Brooklyn Village Redevelopment in 2nd Ward

[CLTProductions]

CBJ suggests that this may not be qualified as an upset bid, aparently their earnest money arrived after the deadline. Council will decide on the validity of the bid next week:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2015/06/another-bidder-emerges-for-uptown-land-but-does.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2015-06-16&u=jDmEk+CKbYnAvaVfOFOlFGXcGSC&t=1434486843

To get an extra million I am willing to bet they deem it valid lol

[ah59396]

You can see Embassy Suites from Southend now. It's finally starting to poke up from behind the NHOF and Convention Center.

[CLTProductions]

Not sure if it was on this thread (search is a pain on mobile) where we were talking about the AT&T building being demolished for a Hilton expansion......but yeah that's definitely not happening.

"300 South Brevard Concept Plan

We are working with aiDesign to provide concepts for overall building and site improvements to include enhanced entrances, improved terrace space, landscaping (including street trees if possible), paving, etc."

[atlrvr]

Interesting thing about 300 South Brevard, but the building leases the land beneath it.  I think there is something like 37 years left on the lease (not sure if there are renewal options).  The ground is owned by one of the railroads I believe.  I would think before a major renovation takes place, an owner would want to buy the land, which would be eaiser if the owner is NC Railroad, and much less easy if its NS.

 

The building really isn't that terrible in my opinion, except along 4th St.  I would re-skin it in glass, and stone at ground level, and rework the sidewalk/plazas a bit, but it's more urban than say BB&T or 1 or 2 Wells Fargo.

 

Sounds like the above proposed plan may be fixing some of the access issues.

[CLTProductions]

Northwood Ravin's pitch: they were the last "qualified" bidder on the property. They were really harping on Bond Companies not being on time with their earnest money, and it not being fair. Really pushed hard on being on time, process worked for them and that Bond Companies was late, straight up. It was quite entertaining. Also harped on how active they are in the Charlotte community and uptown.

 

Bond Companies pitch: They made excuses why their bid was late, $1 million more for the "citizens of Charlotte". 400 units, 400 hotel units, street level retail on stonewall and a plaza. I managed to get a screenshot.

 

Bond seemed incredibly stiff and rehearsed. Totally reading a script, whereas northwood seemed genuine and human. 

 

 

At the end of the day, Northwood won. They did not give details of the project like Bond Companies did, but I am pleased they won. Bond seemed like an outsider whereas Northwood knows the community. Also, they harped on maintaining the integrity of the bidding process and I think they definitely made the right call in the end.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Jayvee

[Rufus]

As much as I appreciate the integrity of the bidding being rewarded to the last qualified bidder, I am not sure I am happy with NR's proposal.  Wasn't their proposal basically 8-stories or less?  Maybe I am confusing them with another.  This site doesn't need super height (30 stories), but I do think it needs decent height (15-25 stories) and a few mid-rises (8-12 stories).  If it's anything less, the city needs to push them to increase.  

[tiblerbrit]

Northwood Ravin's pitch: they were the last "qualified" bidder on the property. They were really harping on Bond Companies not being on time with their earnest money, and it not being fair. Really pushed hard on being on time, process worked for them and that Bond Companies was late, straight up. It was quite entertaining. Also harped on how active they are in the Charlotte community and uptown.

 

Bond Companies pitch: They made excuses why their bid was late, $1 million more for the "citizens of Charlotte". 400 units, 400 hotel units, street level retail on stonewall and a plaza. I managed to get a screenshot.

 

Bond seemed incredibly stiff and rehearsed. Totally reading a script, whereas northwood seemed genuine and human. 

 

 

At the end of the day, Northwood won. They did not give details of the project like Bond Companies did, but I am pleased they won. Bond seemed like an outsider whereas Northwood knows the community. Also, they harped on maintaining the integrity of the bidding process and I think they definitely made the right call in the end.

 

Haha at the sketch, is that Winterfell?!

[dubone]

400 res units plus 50,000 sqft of office and retail space

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2015/05/northwood-ravin-makes-upset-bid-for-uptown-land.html

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article25206985.html

 

 

Who cares if it isn't a fully designed rendering?   They have plans and capital and usually businesses based locally build better quality projects because they are resumés for their next projects.

 

They are planning the same number of units as the Vue, and a mixture of uses with office and retail.   I don't care how bad their sketch is, I'm glad they won.  

[CLTProductions]

400 res units plus 50,000 sqft of office and retail space

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2015/05/northwood-ravin-makes-upset-bid-for-uptown-land.html

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article25206985.html

 

 

Who cares if it isn't a fully designed rendering?   They have plans and capital and usually businesses based locally build better quality projects because they are resumés for their next projects.

 

They are planning the same number of units as the Vue, and a mixture of uses with office and retail.   I don't care how bad their sketch is, I'm glad they won.  

That sketch was for Bond actually....

[CarolinaCrown]

Quick pics I snapped on the way in to work this morning, its still too hot for riding around after work.

[orulz]

If Bond is poorly managed and poorly capitalized enough that they struggled to get the money together to make the bid, I think that the likelihood of them being able to deliver a project successfuly is lower as well.

[15895]

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/morning-edition/2015/06/northwood-ravin-wins-bidding-for-uptown-parcel.html

400 apartments up to 8 floors with 50,000 sq. ft. Of retail/office.

If even 10,000 of the 50,000 was retail, I'd be happy Sky House has 5,000 sq. ft. Of retail space. 8,400 if you count the parking deck retail.

Hopefully what they lack in height , theyll make up for at ground floor. It seems like they have several villages they developed.

[ah59396]

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/morning-edition/2015/06/northwood-ravin-wins-bidding-for-uptown-parcel.html

400 apartments up to 8 floors with 50,000 sq. ft. Of retail/office.

