Bearden Park in Third Ward, Uptown Charlotte

[dubone]

I know a lot of the roadworks were potentially to be funded by the stadium taxes and fronted by the Knights. Does anyone know what extent of road work they'll do for the park alone? Obviously they have to make Mint bidirectional between MLK and 3rd to remove that Poplar connector, but I wasn't sure if they were going to anything else.

[southslider]

^I would hope that recessed parking would be added to all streets wrapping the park. Charlotte so lacks on-street parking.

[dubone]

Mint street is already wide enough for two directions with just some paint and new signals more most of the section between King Jr and 3rd so I guess they don't even need to put much money into it for the work that is minimally necessary to build the park. But I'm not sure they'd be able to retain dedicated street parking without widening that.

[Guest]

Thank God this is becoming a park... Now if only we could get 300 South Tryon, the ballpark, the excess land owned by Novare, and the other lot in question in this picture all developed maybe this picture wouldn't look so dismal. Hopefully making this park happen will spur some sort of rebirth of 3rd ward.

[HopHead]

^I could see the park, once it's done, inspiring some development in Third Ward. The Catalyst will have quite the view of the park and there could be demand to add residential (or office space in the case of 300 South Tryon). Maybe the Novare finally builds that hotel after all.

[Guest]

^I could see the park, once it's done, inspiring some development in Third Ward. The Catalyst will have quite the view of the park and there could be demand to add residential (or office space in the case of 300 South Tryon). Maybe the Novare finally builds that hotel after all.

They own the land on both sides of the park... where twelve was supposed to go and the opposite side...

[atlrvr]

Novare owns nothing anymore.......

The vacant land where TWELVE was supposed to go has been foreclosed upon, and I think it has sold, but I'd have to check.

On the other side of the park, they owned 222 S Church, which was an office building. Novare sold that building to Red F marketing, which they are renovating to use as the business incubator.

[tozmervo]

The park construction goes to bid on Dec 13. Given that and the holidays, I would watch for major construction to begin by mid january.

[uptownliving]

The winning bid for the construction contract goes before the Meck County Commision for their approval tomorrow night. Once the $7.8M contract is approved then construction should start shortly afterwords...so hopefully this time next year we will all be enjoying the new park. Long time coming!

[dubone]

The land where TWELVE was to go has been sold and per the CBJ.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2012/01/13/major-developers-join-in-charlottes.html

For non-subscribers, here is the key quote:

Closer to Tryon Street, a Childress Klein affiliate purchased a 1.7-acre site at South Mint Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard for $3.5 million from South Church Street Property Holdings, an affiliate of Empire Financial Services, a former lender to Novare Group.

That site, currently used as a parking lot, is adjacent to Catalyst, the 27-story apartment tower that sold for $103 million last year — a record per-unit price in the Carolinas.

Childress Klein plans an 11-story apartment building with 250 units, according to real estate sources. Construction is expected to start this year.

Here is the Observer's article:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/13/v-print/2922508/firm-buys-169-acres-uptown-for.html

That 11-story description seemed wrong to me for 250 units, but I suspect it is possible given no parking floors are needed and they are probably going for 1 bedroom and studio-sized units. Regardless, if the 11-story report is right, it is a both adequate to feel dense, but disappointing given the original 39-story proposal.

The northbound lanes of Mint are completed and almost (or just) opening to traffic to 3rd, so that will clear the way for the closure of the Poplar connector.

I can't wait to see the parking lots gone and construction starting in earnest. It is a dismal area with all the surface lots, so it is really going a long way to changing the feel of that area.

[Norm2]

So do you guys think there will ever be a Twelve in Charlotte, do you think any chance of that happening has been completely canned?

[HopHead]

^Isn't the Twelve hotel just a local Atlanta brand? I've never heard of them outside of there (other than the obvious proposal to put one in Charlotte). Personally, I'd rather get a W hotel. It would be a nice compliment to the Ritz Carlton in uptown. It would have a nice view of the Romare Bearden park if they put that on the site of old Wachovia condo tower.

[dubone]

It is a brand by Novare to make a level of condominiums more premium by virtue of having hotel amenities. "Ever" is a long time, and so I'd say yes, Charlotte will have a hotel-condo project, but unless Novare returns to Charlotte at some point for regular development, I doubt that TWELVE itself will be built here.

