UrbanFuture

One thought I had was how far into construction did they get before someone told the contractor not to install "condo finishes"? Do these places all have the granite and hardwoods in them? I can't imagine they would rent them for less than market rate let alone subsidize them. Especially the top floor 2 story lofts. What a disaster for Colonial, I hope this drags them down a few notches in the development world for screwing with contracts. On the other hand, I want people to buy there; I'm super pissed as a future resident of Quarterside that those high priced neighbors are now ghosts.

I ate at G.W. Fins a couple nights ago, a Wednesday night. Located on North Tryon, in the base of "The forgotten tower" 525 N. Tryon. Went to try it out for kicks since I knew it wouldn't be crowded. Its a 2nd location for the New Orleans restaurant, the other being in the French Quarter there. Fresh seafood, flown in, new menus printed each and every day with the date printed on them. Some things they have every day, others change daily. The interior is classy, good bar area and the dining room had huge windows and was spacious. I had the calamari for starters (its not a fried calamari, it was in a tomato based sauce with polenta and strips of wood grilled calamari), seared snapper for main course (fresh seared snapper filet, over lobster butter mashed potatoes, and crawfish etouffee, a stew like mixture of crawfish meat and veggies). Split bread pudding for dinner and a crown and ginger to close out the night. The food was great. Calamari was a little different, but the mixture was spiced right and tasted good together. The entree was what should and what did make the experience. The fish was seared perfectly, the potatoes were delicious and flavorful without being too heavy or thick, and the crawfish etouffee was also great. The bread pudding was incredible, good portion, topped in a sugary glaze, tasted like I was in New Orleans. They also have very good table bread, little rich biscuits with something in the butter (I think lobster). They never let you go without bread for more than 30 seconds, it was almost comical. The service was great, but the place was slow. Both managers came by and made sure our meal was enjoyable and tasted as we expected. Prices on Entrees range from $21 to $38. Great place every once in a while (money wise) when you can't get to the coast for good seafood. http://www.gwfins.com/Charlotte.htm

Just got back myself. I am thoroughly impressed with Home Depot. Its just a cool idea for a big store, and it has a much more urban and useful feel to the market it serves than a normal home depot. (I am a general contractor, and wasn't expecting a contractor's supply store and thank god didn't walk into one) I was pleasantly surprised at all of the specialty items they had in stock and appreciate all of the design options they offered in one place. Enough of kissing home depot's rear end; Overall, I like how it all flows together with Target, the deck, the impending Best Buy, Marshalls, Staples, Trader Joe's, etc. (Traffic patterns excluded).

I was saying RJ isn't the GC for Catalyst, not VUE. It seems they definitely are for the VUE. I'm not sure Bovis has anything to do at all with the VUE

So, are they both for Catalyst, or is one for the office tower, one for catalyst?

excellent. I wish more developer - contractor partnerships worked like this. So much more money, time, and frustration would be saved. Kudos to Bovis and Novare. Can't wait to get my hands on something on that block.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty positive that Bovis Lend Lease, not RJ Griffin will be doing the GC'ing for Novare's upcoming projects in Charlotte.

very true. Did LandDesign name a contractor?

That 12 month timeline seems correct to me. We don't want to forget we are in a very nasty drought. That park, with semi mature trees and all that grass will take a massive amount of water, time, and care to get up and running. It takes 2-3 years to fully establish a lawn in a residential setting, so if we assume we have professional crews maintaining and looking after the new park facilities once they are down (when they can install them without having everything go dormant by winter conditions or fried by our recent heat waves during the summers) you can see that they will have almost everything down and done long before they open it as they have to make sure it is established to a point where public use won't kill or wreck the tree/sod with normal use. I don't see it as one of those things where you grade, build the buildings, put down the sod and bam its open. Other things to consider: -public works re-routes -grading -structures -irrigation -money changing hands (novare has pledged 1 million, plus all the land swap details) -staging for nearby sites, novare, baseball stadium, etc (not saying they will use the space to stage the sites, but it makes a lot of sense for the baseball stadium) -weather patterns -available water -seasons -any public art (PLEASE NO MORE MUD DISKS OR MUD CIRCLES!!!!!) I know I repeated myself in the list, I'm just saying, I don't think 12 months is off base at all.

Sounds like I was quite possibly hearing some kids racing locally then. My friend told me it was the speedway. I don't have quite the history in the area that it sounds like you do. Guess I was wrong (ouch!).

Exactly. BRING ON TWELVE!!!

