NoDa (N Davidson St Arts District) Projects

[nonillogical]

Anyone more experienced at digging around the rezoning applications/plans know what to make of this? Sounds like a new infill building for a restaurant on N. Davidson sandwiched between the building with Crepe Cellar/Tasty Yo and the Lofts at 34th. Looks 2-story but all commercial.

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/planning/Rezoning/RezoningPetitions/2012_Petitions/Pages/2012-103.aspx

Edited October 10, 2012 by nonillogical

[southslider]

Sure, new construction would be cheaper, but it may not match the historic surroundings. And if opting for a non-historic location, well, those areas have enough stick-built, cheap stuff left over from the housing recession. In other words, if you want to place affordable housing in-town and close to transit, a higher cost per unit is an acceptable trade-off. Otherwise, cheap schlock, which the market built plenty (or is now becoming quickly via the post-recession "re-set") is all located far from reliable transit.

In summary, pick your poison. Tackle gentrification and accept higher construction costs for workforce housing in transportation-efficient locations. Or build cheaply but accept higher transportation costs for those provided the "affordable" housing.

[dubone]

The façade plans for that project next to Tasty Yo looks absolutely terrible. Lots of materials, but virtually no windows from what I can tell. That is awful.

[UrbanGossip]

It is an interesting commentary that the city is acknowledging and acting to offset the gentrification of NoDa. I'm not sure they would have done this if it weren't for the liberal (myself included) NoDa residents - especially since Charlotte has a track record of facilitating gentrification.

Just to play devil's advocate: Would those who are opposed to this project be more likely to support it if it had been some sort of mixed-use/historic-preservation-museum-site/market-place project? (I'm thinking along the lines of Charleston's City Market + a housing component) If it were to remain a public/private place and not to ultimately end up in the hands of a private owner?

I fall in line with Whistle Stop in that I don't oppose it; in fact I selfishly love that it is going to happen. It will be a cool re-hab, will save a historic structure, along with the LRL will be a great catalyst for more development around it (I'm sure MPV will finally start thinking about moving on a re-hab of Newco Fiber), etc. I just don't think it was a good idea to give the 1.25 mil, basically just giving them the land for free since that was what they paid for it. Hell, if that's what they wanted to do, they could have given it to the HLC like was originally proposed by the HLC, let them joint venture with a developer as they proposed, and actually made money for the HLC to use on other historic projects. But the city thought they could make some money on it and turned down Dr. Morrill's offer, only to end up giving it away in the end. LOL.

Oh yeah, this was response... Escapist, it's an interesting idea and in theory a great one. The problem is that things like the Market in Charleston are generally going to be money losers in and of themselves for the city. The justification for something like that comes from the increase in residential and commercial density that rises around them, therefore the tax base. All of that takes a large critical mass. Not sure that would happen here...yet. NoDa absolutely will be a major destination node in the city within a decade, but we aren't there yet for the city to have truly considered it something like this.

[UrbanGossip]

The façade plans for that project next to Tasty Yo looks absolutely terrible. Lots of materials, but virtually no windows from what I can tell. That is awful.

Pretty brutal. Painful. The title bar say's "Drafting and Design, Inc.". My guess is that it's just a place holder thrown on there to get the rezoning started. It is an Optional, so the neighborhood will get their say. Hopefully they will push the developer in the right direction. It will probably just be a rezone and flip though. They will just get it rezoned and go to the market with the land and it's new, more valuable zoning designation.

The neighborhood should get ready for an onslaught of rezonings to TOD with the LRL coming. Not that it's a bad thing, just saying. The Association really should have a "Rezoning Committee" just to administratively handle all of them that will be coming on line. Just think of southend 15 years ago versus now. It's going to be unbelievable. The difference is that NoDa has more residential close in to the epicenter, and has a much more dense entertainment district. It's going to be much hotter than Southend was. It's going to be a tsunami.

[kermit]

CBJ is reporting that woodfield has an agreement to purchase the Meurcury project and plans to start construction in mid 2013. Woodfield plans 'class A' apartments for the site with rents around 1.50 per sq ft according to the article.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2012/10/26/woodfield-to-purchase-apartment.html

[dubone]

That is great news, and proves that the certainty now of the BLE funding has allowed investment to start flowing in. Having both the Meck Mills project and the Mercury project to move forward creates a critical component of residential density around the commercial heart of the neighborhood.

It's going to be a great thing for the neighborhood, and for the station at 36th St.

