Legacy Union (former Charlotte Observer redevelopment)

[KJHburg]

LH updated their portfolio today and here is the webpage for the new building I sure it is not called 6Hundred  for some reason I hate when anyone does that.

https://www.lincolnharris.com/properties/600-s-tryon/

[SydneycartonII]

20 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

August 2016 the Legacy site looked like this 6 years later we have 3 completed office towers, the mega deck and the 4th tower started.  And there is 2 more sites to develop on the 2nd block.  My pro friend took these.   (not to mention an office tower and hotel across the street)  3 blocks transformational change. 

Don’t forget the Goodwrench station where Ally and the Marriott are now.  That was quite a transformation of that site.

[DMann]

And Bill Deihl law offices

[CLT2014]

21 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

20k retail is huge if it’s all Tryon and Brooklyn facing.

The corners will have retail. The middle 50%  stretch of Brooklyn will be the parking garage entrance / blank (see PDF page 2).

One negative to "strolling" Brooklyn as a pedestrian is you encounter a parking garage entrance at each block. This block will have the garage for Legacy Union and Duke Energy Center; east is the garage for JW Marriott/Ally and Harvey Gantt; then the Westin Garage / Convention Center truck ramp; then the Whole Foods double entrances; then Uptown 550 (whose residents drive like maniacs and drive on the wrong side of the road to illegally turn left), and then Savoy garage. At each block you need to check your shoulder to make sure you aren't going to be hit. Brooklyn is a two way street with cars often going 35 mph+, so you need to have your head on a swivel, versus some of the one way streets where you only expect cars in one direction and can pick a side of the road to walk that always allows you to see oncoming traffic that may turn.

https://legacyunioncharlotte.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/650-S.-Tryon-Retail-1-20-22_REDUCED-1.pdf

Edited July 13, 2022 by CLT2014

[RANYC]

16 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

The corners will have retail. The middle 50%  stretch of Brooklyn will be the parking garage entrance / blank (see PDF page 2).

One negative to "strolling" Brooklyn as a pedestrian is you encounter a parking garage entrance at each block. This block will have the garage for Legacy Union and Duke Energy Center; east is the garage for JW Marriott/Ally and Harvey Gantt; then the Westin Garage / Convention Center truck ramp; then the Whole Foods double entrances; then Uptown 550 (whose residents drive like maniacs and drive on the wrong side of the road to illegally turn left), and then Savoy garage. At each block you need to check your shoulder to make sure you aren't going to be hit. Brooklyn is a two way street with cars often going 35 mph+, so you need to have your head on a swivel, versus some of the one way streets where you only expect cars in one direction and can pick a side of the road to walk that always allows you to see oncoming traffic that may turn.

https://legacyunioncharlotte.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/650-S.-Tryon-Retail-1-20-22_REDUCED-1.pdf

I'd give anything for Brooklyn Village Ave to undergo the East Blvd in Dilworth treatment, with landscaped medians, single lane in each direction, and add on protected Bike Lanes.  I know it can't happen because of these garage entrances, but would be so stroll-worthy.

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Did the once rumored brewery going into one of the Honeywell retail spaces fizzle out? Always thought Big Ben should have relocated to a new spot in LU with the MLS move. Could have been a massive pre/post game spot. Either way with all the activity uptown and at the stadium, surprised we haven’t heard or seen any movement on retail at LU besides nightswim. 

[atlrvr]

I know many on here find their process annoying but I find the concept of not over promising/underdelivering refreshing.

 

Quote

Harris told the Charlotte Business Journal today that keeping plans under wraps, despite obvious on-site work, was done to ensure the project was 100% on track. Lincoln Harris secured a $155 million construction loan on the property July 8, according to the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds.

"It's all about timing. We don’t want to announce anything until everything is complete and buttoned up and ready to go," he said. "That’s how we like to do things, and we want to make sure there is certainty relative to the work we’re trying to do."

and...
 

Quote

Harris said a fifth phase, at the corner of Brooklyn Village Avenue and Mint Street, is in the works but was mum on the details.

"We don’t have a timeline. You can imagine, certainly, how we’ve done it in the past ... We tend not to announce anything until everything is (finalized)," he said. "We'll continue to work through this remaining piece."

