Ally Charlotte Center (f/k/a Tryon Place) - 26 floors - 427'

[SentioVenia]

On 12/8/2017 at 6:27 PM, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

You know what. This is how I'd redesign it.

 

This is all I see...

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by SentioVenia

[Scribe]

14 hours ago, SentioVenia said:

This is all I see...

 

LOL, can't get it out of my head!

[jtmonk]

Do any of you guys know how the street presence on College Street will turn out?  I can't remember seeing an updated site plan for that area.

[Spartan]

Don't get your hopes up on College St. It's going to be a wide sidewalk (with trees!) and a parallel planting area adjacent to the parking deck. I assume there will be some quality vertical screening of the deck... but it's not going to be an active ground floor use.

[BullDurhamer]

On 12/7/2017 at 7:25 PM, SydneyCarton said:

It looks really nice from that angle.

It reminds me of a mini Chase Manhattan Plaza.

this looks awesome.

finally they are understanding texture without having to use every combination possible on the same building as we'd been seeing for the last several years.

[CLT>___]

On 12/9/2017 at 11:09 AM, AuLukey said:

 

This isn’t tall. It isn’t skyline defining. It’s not going to make an impact. It will be lost in the skyline once Duke and Legacy Union are built out; and even more so if Southend builds out. If it were a more prominent location or were taller it would need to be more impactful; but as it stands, a rectangle is the most efficient design.

 

300ST, for example, looks nice because it prominently stands out in the skyline from Romare and the ballpark. If it were tucked behind another tower, there’d be no point to the crown.

 

As long as the street level turns out as promised, I’ll be happy.

Street level should be impressive.  Crescent is really putting a lot of emphasis on making the retail area a place were people want to be, with plenty of outdoor seating and space to "hang out"

[Spartan]

I'm interested to see if they're successful in that claim. There haven't been any amazing additions to the pedestrian environment from a private sector development (plaza) standpoint in a long time. I'll withhold my judgement until I see it in person, but I'm skeptical that they can successfully pull it off given their bland contemporary architecture (and materials) selection.

[CLT>___]

11 hours ago, Spartan said:

I'm interested to see if they're successful in that claim. There haven't been any amazing additions to the pedestrian environment from a private sector development (plaza) standpoint in a long time. I'll withhold my judgement until I see it in person, but I'm skeptical that they can successfully pull it off given their bland contemporary architecture (and materials) selection.

I can say the street level plan you see in the renderings is what is planned to be delivered and it is getting too late to make any major changes. The only difference is the retail space will most likely project a little further out from under the building footprint but it will not have a major impact on plaza space.

The feature tree on the corner of Tryon and Stonewall is still up in the air but I really hope that happens. 

[15895]

23 minutes ago, JSquare said:

I can say the street level plan you see in the renderings is what is planned to be delivered and it is getting too late to make any major changes. The only difference is the retail space will most likely project a little further out from under the building footprint but it will not have a major impact on plaza space.

The feature tree on the corner of Tryon and Stonewall is still up in the air but I really hope that happens. 

Know if we can expect retail beyond restaurant space? 

[CLT>___]

Cannot say for sure.  I know that was the intent. Retail space will definitely have 1 restaurant space and one cafe type space (no clue who the restaurant and cafe will be) but there are 8 other retail spaces of varying sizes currently planned that will need to be filled.  I know they are targeting actual retailers and some names were brought up like apple or microsoft. So it seems like they are trying to get a national brand to fill up one of the larger retail spaces. 

[J-Rob]

@JSquare , coming on strong with your first 7 posts, lol.  Thanks for sharing...

[Cadi40]

I sure hope it’s apple and some other soft good retailers.

[elrodvt]

^I'm not sure why so many root for an apple store. Sure they're fun to wander through but how does it move us towards not requiring leaving uptown to shop for almost everything? I'd rather have a darned radio shack (if they were a viable business).

[CLT>___]

Have to start somewhere... I think we need to get a few big name stores in uptown that will not fail and then it will seem more inviting for some smaller businesses. 

[Cadi40]

21 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

^I'm not sure why so many root for an apple store. Sure they're fun to wander through but how does it move us towards not requiring leaving uptown to shop for almost everything? I'd rather have a darned radio shack (if they were a viable business).

Cool for tourists and people actually do shop at apple stores. The closest one for me is in Southpark Which is about 20 minutes away. I would shop at the Uptown one.

[AuLukey]

I have to concur with Cadi. An Apple store is a minor tourist attraction in itself in that it somehow creates that “wow” factor that compels people to visit and go in. On any given day the Apple store is by far the busiest store in either Northlake or Southpark. Also, image how it would cater to the uptown office crowd. Like it or not, Apple stores generate a lot of foot traffic. That would be a boon for uptown. Microsoft would also be a fun addition to TP. In fact, while not adding much diversity to the uptown Market, having both in this shopping plaza would be a win.

