3397char

I have lived in NoDa from the 90's until today, and I think these nostalgia pieces they put out roughly twice a year are mostly BS. First, let's define what Noda was actually like in the 90's: when there was a big show periodically at Neighborhood Theater or on gallery crawl nights on first and sometimes 3rd Friday each month, there was energy and vibrancy on N Davidson St for 2 blocks. But 90+% of nights the streets were completely dead. Like ghost town dead. The 4 to 5 galleries closed early (they came and went), and the only restaurants were a bad family Italian place called Marco's (where Cabo Fish Taco is now) and Fat City. (Brook's also closed early). I TRIED to patronize my own neighborhood, but it was HARD. And between these 4-5 galleries were multiple empty storefronts and industrial spaces like an upholstery company (where Bargerita is), glass company (Blind Pig), printing company (Billy Jack's). There is still a transmission shop on N Davidson; that is what MOST of NoDa looked like at that time. There was a giant intermodal yard where 25th St Station now stands and N Davidson was their truck route to I-85. Literally well over 100 semis a day rumbled through NoDa; it was LOUD and scary as a pedestrian. I firmly believe that all these nostalgics who chime in were either an integral part of the very small and insular artists community (I respect their opinion, even if it unrealistic for this to last forever) or the local tourists who ONLY visited NoDa 1-5 times a year on one of these shows or gallery crawl nights. I somewhat disagree with the assertion that "most" of the mill houses were renovated in 2000. At that time, the only residential streets that looked loved were Yadkin, 35th and some of McDowell. The rest were not in great shape. Charles Ave and Patterson Ave in particular were pretty sketchy. On my street only 2 houses were renovated and that is because the HLC bought them for $20K to prevent demolition, brought them to code, and sold them for around $40K. the rest of the mill houses were occupied, but untouched for decades. My neighbors were one mill retiree who owned her house and the rest were low income renters; mostly immigrants whom I communicated with through their children. There were some artist and creative type renters in NoDa but it was a small percentage. I loved this community then (and now), but it was not really an artist community. The biggest loss was when Mercury Mill was condemned in the 2000's, displacing hundreds of section 8 renters. NoDa actually gained nightlife in the 00's, when Evening Muse, Smelly Cat, Mellow Mushroom, Kelly's, Marguerite's, Boudreax's, Cabo, Chop Shop and a few others opened. The galleries were a little more commercially viable with Lark&Key, Green Rice and similar. More music festivals and still had gallery crawls. I miss that more than the 90's. When we all lament the loss of key businesses that helped make Noda great, remember that most of them were paid handsomely. The owners of Kelly's, Fat City, Pat's and some of the galleries owned their buildings. The ones that redeveloped were enticed to do so by receiving life altering money for their property. Brook's should they eventually sell (they are not so active in doing so right now) will fall into that category as well. It is not like mean old landlords kicked these people to the curb. There are many examples of businesses getting priced out, especially galleries, but that is not a universal theme here. There is much more street activation and the small businesses now actually survive with a 7-day a week destination atmosphere they share. NoDa may no longer be rightfully called an "Arts District" with so many galleries gone, but it is still an "Arts and Entertainment District" like no other in Charlotte or the region. We as a community are working to preserve and foster and preserve the arts community. there are more public art installations in one square mile than anywhere else in Charlotte and probably within 100 miles. Different but still great.

What's up with the stalled project next to the Sugar Creek LYNX parking deck on Raleigh St? That project is/was called Indigo CLT. I had heard it hit financial trouble (I cannot confirm so this is rumor); has been stalled for over a year unfortunately. https://www.canopyclt.com/indigo-clt Also looks like work is being done to extend Philemon and the missing piece between the Amaze apartments and the Grubb apartments. I don't think the Philemon connector has been out for bid yet, but I hope you are right.

For the Townhomes on N Davidson at Matheson Bridge, I preferred the original design from rezoning petition 2015-039, but oh well...

well said!

The only functioning siding track along Atando is for the largest scrap metal company. And there are none in use along Graham St. Everywhere else they have completely pulled up the track or it is clearly in extreme disrepair. Monument Co is probably paying for intermodal transfer from the rail yard.