I can hear the track noise when there is only one car taking hot laps at LMS at my friends house 5 miles away. Mostly flat land, few clumps of trees, sound will travel, 4000 feet give or take won't make too much of a difference in these conditions. Again, they knew or should have known by being responsible home buyers that that land had the potential to be developed into a race facility since it had been zoned for motorsports since 1960. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the ignorance of those homeowners who were surprised noise might be coming from the 2000 acres next to you. Now, if you were one of the homeowners who bought figuring a few major events a year, then I can see why you are upset, however it still had the potential to be built. Heres where Bruton made his mistake though; The homeowners who want to see a proposal before making judgement or at least hear Speedway Motorsports thoughts on noise levels and controlling them are being extremely reasonable at this point in time... Bruton should've at least shown them, even if he planned to disregard any thoughts, he should've shown at least some inkling of good faith and been a good neighbor. I still don't agree with the way that the town of Concord went about it at all. I hope it comes back to bite them, not necessarily by getting LMS moved, but bite them nonetheless.

I don't agree with the environmental and developmental disaster that Smith will leave in his wake if he moves... BUT, I don't think the mayor in Concord should've pulled the high and mighty local government power play that he did. Smith is right, its his land, he got it zoned for motorsports back in 1960. True, he graded without a permit, do to him what you would do to anyone else without a permit, order to cease construction, don't change the zoning overnight. The development came to him, not the other way around. I think those people are foolish who are complaining about potential noise now. It was their responsibility as home buyers to gain knowledge on the surrounding area and what might be built there (zoned 50 years ago, not last week!) I think he should move at this point, not to stick it to the homeowners and mayor, but to set the precedent that local government can't change zoning overnight without going through the proper channels. Take the money and give it to a locale that can handle the effects of their own zoning and politicians.

Yes, office building on the 6th street/McDowell corner from what I've seen/heard. It may have changed locations on the site, I haven't taken a look in a while.

Thomas Street Tavern is one of those places most people would find something in common with. Back to the topic, I'm excited to try Crisp. I like the subway gone gourmet concept.

I can only imagine the rendering that currently does not exist (to my limited knowledge) of the view from the 3rd street across the new park looking up at Catalyst and Twelve...

I wonder how high 18,026 sqft comes out to, I'd imagine not too tall, but I can't see the floor plates being to big either, because the site plan shows the pool for the Ledge jutting out into part of that open space on the corner of 6th and mcdowell. On another note, I'm pumped they are finally moving on this again. There was a dead period for a good month.

Caracon, the general contractor for Quarterside has pulled the building permit for the office building component of the Quarterside development. This is separate from the 12,000 sq ft of retail in the first floor of the 2 bigger condo buildings. It was for $1,424,341 in the form of a 18,026 sq ft commercial building.

I would love for this to be the case.... I think that kind of development around historical fourth ward will make it an amazing place in terms of views, diversity of density & architectural styles.... BUT I doubt it. Some decent retail will forever be welcome in Uptown though.

I've been by the site several times on my way home from work this past week. Nothing as usual to report. I've been thinking and I've decided that I actually don't think I want this to be built afterall. I am a true fan of Uptown, development, and towers in general. I love seeing new blood, ideas & money be pumped into vacant spots in Uptown and the surrounding areas, especially barren surface lots of the past couple decades. However, for something on this scale, with the kind of impact it will have on Fourth ward, I'd really prefer it be with a developer who has their "stuff" together. I'm not saying have Jim Donnelly turn it into a ultra-luxe exclusive residence or have Novare blow through it in year with their condos either. I think the idea of the Vue is great and the design is good, I just fear the execution will continue to be the soap opera of Charlotte development, plagued with abnormal delays and issues for a project of its nature. This is what it looks like on the outside looking in (not having a contract on a unit in the Vue), anyone else have any thoughts on how this is actually going to be executed from the ground breaking to the closings (whatever decade they may be in)?

I'm not surprised Beezer is selling off their property and not continuing. All of the national homebuilders are in a period of shrinking back from the national housing slump. Plus, it seems that they have at least one government agency after them at any given day according to the observer.

Not to mention, for those prices, 300 is closer to the center of the action with respect to the big money jobs. (and the future park)

My 2 cents, They should build a 10 story deck with a 11th floor grass park on top, connect it into the office, Catalyst, and Twelve. They've created private green space, made the deck a little greener in building terms and not spent a lot more money

It seems like a local trend that all of the recent decks are covered in artwork in some form. I can only hope Novare will follow suit. It would be a travesty for them to build something above ground so ugly on a block with 10's of thousands of people passing by each day and night.

The guys at Trinity have that in color in a 11"x14", they are holding out on UP! Awesome find!!!