UrbanFuture

Awesome, thank you. Now, I'm not a photographer, any of you out there that routinely photograph the skyline have one you'd be willing to submit?

Can we please make this the new picture on the Charlotte city forum page? our skyline is under-represented in the current photo due to the construction that has taken place over the past couple years. Also there are the new angles for photos that some of our board members have gotten the opportunity to shoot from that have really presented us with some great pictures. This is my favorite embodying those changes.

I'd be shocked if that sales figure for Bloc 90 they mentioned in the Observer today in the Fat City article was accurate. I doubt they still have 18 under contract, given that absolutely nothing has taken place on that site for a year now. Also, I'd be pretty surprised if the weather hasn't warped or damaged some of the interior studs and/or subfloors. The developers who did Fat City Lofts also did Dilworth Lofts, more than several of which never sold. Hopefully these guys can do something with the rental conversion so that building doesn't fall into disrepair or sit empty forever. I'm really digging the graffiti and colors on the street level.

Couldn't find a similar topic, if I missed it, please move it to the appropriate spot. Most people refer to this as the French Quarter downtown (where the French Quarter restaurant is located), but Brevard Court has had some retail shakeups lately. George Herman's closed mysteriously one Friday a couple nights ago, with the landlord repossessing the property that day. Dogwood Cafe closed for good a while ago and the Roly Poly sandwich shop that was there on Church street has also been gone for a while. In the space where Roly Poly once was is a new breakfast spot called Eggheads that is opening soon. George Hermans remains to be seen if it will reopen, but I imagine it will in some form since it is already built out inside for a bar/restaurant. There is also space for lease across the alley from where George Hermans was, below Brevard Court Sundries that I heard was being occupied. The French Quarter restaurant continues to do their usual amount of business from what I can tell. For those that haven't taken a peek, its a rarity in Charlotte to have something that old (ha!) relatively untouched and set up for urban style retail. There are limitations to the site, age, parking, etc. but I thought it was worth a post to discuss the changes, especially since Eggheads will add another breakfast spot to Uptown (hope its good!).

Loved Braswell's, personally did not like Good Food on Montford at all. I feel like there is much more value at other restaurants in Charlotte for the same level of quality in the food and prices. Don't get me wrong, the food was good, no pun intended. However the service and small plate concept (price and execution of the small plate concept) was not good in my opinion. I'd rather go to Las Ramblas any day for tapas.

Yeah, as noted above, they are asking OUTRAGEOUS prices for the neighborhood. I am trying to remember the price of the one story building, I believe it was 1-2 million for the building, maybe even over 2 million, can't remember.

Between Alive and Prevue in the Highland Mill on North Davidson Street. Around the corner from Brook's Sandwich shop if anyone knows where that is, and if you don't, go there for a burger one day, cash only, hole in the wall, but delicious.

I bet Fat City goes half rentals just like Catalyst did. The developer is going to be left holding a lot of these according to what a sales agent told me their sold number was last week. I just don't see them closing a couple units and then having the majority of the building sit vacant for sale. This developer must be needing money as several of their recent projects haven't come close to sold out.

My girlfriend went with some friends this past weekend and really enjoyed it. Said its the same concept as Kaminsky's (Charleston) but laid back and definite Charlotte version of a lounge. Got high marks from her for atmosphere, "yummy looking desserts" and general non-CANS'ness. I plan to check it out soon.

April 1st? Center City Partners is not cruel enough to pull a joke on everyone like that are they? Glad to hear this is happening!

I am not currently an owner at the Quad. I was very close to becoming one and unfortunately had to back out due to multiple ongoing delays and a lack of communication from Centro Cityworks/Blvd Centro. It has been confirmed in multiple sources (CBJ, Observer, local real estate community) that it is now in fact all rentals. I have no idea what they will do for current owners, but I have heard rumors, as mentioned above, that Furman might buy back the condos that closed. I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are if he does or doesn't do this.

