Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[15895]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

IMO it is not OK to stick with sprawl (and certainly not OK to subsidize it). It is so clearly unsustainable from the perspective of finance (see my post above) and the environment. The cities that are unable to adapt away from sprawl are going to make present day Cleveland, Detroit and Youngstown look positively Singapore-like in their prosperity.  Nothing will be more worthless in the post-auto age than a 100% car dependent neighborhood, if a city is 100% that then we can all see what the future of those places will look like.

[yea, I got a bit carried away here, but that is what candidates who are trailing in the polls need to do to remain visible]

 

I’m right there with you but tbh, I try to moderate my views or amend them when posting because I get people too riled up too frequently lol. So I was just trying to throw a bone, lol. 

This is super common here; When I see people talking about NYC bleeding people and to be thankful that Charlotte is booming and getting all the skyscrapers it does when it too could be bleeding people like NYC and therefore, less skyscrapers built. I literally can’t understand. Because NYC is literally not only building the most… but they’re quite monumental developments so… NYC has had one of the most transformational skylines in the past decade IMO. So it’s just hard to follow. Then add to it that the Texas cities and Atlanta and Raleigh (and even little ole Nashville. How Nashville? lol) get quite the flack here and it’s like… A giant mismatch of priorities vs. desired outcome. Those policy discussions or thought exercises are like… not a recipe for pleasant interactions here xD So.  Not wanting to be like xyz city building more skyscrapers because you’re afraid you’ll get less skyscrapers. Not following. 

A few Skyscrapers, some light rail lines. That just isn’t going to cut it. That’s not policy - those are projects / developments. One  trendy urban policy here and there isn’t going to cut it.  Good ole boring dry policy that focuses on the entire core (not just a few pockets) and a renewed efforts into the entire city center, the urbanization of Freedom Drive, investments in the lower income neighborhoods in center city, taxing reforms, a focus on the historical black neighborhoods is key to Charlotte’s urbanity along with other long-term sustainable policy as a whole. You can’t have an urban Center City Charlotte when the vast majority of it goes ignored. & Any policy passed will take decades to play out. 

It’s just such an extremely hard sell when Charlotte is firing on all cylinders and broadly considered by certain definitions a booming city with a bright future. A sustainable future, with smaller houses, Less vehicle infrastructure improvements in lieu of mass transit vs. a booming economy and building to meet today’s needs and widening congested roads.

29 minutes ago, JHart said:

We are still building new commercial office space here in Charlotte, there is zero need for any incentives to be provided for poorly maintained commercial offices. That office didn't suddenly become unleaseable and lose 50% of its value overnight.. Those cities in the article do not have acres of vacant land ready for construction and have development costs that far exceed Charlotte's which make the math more compelling. How would the city paying incentives to convert an office building to residential make the tax revenues go up? People aren't paying $40/sqft for residential leases... 

Right. If private investors want to use their dollars, have fun. Using city resources is just nonsense. You could build way more housing for more economically diverse families at a fraction of the cost of pumping money into an office conversion for higher income folks who don’t need the subsidies. Doesn’t make sense in Charlotte unless it’s a strategic place-making conversion that will have ripple effects like that article about Cleveland in the Learning from Other Places thread. 

Edited December 21, 2023 by AirNostrumMAD

[RANYC]

https://cms9files.revize.com/loganut/Plaza Handout (1)_Roger Brooks.pdf

The link above will take you to a slide deck about the importance of public plazas, or central gathering places in downtowns.  One of the ingredients suggests converting existing downtown parks/lawns into activated yet intimate spaces.

If you already have downtown parks, convert them to activity spaces, not just pretty places. Remove lawn areas and replace them with paver stones and decorative surfaces (no asphalt, please) that can accommodate vendor booths, artisans, tables and chairs, entertainment, etc. You’ll save a fortune on maintenance, and the plaza becomes a year round usable space.

Does anyone else feel Uptown is missing this and would benefit tremendously from a strategy to incorporate activated, hard-scaped spaces like this into the Uptown pastiche?

[KJHburg]

This is good news even if they will be expensive.  For sale townhomes near Music Factory.  I saw this site being cleared and took a photo but never posted it for some reason.

""Pennsylvania-based luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is adding to its Charlotte portfolio with a development near uptown.

Work is underway on Iron Creek at North End, a townhome community at 1420 Hamilton St., near the AvidXchange Music Factory. That site is just a mile away from Camp North End.

The for-sale community will include 83 attached, four-story units. Each townhome will range between 1,690 and 2,077 square feet, with a rooftop terrace and two-car garage."" prices start in the mid 500s but they did a great job with those steel framed ones in Southend. 

