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Berkman Tower and Carolina Theater

dubone

By dubone
in Charlotte

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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Thank you for the information, London, and welcome to UP!

I wonder if the CTPS will just take a portion of the Berkman website, as they are now so closely related.

I'm so excited that these things are coming together now. Hopefully, the small number of units, and the relatively low price per square foot (as discussed early in the thread) will lead to good sales and thus secured financing.

I have little doubt that CTPS can raise $2m for internal renovations now that the project has hope. People don't want to contribute to lost causes, but a $2m fundraising drive for something like this seems very reasonable. Hopefully, they will actually raise even more and actually get to restore more of the ornamentation that they haven't planned to do in the initial phase so far.

The more I see of the inside of Carolina Theatre, the more I think it is comparable to Winston-Salem's Reynolds Auditorium with the balcony extending close to the stage. The accoustics and charm of a theater like that is definitely worth the cost.

Also, I meant to write this last Friday, but from the look of the theaters in other cities, I want Charlotte to pursue one of those 5000 seat theaters in 5-10 years. :) Our theaters seem kind of miniscule compared to some of those cities.

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appatone Hamlet

appatone

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I think we here on this website sometimes live in this little bubble where we assume every Charlottean knows a lot about the city. I am frequently surprised at how little the average Charlottean knows about Charlotte and what it offers. The reason I am saying this is that I bet there is an extraordinary number of Charlotteans that have NO IDEA that the Carolina Theatre even exists. They assume that the brick thing on the corner is just some site that hasn't been built on yet for some unknown reason. They probably beotch about how Charlotte has no old theatres like "up north". I think that if CTPS really plays its cards right and does a good job of getting the word out about this theatre and marketing thier cause they will easily beat that 2 million mark. EASILY. It would be interesting to take a random poll of all Charlotteans from Ballantyne all the way to University and ask them where the Carolina Theatre is located. Most of them (the burbier ones) will probably reply, "I don't know which theatre your talking about but there's an AMC up at the next exit." :rolleyes: Those people annoy me.

EDIT: I just noticed how this forum automatically changes any *cough* language used on the site. That's amazing.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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That is a really good point, ap.

I think this cause will definitely be popular with the Old Charlotte/Myer's Park crew, as Carolina Theatre is a major symbol of the good old days. I'm sure it will also be popular with the business crew, as it provides a sense of history and "coolness" in the area around their headquarters/workplace.

Although the younger crowd will probably end up being more frequent customers at this theater, seeing live shows, etc., I doubt many will contribute to cause of renovating it.

I'm fairly confident that they will market the theater hand in hand with the condo tower, so that should give it some air time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
appatone Hamlet

appatone

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I had a friend who was allowed into The Carolina to take some pictures around a year ago. She gave me a set of the pictures. I scanned them in. I have more pictures than this but I didn't want to overwhelm the thread with photos. Some of the detail in the pictures was lost in the scanning process as the originals are much sharper. Things like the egg and dart detailing on the ceiling comes out better in the actual photographs then the scanned versions. Sorry they

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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Oh my gosh, app, thank you for scanning those in. It really does have significantly more ornamentation than I thought was left.

A quality spacle and paint job, seats, and a sprinkler system, and this theater will really look amazing.

I can't wait to catch a show in there.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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I'm sure it looks a little less creepy in real life with real life color. The black and white definitely contributes to that.

I'm really excited about this project. I am definitely going to be contributing to the campaign more now than before I saw this.

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

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I'm sure it looks a little less creepy in real life with real life color. The black and white definitely contributes to that.

I'm really excited about this project. I am definitely going to be contributing to the campaign more now than before I saw this.

You're going to buy a unit? :)

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turbocraig Burg

turbocraig

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I was thinking more along the lines of a few hundred bucks to get my name on a seat :). But, hey, if the units are as subsidized in price as we thought earlier in the thread, I just might be in the market :).

I'd be interested in doing the same (donation-wise). D, are you aware of any official fund-raising campaign at the moment?

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orulz City

orulz

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The Berkman tower has several levels of parking, doesn't it? Looks like cars will have to drive up four stories worth of ramps before they even get to any parking spaces. I can imagine residents doing that, but I wonder if they're planning on having theater patrons do the same? Maybe they should consider robotic parking given the constraint of working with the existing theater.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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I'm not sure they are planning on having that many spaces in the deck for the theater. None of the other theaters have parking in the same building. There are plenty of other parking available for the evenings.

As for driving up 4 levels, I think that many people do that on a daily basis in most of the decks downtown. Although it is a drawback, it isn't bad enough to warrant expenditures on mechanical or robotic parking. I think the numbers were hard enough to get to work on this project because they have to work around the theater.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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I'm not sure they are planning on having that many spaces in the deck for the theater. None of the other theaters have parking in the same building. There are plenty of other parking available for the evenings.

As for driving up 4 levels, I think that many people do that on a daily basis in most of the decks downtown. Although it is a drawback, it isn't bad enough to warrant expenditures on mechanical or robotic parking. I think the numbers were hard enough to get to work on this project because they have to work around the theater.

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  • 1 month later...
dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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No one knows anything about likelihood, probably not even the developer. Camden Management has a contract to buy the site. Many things need to fall into place, though, for them to close at the end of the year. They must detail the engineering, fundraise to renovate the theatre, and get financing. Right now it is a quiet phase, as they get the ducks in a row to start pre-selling. I suspect we'll see some marketing closer to the end of the year.

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Rickydavisfan21 Hamlet

Rickydavisfan21

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http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../22/focus3.html

Seems Berkman is starting to get closer to becoming a reality, here is a new article about this one after well over a month without any news.

This really excites me in manyways, with the coming wachovia theatre, and now the renovation of the carolina theatre looking like a viable possibility, it'll give the city of charlotte another option in entertainment, and there is no better entertainment than one that caters to the arts as well, go berkman, I hope this project gets off the ground.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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I'm really excited about Berkman Tower. I am glad to see they are still moving along with it. I like how the city is rational about their subsidies and they make sure they don't pay out anything until certain milestones of construction. But hopefully everything will be fine and they will have enough sales this Fall and next Spring.

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