[southslider]

Yep, previously zoned properties, like Mercury and also Yards at NoDa, will now advance as new apartment products by national management companies. And since each of these properties were zoned before TOD zoning was even possible, the projects don't have to include any retail on the ground floors. Still, if South End is any lesson, enough rooftops can ultimately attract new retail, even a major grocery store, albeit not vertically integrated.

Hopefully, City planners and NoDa champions will remain flexible for additional residential to come without mixed use in the near-term. Future zonings may be a test of that market challenge. Granted, some sites, like Newco Fibre, may be critical to incorporate active ground-floor uses, since it's right at the station. But for the most part, additional rooftops resulting from all these new residential-only developments can still create a more vibrant and walk-friendly NoDa.

[dubone]

Yards at NoDa will be a big help in extending the activity in NoDa north across the AWCR railroad corridor. The lack of street retail will be a problem in the long run, but it seems that is happening in SouthEnd which was zoned for TOD.

I am a little uncertain as to why the city does not want to do any rezonings based on transit area plans. It would seem this would be a very basic routine activity of the planning department and relatively close to free. I know there is a lot less energy around development on the BLE given that the Blue line was built during an epic housing boom, but still, the rezoning is necessary given they have such a zone, and this area will be such a zone.

I agree that it is not strictly necessary to have retail in every project, but it is definitely an issue in the long run if retail were not included in any projects on 36th St as new projects are built.

[New Name]

I'm glad the city isn't doing a wholesale rezoning. NoDa is a bit different than South End was because there are so many small parcels that with significance that need to be handled on a case by case basis. It would be terrifying if they were to say "okay, everything from X street to Y street is now TOD." And I don't think NoDa needs help in making redevelopment easier - it'll happen - just shower and more precisely now.

As for retail being the ground floor activator for mixed-use projects; that's just lazy. Sure, ground floor retail gives the walkable neighborhood something to look at, but a well scaled residential block with front porches is worth just as much (if not more), when you consider that not all retail is interesting... case point: Fifth Third Bank in Fat City. That was retail for retail's sake... and it's horrendous.

[dubone]

Wholesale rezoning does not mean it would not be based on rational analysis. That is, they should be updating their neighborhood plans given a major change in infrastructure and determine.

Right now, the entire swath of land between Davidson, Brevard, Jordan, and Parkwood is zoned I-2. That means that just like happened in Optimist Park/First Ward when redevelopment was starting to occur, an asphalt plant was proposed in land already zoned I-2. The city goals were for the land to be converted to a residential neighborhood, yet left the zoning at I-2. It could happen in this case two, so city policy (aka zoning) should reflect the plans and efforts for the area.

Likewise, the whole area north of the 36th St station along Cullman and 36th is light industrial and all around Sugar Creek Station is heavy industrial. There is no reason for that to remain that way with the BLE.

[UrbanGossip]

I'm glad the city isn't doing a wholesale rezoning. NoDa is a bit different than South End was because there are so many small parcels that with significance that need to be handled on a case by case basis. It would be terrifying if they were to say "okay, everything from X street to Y street is now TOD." And I don't think NoDa needs help in making redevelopment easier - it'll happen - just shower and more precisely now.

Right now, the entire swath of land between Davidson, Brevard, Jordan, and Parkwood is zoned I-2. That means that just like happened in Optimist Park/First Ward when redevelopment was starting to occur, an asphalt plant was proposed in land already zoned I-2. The city goals were for the land to be converted to a residential neighborhood, yet left the zoning at I-2. It could happen in this case two, so city policy (aka zoning) should reflect the plans and efforts for the area.

Likewise, the whole area north of the 36th St station along Cullman and 36th is light industrial and all around Sugar Creek Station is heavy industrial. There is no reason for that to remain that way with the BLE.

There's not an easy answer in my opinion, but I tend to agree with escapist. It is true that the Industrial designation around the neighborhood is inappropriate, but as/if the land becomes valuable enough the private sector will re-zone it.

The city is usually fairly conservative with it's rezonings, using them in specific areas to try and promote growth in a certain direction. And they usually only do that after some development has already occurred organically and land owners to be affected have mostly signaled support. In general Charlotte likes to let the private sector take lead on development whenever possible.

In NoDa's case though, I think it makes sense for the city to go ahead and re-zone the area mentioned by Dubone south of Highland Mill towards Parkwood; to TOD if it's close enough to a station, or MUDD if not. I would be surprised if this didn't happen... Very little will be impacted by it in a negative way. But for the areas closer into the NoDa CBD they will it leave alone and let it happen organically, with the exception of an overlay plan.

