Vitamin_N

I thought NYC already has rent control?

Should "Levine" be a verb now? As in "Too bad that project got Levined, it would have been nice addition to the area."

There's a row of them on E 34th St in Noda, but those are the only ones I can think of. Any others?

Annual homicides in Charlotte the past few years: 2017 - 87 2018 - 57 2019 - 107 2020 - 112 with two weeks to go

Ledger reporting that the Alpine Ski Center has sold: Records filed Tuesday show that the half-acre Alpine Ski Center lot has been sold for $2.55M to a company affiliated with West Third Street Management of Los Angeles. The ski shop will remain a tenant through April 2022, said Bryan Wyker, a broker with The Providence Group, who worked on the transaction. It would be replaced with retail shops and a restaurant that could have a rooftop patio.

There's one going in on Kings just south of Metropolitan as well.

Any thoughts on what a tower this size would do to traffic on Kings as well as to the already bad parking situation at Metropolitan?

Northwood Ravin files to build a 28-story apartment building across from Trader Joe's: https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/apartment-tower-planned-for-the-metropolitan

The Unpretentious Palate reports that La Belle Helene has closed. Quel dommage!

The Ledger is running a new feature called "Flyover Friday" with some nice drone footage of Camp North End: https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/flyover-friday-camp-north-end-up-4a4

From Unpretentious Palate via the Charlotte Ledger: "Several restaurants in the SouthPark area have permanently closed, including Brio, Pink Cactus, Tandur Indian Kitchen, and American Burger Co."

The Levine Museum of the New South is thinking about moving out. From today's Charlotte Ledger: The Levine Museum of the New South is considering options to transform its physical presence in Charlotte, which could include selling its current location in uptown. In an interview this week with The Ledger, museum president and CEO Kathryn Hill said that “everything’s on the table” as the museum’s leadership and its board explore many different possibilities for the museum’s future — including the fate of its existing building on 7th and College streets, which it owns and has occupied since 1996. “For the last couple of years, we’ve been exploring a lot of options around renovation or relocation because the facility was never built as a museum, because it is inflexible and aging, and because this is a time of real change in museums in general and that’s forced a change in thinking about all of our needs,” she said. “Museums all over the country understand that adaptive change, real change has never been so necessary.” She said the museum has made no decisions but has been having many conversations about how to position the museum for the future. An eight-page internal planning document obtained by The Ledger offers some specifics about a possible future schedule for the museum. The document, dated in July, suggests that the museum’s building be prepared for sale in the remainder of 2020 by accomplishing tasks such as communicating with donors and the media, “deinstallation plans developed” and “collections decisions made.” “Due diligence” is listed as beginning this month. It says that the sale would close in the first half of 2021 and that a new campaign for “Levine Museum 2.0” would start in mid-2024, when there would be “decisions made about new facility.” Asked about the timeline, Hill said it was “a hypothetical” and said that the museum’s land and building aren’t on the market. Asked whether the building is under contract, Hill replied: “The building is not on the market, and we are exploring options.”

I wasn't sure which southend thread this should go in, but here's an update from the Charlotte Ledger: Plans for a new grocery store in South End are coming back to life, with discount chain Lidl telling The Ledger that it’s ramping up plans for a spot on South Boulevard. The new store will be on a 4.3-acre parcel at South Boulevard near Hartford Avenue — right where South Boulevard splits to cross the light rail line, by Clanton Road. And get ready for more traffic congestion along South Boulevard, too, as the project will require a new traffic signal and perhaps a new turn lane. Lidl spokeswoman Chandler Ebeier told The Ledger: “We are currently going through the approvals process for our South Blvd. site and expect to have more to share over the coming months.” She didn’t provide a timeline. Plans filed with the city in May reveal that Lidl is proposing a 31,000 s.f. grocery store — that’s about half the size of a typical Harris Teeter. It will include parking and landscaping, plus a new public road connecting South Boulevard and Weston Street. It’s also proposing widening South Boulevard to install a southbound turn lane into the site.

Epicentre closings from the Unpretentious Palate, as quoted by the Charlotte Ledger: "Confirmed to be closed permanently are Jason's Deli, Firehouse Subs, and Moe's Southwest Grill. The windows have also been covered at pizzeria Papa Rossi's and Pokeatery. The website and phone line for Vida Cantina are no longer in service."

I think a lot of cities are in for what Baltimore, St Louis, and maybe a few others I can't remember experienced a few years ago. I expect an increase in homicides vs last year in Charlotte and I will be very happy to be wrong with that prediction.

Anybody else hearing vague rumors about a huge economic development announcement coming later this week? EDIT--Charlotte Ledger: We're told it could be one of the biggest deals in state history, if not the biggest. And it's not in financial services... The state's Economic Investment Committee is meeting Wednesday at 11 am.

I've found the South Blvd HT to be better stocked than the East Blvd one. I'm not sure why that would be.

The German-based Vapiano chain, which has a location uptown, has started insolvency proceedings and closed all its locations.

Even besides the derivatives, just the loans themselves (and I don't have any insight here, but my sense is that business debt is going to be a big deal this time around vs the consumer real estate issue of last time) could do in the banks. I know GS always looks out for itself but I'm floored they could say with a straight face that there's no systemic risk. A2, I'm inclined to believe that after the crushing bout of deflation there's going to be a crushing bout of inflation given how much debt we're piling on to an already ridiculous amount of public debt. Agree/disagree? If agree, then when and how would be the best ways to play precious metals?

First two cases in Mecklenburg!

I feel like we should have a thread for this, especially now with rumors of a case in Rock Hill. Who's prepping? Who's not concerned? What say you, UP?

The Ledger reports today that the Epicurean lot is under contract: Grey Poole of Selwyn Property Group tells the Ledger that his firm has it under contract. “We are in the preliminary stages of our due diligence, so I really don’t have any more details,” he wrote in an email. Word around Dilworth is that the developer is eyeing a five- or six-story office building with underground parking and retail on the first floor. Property records show the lot contains three parcels totaling a little more than 1 acre. The tax value of the land is $2.2M. The property is being marketed by Lincoln Harris, according to a sign there. The site is zoned for “neighborhood services” (NS), so it could require a rezoning. Selwyn Property Group has hired Collin Brown of Alexander Ricks, one of Charlotte’s best-known land use lawyers.

Shout-out in today's Charlotte Ledger:

I've shuttled folks back and forth between Managua and Charlotte a lot over the years and British Airways miles have been pretty good (has been 30K roundtrip, I think it's 36K now) if you're flexible on dates and not trying to fly during a peak demand time. AA has recently revamped its award system so you can actually go to Central America from CLT for as little as 20K roundtrip, with the caveat that there's usually (though not always) going to be a nasty layover for the cheapest mileage flights. One downside to the new pricing system is that AA seems to be releasing fewer seats to partners, so it's harder to book on BA.

... while thinking that they're an above average driver.