[elrodvt]

I understand the tourist angle and people from the suburbs coming in. My point though was that as a RESIDENT of uptown I would prefer a store I would actually shop at regularly. I only by 6 mac book air's per year after all. ;-)

But JSquare is right that you have to start somewhere I guess.

[Cadi40]

“People who do actually shop at apple stores”, By that I was including residents of Uptown. People go to the Apple store also for repairs and accessories.

[CLT2014]

45 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

I understand the tourist angle and people from the suburbs coming in. My point though was that as a RESIDENT of uptown I would prefer a store I would actually shop at regularly. I only by 6 mac book air's per year after all. ;-)

But JSquare is right that you have to start somewhere I guess.

What types of stores do residents in Uptown want? Target, Petsmart, TJ Maxx, Ace Hardware store, Gap, Beth Bath and Beyond?

If you include Midtown, Uptown Charlotte actually has a decent amount of the Top 100 largest retailers in the country:
#2. Kroger
#5. Walgreens
#6. Target
#7. CVS
#11. Best Buy
#12. McDonald's
#16. Rite Aid
#19. TJX (Marshall's)
#29. BJ's Wholesale
#30. Whole Foods
#34. AT&T
#42. Starbucks
#47. Trader Joe's
#48. Wendy's
#53. Dunkin
#63. Staples
#71. Chick Fil A
#88. Williams-Sonoma Group (West Elm)
#90. Panera Bread
#96. Chioptle

Seems like a pet store, some clothing retail, a book store (unlikely this day and age), and a hardware store (ACE or True Value) would be welcome additions to round out what most areas have.
https://nrf.com/2015/top100-table

Edited December 20, 2017 by CLT2014

[elrodvt]

I am excluding the restaurants as my comment was aimed at retail goods (maybe wrong term). Also, I am talking about not getting in my car or using transit so most of the list above don't count. My comment was aimed at places to walk too.

My personal list in no order would be : hardware, office supply, clothing (5+ : coats, socks, shoes, etc... ), whole foods or other upscale grocery (coming),  local book store / coffee place (lots of downtowns have those prospering), local crafts store.

Hopefully few of them chains although I know office supply, clothing and grocer are really tough. 

BTW, this recent story was really interesting to me: https://www.marketplace.org/2017/12/19/business/physical-stores-reformat-retails-future

That's how I use a lot of stores now such as best buy or a computer store. See the latest gadgets then shop online. I can't remember that last time I purchased something from a best buy, apple or MS store. Such ripoffs for the smallish items I  generally need like a mouse or a cable. 

Edited December 20, 2017 by elrodvt

[DMann]

3 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

I am excluding the restaurants as my comment was aimed at retail goods (maybe wrong term). Also, I am talking about not getting in my car or using transit so most of the list above don't count. My comment was aimed at places to walk too.

My personal list in no order would be : hardware, office supply, clothing (5+ : coats, socks, shoes, etc... ), whole foods or other upscale grocery (coming),  local book store / coffee place (lots of downtowns have those prospering), local crafts store.

Hopefully few of them chains although I know office supply, clothing and grocer are really tough. 

If you haven't tried Little Hardware on South Mint Street near Bland you should, great resource, great and knowledgable people.  Office supplies can be ordered quickly and cheaply on line and delivered for free.  Same with most all other items.  I doubt we will ever see another book store open anywhere.  Habits have change and on line ordering is just too convenient.  Many retailers are finding that people shop them to find what they want, then order it on line.  

[elrodvt]

^Dmann, see the article I posted above after an edit. There may be a trend of stores opening to drive online shopping.

I respectfully disagree re book stores. They open in other cities.  They don't just sell books though. In my personal experience a place like Tattered Cover has expanded quite a bit in denver and would be a hit here. I'm sure there are more examples.  Thanks for the tip on Little Hardware.

Edited December 20, 2017 by elrodvt

[AuLukey]

I second on a book store. When I was in San Fran last week I was floored by just how many people were in one of the bookstores in the financial district. It appeared to be a second-hand book store, so we aren’t talking Books-a-million size. I’d wager there were twenty to thirty patrons in a store about the size of a Radio Shack.

[DMann]

Have any of you owned a retail store?  Sure they are neat, and we like to go in and browse, but the finances of a small retail store include things like rent, power and internet, taxes, salaries, inventory.  Add all that up and determine how many books at $20? a copy would need to be sold to make it profitable, the same goes to any other carrying inventory store.  Browsing doesn't pay the bills, buying does.

[15895]

1 minute ago, DMann said:

Have any of you owned a retail store?  Sure they are neat, and we like to go in and browse, but the finances of a small retail store include things like rent, power and internet, taxes, salaries, inventory.  Add all that up and determine how many books at $20? a copy would need to be sold to make it profitable, the same goes to any other carrying inventory store.  Browsing doesn't pay the bills, buying does.

 

I would hope they would sell more than books. Coffee, DVD’s, phone cases, etc.

The econômics behind it would still be annoying as you pointed out though.