This project is only phase 1 of the Matheson Ave road diet. The City is also going to hit Jordan Place to The Plaza real soon in a separate project that is already approved. (Separate money source from the Cross Charlotte trail) https://www.charlottenc.gov/Growth-and-Development/Projects/Matheson-Conversion This will fully bike connect Tryon Hills, NoDa, Optimist Park, Villa Heights and Plaza Shamrock with dedicated bikeways. And once completed Matheson Ave will no longer be a 4 line drag strop Not funded yet is the Plaza and Matheson Ave intersection redesign which will extend this connectivity into Plaza/Shamrock better linking Country Club Heights and Midwood as well. (but this project is more focused on fixing the Shamrock Road meander) Shamrock/Plaza/Matheson Intersection Redesign Study

It is a really long spur: it runs along Atando, then along N Graham, then along Sugar Creek through Derita and then up Statesville Rd. There it meets another Norfolk Southern Line, so really more of a connector than a spur. But in terms of usage I think only a handful deliveries a week as most of the customers on this route are long gone. But if it has future plans like the Red Line (another poster said this, which I did not know) then I can see why they are trying to preserve it to some extent. But it already has around a dozen at-grade crossings in really tight areas, including Tryon St just 100 feet away from the Cross Charlotte trail. Somehow making this line higher speed in this area is a pipe dream.

This is a part of the Cross Charlotte Trail. Not spotty at all. It is a key link in a 30+ mile continuous path. Fair question. I suppose they sacrificed a more direct route to instead follow the creek more and thus a less car intensive. ped friendly, natural setting. But conversely, that begs the question of why did they not just cross N Davidson at Cordelia park and follow Sugar Creek through all of this 25th St Station area?

The City made Kaleido Apts build section 6 when they bridged Sugar Creek to get to their parcel. But to my knowledge, there is no public plan announced yet to cross teh rail spur. The railroad has fought the at-grade crossing which is unbelievably stupid considering how infrequently that rail spur is used. So we will probably get some sort of massive spiral ramp on both sides to gain 25ft to cross the spur edit: Estimated completion date for Segment 6 (Matheson Ave to East Craighead St is now 2Q 2028) The two major barriers are the rail spur mentioned above and bridging a Little Sugar Creek tributary to build out Philemon Ave connection. It does appear to still be in the design phase: https://www.charlottenc.gov/Growth-and-Development/Projects/XCLT/XCLT-Matheson-to-Craighead Segment 7 (from Craighead to N Tryon St) just went out for bid and will be completed 4Q 2025 https://www.charlottenc.gov/Growth-and-Development/Projects/XCLT/XCLTCraighead-to-Tryon

Pretty sure this price is for XCLT Segment 5 on Matheson Ave only (Jordan PL Segment 5 and Segment 6 both already built) Here is the design as of 2019 (I dont think it has changed) Matheson Ave Bridge site plan 2019.pdf Really small stuff in this detail, but note that this is a full resurfacing and re-imagining of Mastheson Bridge. From 1 south side to north: 9 ft wide sidewalk; 2-way traffic 2-way cycletrack road diet reduction down to 1 car lane in each direction 1-way cycletrack westbound They will build higher and more robust bridge walls and better lighting for safety. The 2-way cycletrack will be the XCLT. It will run up Jordan Pl and then cross Matheson bridge, and then make a turn down Chick Godley Rd to follow Little Sugar Creek. and eventually cross the railroad spur to get to future Cullman Ave Park/Queen's Park. I assume they are installing a flashing light or similar at Chick Godley Rd? Although XCLT turns at Chick Godley Rd, it also extends down to N Tryon St and connects to dedicate bike lanes on N Tryon There will also be ped and bike street crossings for Matheson Ave that connects Jordan Pl to Yadkin Ave.

This project was rezoned under RZP 2007-046, approved in 2008, so more like 15 years, lol. The original petitioner was Gateway Homes who also built The Colony and The Renaissance in NoDa. Those were condo/ownership projects and hey had horrible relationships with their customers/owners; some resulted in litigation I was told. This one is obviously for rent, so a little different. I do not know if Gateway is still involved; others seem to have more up-to-date info. To meet CDOT traffic requirements, they were originally supposed to build a road stub to connect to what is now 30Six NoDa. It would allow traffic to circulate to 35th St, now since changed to N Davidson. That was, done, but they decided to put up a private gate. That was not supposed to be a part of the plan, and really annoying to neighborhood pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow. So dumb and Un-NoDa to have a gated community. They could have at least only blocked off the rear parking like Highland Lofts, still allowing for circulation. People irrationally think the gates make them safe, but that did not stop a person from getting murdered and stuffed into a mattress inside one of the Yards at NoDa apartments.

The Centro NoDa project will look great because it is designed well by a good architect. But "not very tall" depends on the context. It will not be obtrusive to the 36th St streetscape (because it is designed well.) But because the lot slopes downhill a full 12 feet to the rear and that rear is the northern side, it will be very obtrusive to the single-family homes just a few feet off the back. I did a rudimentary shading study back when proposed and some of these parcels will be thrown into permanent shade for most of the winter (and periodic shade most other months) due to the sun angle. Having your house in months of shade is pretty obtrusive. 50ft at grade parking deck facades in your backyard/side yard is pretty obtrusive. It will be this (just across the street), but 1 story taller:

no worries, we are all amateurs enthusiasts here.