If even 10,000 of the 50,000 was retail, I'd be happy Sky House has 5,000 sq. ft. Of retail space. 8,400 if you count the parking deck retail.

Hopefully what they lack in height , theyll make up for at ground floor. It seems like they have several villages they developed.

 

 

Their portfolio isn't really mind-blowing, however I can see something similar to their project in Dallas for the Stonewall site:

 

 

http://theheightsdallas.com/luxury-apartments-dallas/

[go_vertical]

I think having 20% of that 50,000 sq/ft be retail is wishful thinking. I say 5,000-8,000 sq/ft is more realistic. I would love to be wrong and hopefully I am since the Whole Foods and its accompanying retail will be right across the street. I'm not too worried about height here although I would prefer something in the 10 to 15 floor range.

[Rufus]

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, and especially since it's coming from New York and not locally (I do miss it sometimes), but 8-stories is laughable.  Seriously.  In many threads recently we have been complaining at the lack of quality of virtually all of the mid-rise developments in this city.  South End has buildings basically indistinguishable from the next, PM is getting it's fair share, and 3rd Ward I feel like could have had better designed projects.  To me, 8 stories is just a big giant permission slip to throw up another beige apartment building.  400 units is about the same as Vue, right?  Well then why in the hell is this plot of land being proposed for a building less than 20% of the height of Vue.  This is just another loss of a valuable plot of land in favor of mediocre development for development's sake.  This plot should easily have hotel rooms, apartments, office and retail.  I'm not calling for a 40-story building, hell, 20 stories is probably the limit I would want, but seriously, 8 stories is bulls**t. 

[ah59396]

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, and especially since it's coming from New York and not locally (I do miss it sometimes), but 8-stories is laughable.  Seriously.  In many threads recently we have been complaining at the lack of quality of virtually all of the mid-rise developments in this city.  South End has buildings basically indistinguishable from the next, PM is getting it's fair share, and 3rd Ward I feel like could have had better designed projects.  To me, 8 stories is just a big giant permission slip to throw up another beige apartment building.  400 units is about the same as Vue, right?  Well then why in the hell is this plot of land being proposed for a building less than 20% of the height of Vue.  This is just another loss of a valuable plot of land in favor of mediocre development for development's sake.  This plot should easily have hotel rooms, apartments, office and retail.  I'm not calling for a 40-story building, hell, 20 stories is probably the limit I would want, but seriously, 8 stories is bulls**t. 

 

 

Isn't 8 stories the max for stick built too?  Is that why they are stuck on this figure?  I'd be okay with 8 stories as long as the product is high quality and incorporates solid retail.  But I have an uneasy feeling that we are going to get another Mint building.  I'm scared.

[Guest]

Isn't 8 stories the max for stick built too?  Is that why they are stuck on this figure?  I'd be okay with 8 stories as long as the product is high quality and incorporates solid retail.  But I have an uneasy feeling that we are going to get another Mint building.  I'm scared.

 

Actually 8 stories is too high for Stick built. 

[tozmervo]

Basically. Most of these new buildings are using specific code previsions to maximize their height with the cheapest construction method possible. 

[ah59396]

Actually 8 stories is too high for Stick built. 

 

 

Well that's good.  So at least it'll be steel or concrete.

[15895]

Surely they have more in mind than a fountain at stonewall to bid and argue over why their bid should count. On top of not only WholeFoods but a possible anchor like Nordstrum... Hopefully that gives them incentive to do something semi-decent

[atlrvr]

Does code allow 5 levels of wood frame on top of 3 levels of steel frame?  Or on top of 3 levels of poured concrete parking deck?

[southslider]

^Stick on top of podium

[Guest]

Does code allow 5 levels of wood frame on top of 3 levels of steel frame?  Or on top of 3 levels of poured concrete parking deck?

Yes it does allow. 3 levels of podium with retail on the entire site sounds like overkill to me however. So maybe it will be tiered out. 

[dubone]

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, and especially since it's coming from New York and not locally (I do miss it sometimes), but 8-stories is laughable.  Seriously.  In many threads recently we have been complaining at the lack of quality of virtually all of the mid-rise developments in this city.  South End has buildings basically indistinguishable from the next, PM is getting it's fair share, and 3rd Ward I feel like could have had better designed projects.  To me, 8 stories is just a big giant permission slip to throw up another beige apartment building.  400 units is about the same as Vue, right?  Well then why in the hell is this plot of land being proposed for a building less than 20% of the height of Vue.  This is just another loss of a valuable plot of land in favor of mediocre development for development's sake.  This plot should easily have hotel rooms, apartments, office and retail.  I'm not calling for a 40-story building, hell, 20 stories is probably the limit I would want, but seriously, 8 stories is bulls**t. 

I somewhat agree to a point, but really, 8-10 stories of midrise is how DC is developed, and it still makes for a quite dense but livable city.  It also increases the likelihood that a taller tower will fill the gaps, as there is less of a glut of developable land.    

 

We don't need to have skyscrapers on every block to be a solid and dense city.  Even in this case there will be as many units on this block as there on The Vue block, granted there is still room for that block to grow (why has that not happened yet?).  

 

 

The quirk is, if we fill all our uptown land with midrise, where height and ultra-density is supportable, then there will be pressure to build that height outside of uptown, where it is not as easily supported.  

 

But it is very odd to have a tower planned for Camden but not Stonewall.  

[Niner National]

I don't really mind the lack of height if it is a good project. Gateway isn't tall, but it is well done IMO. I'd rather have height + well done of course, but as long as this isn't just a bunch of apartments with a few thousand square feet of retail, it might not be bad.