[dubone]

If I were the new developers of Mercury, I'd be concerned though, that by right, an asphalt plant or a smelting foundry like in 3rd Ward could go up if someone wanted.

You can have faith that the market will request these rezonings, but there is also a market for industrial land. If you don't want industry in an area, you change the zoning. That simple. I had faith when I used to live in 1st Ward that major new polluters would not sprout up a few blocks away from the new urban neighborhood the city had been promoting. But it almost happened and was very expensive for the city to try to resolve since they did not proactively use the tools they had in rezoning. I know they can't rezone to make current uses illegal.

[jbranham]

Pretty brutal. Painful. The title bar say's "Drafting and Design, Inc.". My guess is that it's just a place holder thrown on there to get the rezoning started. It is an Optional, so the neighborhood will get their say. Hopefully they will push the developer in the right direction. It will probably just be a rezone and flip though. They will just get it rezoned and go to the market with the land and it's new, more valuable zoning designation.

The neighborhood should get ready for an onslaught of rezonings to TOD with the LRL coming. Not that it's a bad thing, just saying. The Association really should have a "Rezoning Committee" just to administratively handle all of them that will be coming on line. Just think of southend 15 years ago versus now. It's going to be unbelievable. The difference is that NoDa has more residential close in to the epicenter, and has a much more dense entertainment district. It's going to be much hotter than Southend was. It's going to be a tsunami.

FYI the plans submitted are not the Final plans.... we are working on them still. Placeholder, yes. We are working with the city and a few residents here in NoDa on the design still. It is NOT a FLIP. We live in NoDa, LOVE NoDa and plan on helping the area. This is a work in progress.

NoDa has a committee that is called the NoDa Vision Committee. This group will be dealing with rezoning in the area. TOD is what the city is pushing here now, and we are working with the city on this exact issue.

More to post soon.....

[kermit]

I don't recognize the name but I suspect we already know about this project:

The Mecklenburg Times is reporting that Gateway Communities has pulled a permit for NoDa 20 (a $1.3 million project)

http://mecktimes.com/news/2012/11/09/gateway-communities-building-20-apartments-in-noda/

[Prodev]

Not sure what the article says since I'm not a member, but the site is located at 3514 N Davidson, just north of 36th. 2 & 3 story building w/ surface parking. Gateway Homes is the developer.

[New Name]

This is the same developer who did Renaissance Condos - and this is contiguous lot to Renaissance.

They are well underway on the site already (cleared and retaining walls/site prep is about done).

There was a lot of discussion about this a couple months ago as it came up for rezoning - the developer flipped the orientation of the project to better suit Warp St after much discussion. It should be pretty standard infill at the end of the day.

[kermit]

I must have missed the discussion here, I totally missed the announcement. Does anyone know a rough timeline for Yards at Noda? I see that the parcel was purchased in april and the city appears to have platted an extension of 33rd street across the parcel (based on Polaris). Based on the parcel layout it looks like it is going to sit until the ACWR gets relocated. Adding to my confusion is the apearance that the BLE will cut hrough the western 1/3 of this large parcel.

If you want to see the imagry on Polaris the PID is 08303142

Edited November 14, 2012 by kermit

[kermit]

OK, I answered some of my own questions. It appears that the Yards are a pre-recession project of John R McAdams http://www.johnrmcadams.com/project-gallery/the-yards-at-noda The rendering there suggests that the 330 apartments were planned to be built without the relocation of the ACWR (the rendering was made before the ARRA funds were allocated for the ACWR move). The rendering also makes clear the relationship between the BLE and the apartments.

I can't find any information on the April 2012 sale of the parcel to "NoDa Yards LLC" Is this land banking or has a new entity announced a project on the parcel?

[atlrvr]

Yards at Noda recently applied for building permits. Architect is JDavis Architects out of Raleigh. Was a condo project being developed by Gateway Homes. I assume that Gateway is still the developer, but almost certainly will be apartments.

[Prodev]

Gvest partners is the owner now. Not familiar with them at all...

[Missmylab4]

Is the city going to restore the grid at all in NoDa??? There are so many incomplete roads along the BLE. It will be a same if they don't. Noda has more potential than South End, IMHO.

[DEnd]

There really isn't that much to restore. North Charlotte / NoDa is really close to how it was built out.

http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/ncmaps/interactive/Cm912-60_1911s.html

Edited November 19, 2012 by DEnd

[southslider]

A few streets could be restored like Herrin.

[dubone]

Herrin would be restored when that rail line is turned to a greenway.