Great suggestion... I forgot (gasp) about Ratcliffe. Its also in one of the few historic buildings left in central Charlotte.

Agreed. The crosstown could be cut to 4 lanes, repaved and leveled, and a proper street and landscape put in with 6 lanes only at intersections for turn lanes and incoming merge lanes. (Much smaller scale, but in Charlotte they cut a street here named East Blvd from 4 lanes to 2 lanes on a stretch and it actually reduced traffic and congestion) I think the Crosstown could be a great feature of the cityscape in addition to the utility it is now. I'm only there (downtown) on some weekends and random week days right now when I get out of Charlotte for a couple days. Hopefully I'll be there full time as a resident of Charleston soon! (maybe my opinions of the crosstown will change...)

Nikko's food is good and as mentioned, the space is impressive. Friday's are absolutely crazy (dressier clientele, packed, usually a live dj spinning) in there, so I STRONGLY suggest reservations so you aren't waiting around forever in the bar area. Nikko, in my personal opinion, is a much better dining atmosphere on non-weekend evenings. Nikko is a great place to start off the night on the weekends if you are going out for the night. Again, my personal experiences and opinions.

The locals/insiders club, not "da club" Edit: Heard a rumor about Basil opening sometime this coming week... yum!

I would not be surprised if they bought back the 4 condos that closed and turned the Quad into apartments as well...

I'd recommend Alexander Michael's .... more details here: http://www.almikestavern.com/ Pewter Rose is also a great suggestion! In other news.... looks like Crave ( http://www.cravedessertbar.com/ ) is opening on 3/31/09, underneath CANS, formerly known as the Avenue sales center.

Not yet, the are still finishing the build out of the restaurant and are currently hiring staff. I'm not sure on the projected open date.

Agreed, Charlotte is starting to show that "Miami nighttime skyline" (not on the same scale, but its becoming more visible). What I mean by that is at night, you see buildings that are almost completely dark against other lit buildings in whatever view you may be looking at. Spooky on several levels. I also agreed with the post above, amazing deals to come in SouthEnd, whether they be for the consumer or massive total building foreclosure deals for investors.

I've heard good things about Wilburn too, plus that's a brand new shop, should be running very smoothly. Stay away from B&R body shop though!!! They maimed my Nissan almost worse than the accident. After an extremely unpleasant (for them) and unfriendly conversation in front of their other customers in their lobby, they took it back and fixed it properly a week later. Upon picking it up, I looked underneath and noticed immediately (empty screw holes!) they had missed 5 very important screws on the bottom of my front bumper which I pointed out and was told wasn't a big deal. I took pics with my blackberry and threatened to call the insurance company and have them reported to the BBB and magically someone was promptly installing the missing screws. I hate hate HATE threatening stupid stuff like calling the BBB, but I mean, just freaking fix it right the first time, its what you got paid $thousands to do.

I heard that the Ledge and Row are as of a week or so ago, all rentals, ranging from a $900 a month studio to a $2000 two bedroom. The retail portion is still said to have been moving along, but as far as I can tell nothing has been done on the retail spaces below any of the buildings. All 3 buildings all still appear to be completely vacant with no one living in them. There is now a model unit at the corner of 6th and Myers Streets in one of the walk up townhome units.

Does anyone else think it might earn a chuckle if one of the Mod's shot a post in here that randomly told someone to get back on topic? Lazy Day has a lot of pics of this recurring event for all those curious what the mysterious signs are alluding to.

Is this in addition to the location on Central or simply a move?

Great news indeed! I've been looking for a good crepe in Charlotte! I got hooked on them at the farmers market in Downtown Charleston, they have a stand that makes them every saturday morning during the summer... amazing. Can't wait to check this place out. And is Amelie's truly open 24/7??? That's crazy! Crazy good that I can go get stuff there whenever now.

Don't they have a saltwater pool here too?