You should work on your reading comprehension before calling me out. I am referring to the water quality SWIM buffer in my post, shown here: Not the FEMA floodplain shown here: There is almost no floodplain in this area; it is not an issue. At no point in my post did I say "FEMA" or "floodplain". so not sure what your point is. Here is a rough juxtaposition of their project a top the water quality overlay: I am not a fan of building in the water quality buffer. not just for obvious reasons, but consistently protecting this builds green space in a way that is clear, consistent and expected by developers. If you don't agree that is fine.

Looks to be seriously encroaching Little Sugar Creek; not a fan of that. Appears to be well into the SWIM water quality buffer? I hope that rear sidewalk meander is space for future Cross Charlotte trail realignment. Unfortunately for around 2 blocks in this area the XCLT follows in N Davidson St ROW and turns onto 25th St. I hope in the future, as this area develops, they carve out space to place it on the bank of Little Sugar Creek from Cordelia Park to 25th St.

Surprised at the retail parcel this secluded from major roads,

Google just updated their satelite imagery for Charlotte. It is a month or two old right our of the gate, but You can really see how may projects are under way and the parcels that have been scraped.

Here is the extent of the floodplain in the NoDa 28206 area. Bright aqua line is the floodplain boundary. The shaded light green is the FEMA SWIM buffer. For reference, red dot is Amelie's, orange is NoDa 36th St Station, and purple is NoDa Brewing. The dark green solid and dashed line is the approximate XCLT path (dotted is still under design, TBD).

Mecklenburg County Oficcially owns the corner parcel that appears to be under demo in your photo as of 9/12/22: 2nd and 3rd buildings over in your photo (with white roof and gray roof) are still in private ownership according to tax records: Here is where the county and city currently stand in securing rights for both the Cross Charlotte Trail (city project) and Cullman Avenue Park (aka Queens Park; would be a county project: Blue: land already owned by County through federal FEMA flood abatement grants or City as XCLT ROW Yellow: floodplain in private ownershi likely still elligible for FEMA grant. This program offers market value to floodplain property to help mitigate future flooding. But it cannot force sale using imminent domain, to my knowledgge. Red: major commercial projects at least partially in floodplain that are already under construction. The NoDa Neighborhood and regional park enthusiasts have proposed Queens Park, which would include all of the spaces above, plus private property that would have to be agreed upon for purchase. This project is currently unfunded. But in the same space (but a much narrower scope) the Cross Charlotte trail (XCLT) will rn through and is already funded (by the City) and in planning phase for this section. Here is one conceptual rendering for Queens Park with a bunch of fiture North Tryon St development by Flywheel Grou to the north: But back to your original question: my bet is that Meck County is demo-ing the left building in your photo, plus another mid-block (see below in red). This would be the 4th round of buiulding demos completed over the last decade as they have slowly accumulated land.

Original design rendering from financing phase looked like this:

Here is a map of North NoDa development and land acquisition I created. There are probably a few errors or omissions, but you get the idea. I focused only North of the tracks (28206) because almost mothing of scale is moving on the south side (28205). That is probably largely due to the opportunity zone tax breaks for 28206. Most of the unshaded industrial land at the center of this map is still owned by Concrete Supply; a pretty successful business. that may not feel he pressure to move their massive, centralized operations at this moment. (Wet concrete delivery has a time limit so central location is key to their business model.)

Rendering for Queens Park Commons found on the Labella Architecture web page. They Have partnered with Flywheel group on other projects in the past. Just to remind, this is on North Tryon Street near the Matheson Ave intersection. That is the Matheson bridge and Kaleido in the rear. Looks like they plan for adaptive reuse of part of the existing warehouse. Website says approx 900 units. Same view of existing in Google Earth:

So... Lockwood neighborhood? Not NoDa?

Fire a couple blocks outside of NoDa at vacant warehouse at 26th and N Tryon. Determined to be Arson. https://www.qcnews.com/charlotte/massive-building-fire-closes-portion-of-north-tryon-street/ This was the old Wurth lumber warehouse storage next to Sycamore Cabinetry Next to a site (green) that has been on the market for a while.

Their counts on NoDa development north of 36th St: M/F residential units: 587 built 1090 under construction 3905 planned That is 5000 more units than now exists, a 10X increase. Assuming an average of 2 residents per unit (same as 2020 census for this area) that is 10000 new NoDazens. (Their map cuts off a few additional major developments on 36th St, Anderson St, N Davidson St and N Tryon St,) Commercial square footage: 122K built 140K under construction 484K planned That is a 600K increase, 5X existing space.