We know now that the condo tower boom was artificial nationally, so obviously we have to recover, and then grow back enough until such time as we can truly support projects like TWELVE.

Ironically, if Levine hadn't bungled the First Ward TWELVE project that was in motion (Novare didn't like working with him, so they abandoned that location on Levine's land, in lieu of buying the 3rd Ward land). We may have then had TWELVE built earlier in time to finish during the boom, but we would not have had a Catalyst or Ally building on the Duke Power site. That's the parallel universe that gets you your TWELVE. But I'm glad we have baseline development in 3rd Ward instead.

[Norm2]

It is a brand by Novare to make a level of condominiums more premium by virtue of having hotel amenities. "Ever" is a long time, and so I'd say yes, Charlotte will have a hotel-condo project, but unless Novare returns to Charlotte at some point for regular development, I doubt that TWELVE itself will be built here.

We know now that the condo tower boom was artificial nationally, so obviously we have to recover, and then grow back enough until such time as we can truly support projects like TWELVE.

Ironically, if Levine hadn't bungled the First Ward TWELVE project that was in motion (Novare didn't like working with him, so they abandoned that location on Levine's land, in lieu of buying the 3rd Ward land). We may have then had TWELVE built earlier in time to finish during the boom, but we would not have had a Catalyst or Ally building on the Duke Power site. That's the parallel universe that gets you your TWELVE. But I'm glad we have baseline development in 3rd Ward instead.

Yea you are right, I honestly think the development that was built in 3rd Ward is better than the TWELVE that would have been built in 1st Ward. With Charlotte continuing to grow and with the DNC I see a lot more development coming into the city. You know Charlotte is finally getting more national attention when Madonna decides to have her first concert in Charlotte LOL!

[HopHead]

Has anyone seen any progress here yet? It's almost March and thought some construction would've started by now.

[tozmervo]

I think Mint St was due to be opened to two-way traffic... yesterday? Not sure if that happened. But Pecan was to be permanently closed at the same time. That would certainly be an important step to full-steam demolition and construction.

[dubone]

(You mean Poplar). I walked past yesterday afternoon and don't remember seeing either cars or cones on it, but I was on the phone so I'm not sure if I paid good attention. I have been curious why it's been at a virtual standstill. They got approval to sell the bonds, right? Bids for grading shouldn't take that long, even if they did have to hold themselves to 3/4 of the area for a little bit. Hopefully now, though, we'll see decent progress on it. I guess it was never a goal to finish by the DNC, but it just would be nice to have had First and Third Ward parks finished in time for showing off our city. Those wastelands of asphalt we have are just embarrassing.

[nonillogical]

I drove it, yes its 2-way now and the Poplar connector is closed. It felt good and gives that retail alongside the trademark building some much-needed visibility. I noticed a place called BNR records has opened next to O1NE skate shop there. I'm not sure if that's a retail record store or a record label, didn't get a good enough look.

[tozmervo]

(You mean Poplar).

dangit, yeah. i keep doing that.

[dubone]

I really like the two way street. Those runway-style one ways, especially the lesser used ones like Mint have been needing this treatment a while.

[HopHead]

I was never expecting this to be ready for the DNC, well maybe I was being overly optimistic early on and thought they would be when the ground breaking was announced last year. Just hope to see the progress soon so it's a few less parking lots in uptown, not to mention a beautiful park. I also like ah's idea in the Charlotte beer thread about a public beer garden (isn't it called bier garten in Germany?) would be a nice touch, especially if it just promoted local brews.

Also to nonillogical's piece about BNR Records. I looked them up on Facebook. It appears to be a record label for hip-hop artists if I'm not mistaken.

Edited February 29, 2012 by dbull75

[rugger62]

Asphalt is being torn up at the Bearden Park site, trying to upload a picture...

[nashbill]

There is probably a better place to post this. The reinstall in Pittsburgh of one of Beardens mosaics. It's in one of the subway stations. Seems Pittsburgh has small claim to him as well. Just nice to see his talent in other cities.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/art-architecture/romare-beardens-tile-mural-once-again-shows-his-love-for-city-and-its-people-249022/

[HopHead]

I went by the site yesterday on the way to the game... Asphalt is being completely ripped up here, fences up and a sign with a rendering of Romare Bearden park up as well. This thing is full steam ahead now.

[grodney]

April 02, 2012: