completion -- of the 2000-square-foot project at Ninth and Brevard streets, which is targeted to open in fall 2009.
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Is their goal to have the park in place when the UNCC building is finished? Also, are they going to ask for approval of Levine's underground parking deck too.

I really wish that UNCC would actually build an uptown campus centered around a small park instead of one central building. By a campus, I mean four or five 5-6 story education and administration buildings with ground floor coffee shops (Ritazza style,) small restaurants/delis, and retail. In other words, I wish it were more urban, yet still reflected a college setting.

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  • 4 months later...

The architects for this project have been named. They will be Gantt Hubermann of Charlotte, and KieranTimberlake of Philidelphia.

http://www.kierantimberlake.com/home/index.html

^ They seem to have done some pretty interesting work. Hopefully UNCC will be hands off, and let them design something that would compliment uptown, and not some brick monstrosity with incorrect proportions and gratiutous use of pillars.

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  • 7 months later...

That rendering looks exactly like all of other UNC Charlotte's most recent buildings- Woodward, School of Education, Health Sciences, etc. Anyone know if the same architecht is working on the campus downtown as the ones up at the main campus? If so, then I wouldn't be surprised if the final design turns out to be like that rendering. It would have been nice to see more height, some retail/restrauns on the ground floor (they are finally adding that up at campus), and I agree a new bolder style.

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No...the architect is Kieran Timberlake...I posted a link to their site previously in this thread....they are a national firm that does good work...I think we will be pleasantly surprised, and not have any of this quasi-neo-Georgian crap.

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