 

[CLT Development]

4 hours ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

Did the once rumored brewery going into one of the Honeywell retail spaces fizzle out? Always thought Big Ben should have relocated to a new spot in LU with the MLS move. Could have been a massive pre/post game spot. Either way with all the activity uptown and at the stadium, surprised we haven’t heard or seen any movement on retail at LU besides nightswim. 

That once rumored brewery became a little place called Trolley Barn Fermentory instead. Honeywell like all of the Legacy Union properties to date have virtually no patio space :-(, which has been a huge detriment to its leasability in a post-covid world. Black Finn looked at moving there from Epicentre but walked away when a patio space mysteriously disappeared one day and a giant planter had been installed instead. 

I am happy Lincoln Harris has brought so much new business to uptown, but the retail spaces have a lot of problems. 

1) The aforementioned outdoor space issues. 

2) Spaces along Church Street are featureless, in perpetual shade, and too close to the road to have a two top. To fix this you would need to take out the glass facade, step it in 8 feet and carve in a covered patio. From there I'd add in cafe lighting above the road, hang ferns and other shade proof plants on the patios, add street lighting,  go ahead and add in electric signage that can be swapped out for tenant names. You need to make it an inviting place, its the opposite of that right now. 

3) Deloitte's retail faces the wrong direction and the columns on the patio are so big that the space around them is really awkward. There needed to be activation along the grassy plaza they created. Look at what Vantage will do, and what Railyard already did. They added gathering spaces along the edges of a central green, thats how you create a place. I hope this version can include something similar, people need to be at street level to attract more people. 

I can go on and on about the retail unfortunately. Its just not their forte. They are INCREDIBLE at selling tenant occupied buildings, they just don't really have a retail focus, they tend to feel manufactured i.e. Rea Farms and Phillips Place. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by CLT Development

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, CLT Development said:

That once rumored brewery became a little place called Trolley Barn Fermentory instead. Honeywell like all of the Legacy Union properties to date have virtually no patio space :-(, which has been a huge detriment to its leasability in a post-covid world. Black Finn looked at moving there from Epicentre but walked away when a patio space mysteriously disappeared one day and a giant planter had been installed instead. 

I am happy Lincoln Harris has brought so much new business to uptown, but the retail spaces have a lot of problems. 

1) The aforementioned outdoor space issues. 

2) Spaces along Church Street are featureless, in perpetual shade, and too close to the road to have a two top. To fix this you would need to take out the glass facade, step it in 8 feet and carve in a covered patio. From there I'd add in cafe lighting above the road, hang ferns and other shade proof plants on the patios, add street lighting,  go ahead and add in electric signage that can be swapped out for tenant names. You need to make it an inviting place, its the opposite of that right now. 

3) Deloitte's retail faces the wrong direction and the columns on the patio are so big that the space around them is really awkward. There needed to be activation along the grassy plaza they created. Look at what Vantage will do, and what Railyard already did. They added gathering spaces along the edges of a central green, thats how you create a place. I hope this version can include something similar, people need to be at street level to attract more people. 

I can go on and on about the retail unfortunately. Its just not their forte. They are INCREDIBLE at selling tenant occupied buildings, they just don't really have a retail focus, they tend to feel manufactured i.e. Rea Farms and Phillips Place. 

Great ideas.  Spot on.

[Mgelbach]

Legacy Union under the sunset last night!

[SydneycartonII]

I’d be elated if they deck that over.  I hope to return to Charlotte from Chapel Hill when my youngest graduates from high school in 10 years.  Hopefully, by then, there will be new condos fronting a park that covers the John Belk.  I’d be pleased to live there.

Edited July 14, 2022 by SydneycartonII

[Madison Parkitect]

18 hours ago, atlrvr said:

I know many on here find their process annoying but I find the concept of not over promising/underdelivering refreshing.

 

and...
 

 

They're sort of the antithesis of a couple other developers in town, and it's pretty apparent which way is more successful (although, as @CLT Developmenthas said, their retail spaces are almost 100% bad across the city).

