BJKM

My husband worked for the Charlotte area ymca group for about 6 years in their marketing department up until about 4 months ago. They pay their employees 30-40% below market value (he doubled his salary doing the same job at his new company) but people like the c-suites make well into the 150-500k mark. People also are less inclined to pay $70 a month for a gym when there are cheaper options. Yes their whole thing is “more than a gym” and there are a lot of benefits to membership, but it can be pretty pricey long term. Anyway all of that to say they struggle to attract talent because of their low pay and they have high overhead costs. What projects get allocated money is determined A LOT by WHO donated to them and what their wishlist includes. Johnston was actually on the decline before covid (ironically a lot of people that live in that area now can no longer afford it) and yes Covid saw the clt Y lose about 40,000 members across 19 branches. They are close to being back to their original count but my husband was furloughed for 2 months in 2020 with 12 people on his team laid off permanently. They still rely heavily on donations from some big names around Charlotte to keep them operating and so because of this, they prioritize the wishes of those donors. In the Ballantyne case, they are trying to attract members back because of a new Y in Indian Trail/Land that took a lot of SC members. That Y is not part of the Charlotte group and they lost a couple hundred members there alone. I know that they were looking forward to the Johnston sale because it would save money and they could prioritize other branches but who knows now. As another example, the y doesn’t participate in the pride festival (even though many Ys in the area do) because of the pushback from a big multimillion dollar donor and board member. He threatened to pull all of his future donations if he heard about them having a booth or being in the parade. He’s best friends with the “Director of Christian Emphasis” (Another 6 figure job) which is not really surprising.

Various shots from the Honeywell garage today.

From the Honeywell garage today.

Yeah they are SUPER nice on the inside. Think 4 story chandeliers, 12 ft ceilings, elevators, large rooftop balcony, high end appliances, etc. Their view will be impacted but it’s such a convenient location. If I had the money I would still choose to live there.

My friends live in one of the townhomes facing this site. Too bad their view is going to change drastically.

Too busy this morning to go to each individual thread. I love watching it all rise around me.

Updates from my perch and from the Honeywell garage.

Updates from my perch as well as the top of the Honeywell garage

FWIW I did see some guys on the grass yesterday looking at samples of turf. We were at North Italia last night and LU could stand to take a note from the Railyard as far as how to do retail in this development. People have their opinions about retail in this area but there are a lot more than office people on the ground daily due to proximity to hotels and the convention center. I agree that church st is dumb and it feels more like a dark 3 lane alleyway than a place where retail would be.

South End rising

Updates mainly for the top of the Deloitte garage. They have added in plant lighting as well as what could be an elevator/stairwell. They’re pressure washing the roof today. Maybe this is more than an amenity deck?

From my Deloitte Tower perch

South End and Dilworth rising.

Back in the office after a few weeks so here are some updates for y’all.

Lots of activity today

Foggy Tuesday updates. They are pumping in a very large amount of what looks like plant substrate to create the large amenity deck on top of the Deloitte garage.

Hard to believe that in a few years this view will have 4-5 (probably more) towers in it.

Various SouthEnd shots as well as my view from the Vue Skylounge this past weekend