Edited July 14, 2022 by Madison Parkitect

[KJHburg]

CPE magazine story about Lincoln Harris's new tower.

https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/new-office-tower-rises-at-charlottes-legacy-union/

""In the second quarter of 2022, more than 90 percent of all leasing activity was concentrated in Class A space, primarily within the Uptown, Airport and Ballantyne submarkets, according to a report by JLL.""  from the article.

also the Biz Journal article said they were talking to other tenants for the building too which is good. 

[Reverie39]

4 hours ago, Mgelbach said:

Legacy Union under the sunset last night!

Man we really need some bushes, flowers, trees, something surrounding 277 through that area. The plain grass just looks so out of place in such an urban setting.

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

49 minutes ago, Reverie39 said:

Man we really need some bushes, flowers, trees, something surrounding 277 through that area. The plain grass just looks so out of place in such an urban setting.

This would never happen due to DOT and space but always thought it would be cool to put a row of townhomes in each of those grassy areas similar to how Camden built those rentable townhomes right on the edge of 277. Would really help out the street level experience especially along Good Samaritan way. Bad pic but the vision lol:

[turbocraig]

Just drove by on Brookyn Village side and they've ripped off some of the lower-level trim moulding pieces from LU1 adjacent.

[turbocraig]

4 hours ago, turbocraig said:

Just drove by on Brookyn Village side and they've ripped off some of the lower-level trim moulding pieces from LU1 adjacent.

To whoever is confused, sections of these two rows of trim have been torn off.  Wasn’t that area always temporary since there would be a connection between the buildings?  I’m guessing they’ll start deconstructing that side. 

[DownEast]

I agree, but i think the addition of those things would only make it look even less urban. throw down some rail and retaining walls and call it a day. 

 

9 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Man we really need some bushes, flowers, trees, something surrounding 277 through that area. The plain grass just looks so out of place in such an urban setting.

 

[Norm2]

12 hours ago, DownEast said:

I agree, but i think the addition of those things would only make it look even less urban. throw down some rail and retaining walls and call it a day. 

 

 

The idea that trees, flowers, bushes and other styles of plant life not being urban, is an idea that needs to change. Cities, especially urban ones, need to be lush with greenery. 

[SydneycartonII]

10 minutes ago, norm21499 said:

The idea that trees, flowers, bushes and other styles of plant life not being urban, is an idea that needs to change. Cities, especially urban ones, need to be lush with greenery. 

I agree.  NY, Chicago, and DC plant tons of flowers, as does Paris.

[jthomas]

18 minutes ago, norm21499 said:

The idea that trees, flowers, bushes and other styles of plant life not being urban, is an idea that needs to change. Cities, especially urban ones, need to be lush with greenery. 

Absolutely, but those things are much more beneficial to the public when they are located in streets, plazas, and parks. Landscaping along a 10-lane freeway is lipstick on a pig that should be headed to the slaughter.

[Hushpuppy321]

taking this to mean that they’ll not be a Sixth building at Brooklyn Village Ave & Church?

[Norm2]

55 minutes ago, jthomas said:

Absolutely, but those things are much more beneficial to the public when they are located in streets, plazas, and parks. Landscaping along a 10-lane freeway is lipstick on a pig that should be headed to the slaughter.

Trees are natural sound barriers and flowers are visually pleasing. Suggesting you can't put flowers on a high way because a highway is ugly is silly. 77 North of Charlotte used to have beautiful flowers at certain times of the year. Was neat to see because it's not something you see often enough....

[CLT Development]

1 hour ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

taking this to mean that they’ll not be a Sixth building at Brooklyn Village Ave & Church?

I think there still will be a sixth, its too big of a property not to put two buildings. 

[jthomas]

16 minutes ago, norm21499 said:

Trees are natural sound barriers and flowers are visually pleasing. Suggesting you can't put flowers on a high way because a highway is ugly is silly. 

I'm suggesting that the highway should not be there in the first place. Highways are noisy, smelly, and ugly, and no amount of trees and flowers will change that experience for anyone outside of a vehicle. Nice landscaping makes for a more pleasant visual experience for drivers - no dispute there - but it does nothing to address the real, negative impacts a freeway has on its surroundings. Hence, lipstick on a pig.