Toll Brothers starts Charlotte townhome project near Camp North End - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

these are like the ones inSouthend

New Home Community Iron Creek at North End in Charlotte, NC | Toll Brothers

Edited December 22, 2023 by KJHburg

[RANYC]

18 hours ago, KJHburg said:

This is good news even if they will be expensive.  For sale townhomes near Music Factory.  I saw this site being cleared and took a photo but never posted it for some reason.

""Pennsylvania-based luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is adding to its Charlotte portfolio with a development near uptown.

Work is underway on Iron Creek at North End, a townhome community at 1420 Hamilton St., near the AvidXchange Music Factory. That site is just a mile away from Camp North End.

The for-sale community will include 83 attached, four-story units. Each townhome will range between 1,690 and 2,077 square feet, with a rooftop terrace and two-car garage."" prices start in the mid 500s but they did a great job with those steel framed ones in Southend. 

Toll Brothers starts Charlotte townhome project near Camp North End - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

these are like the ones inSouthend

New Home Community Iron Creek at North End in Charlotte, NC | Toll Brothers

This Toll Brothers project is in addition to the townhome community under development at Statesville and Oaklawn that received a city subsidy.

[Professor]

On 12/9/2023 at 1:04 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

Charlotte’s growing into a city similar in build to Dallas (Metro area of  7.76MM) & Houston (Metro area of 7.34MM) & some people don’t want to be like Dallas or Houston. Which for those who need to know, Houston has city limits of over 640 Sq. Miles and a density of 3,600/PPSM and Charlotte has a density of 2,800/PPSM in 300 sq. Miles for those who like to rag on Houston’s urbanity).

Dallas & Houston are among the largest metro areas in the U.S. & fastest growing too. The growth is very sprawl and low dense & some people are Dissatisfied with that despite pretty much supporting every policy that enables that. I mean, how does one build less urban development in booming cities compared to cities losing population? How are there less apartments U/C? Less transit being built? Etc. I believe that answer is sprawl.

So it does get old to hear certain criticisms and it’s like…. If you’re going to complain, at least have beliefs that support the things you want. Or at very least… don’t rag on other booming sunbelts… But wanting a certain outcome and supporting things contrary to the outcome. Eh. 

And I *love* the question of what city could serve as a model. It’s a question that goes completely unanswered but if one is full of criticism of Charlotte, surely there’s somewhere you could point to… anywhere? Nowhere? 

Is it somewhere in between Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Raleigh, Dallas, Houston? 

Somewhere in between Denver, Minneapolis, Portland, San Diego, Seattle? 

Somewhere in between Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston? 

How does Center City become more activated? When people are less excited about seeing a skyscraper from College Street in the distance (Queens Bridge) and more eager to see College Street have a road diet, bike lane, bus lane, wider sidewalks and an outdoor market every weekend with local vendors, etc. Or maybe move to center city and contribute to more residents lol. People live in pretty big houses with big yards themselves (even if it is super close to SouthEnd or denser pockets) and want to say what will make the urbanity better but not willing to actually live it themselves and therefore can’t see what matters most to residents & what actually matters. They just drive (or even take transit) here & there to get a taste of urbanity, see tall skyscrapers, see a special event and think “wow, big city” and go back to their big house. Legacy Union is cool for them to see, but could be depressing to those who live nearby who probably prefer walking to Frazier Park on Irwin Creek Greenway than strolling around legacy Union, Graham St. Etc. Most of my neighbors in the Catalyst building always headed for Gateway side of uptown for leisure and pleasure. Does anyone even on here live in SouthEnd?

I feel like most people on here live in single family housing or farther out from center city? I implore you…. Move to uptown (the cost of living is cheap, right?). Then let’s talk. Down size in sq. Footage, get rid of your car. Soak up the urban lifestyle. 

And your constant crying about "urban sprawl" gets old. People chose urban sprawl when they became over 25 years old and decided that they wanted yards and parks safe for their children and neighborhood schools, etc. Obviously, it is the best choice as the cities with urban sprawl are the cities for which the majority aspire to relocate.  If you don't like urban sprawl, live downtown. I'm not bothered with it. America is a free country and people should live in the manner for which they worked and aspired. Seriously, why do people give a crap about density? What is wrong with places that aren't that dense? Obviously, people that hate cities with sprawl and choose to live here must be a bit feeble minded anyway. 

I'm glad that you found the question concerning a "model" entertaining. I was hoping for a response mentioning a "unique" city or what you see as utopia, not one of a group of other with similarities. 

I certainly don't think that Charlotte is perfect, but it is for me and the majority of the other one million city residents. I enjoy good restaurants, friendly bars, occasional performing arts, mostly bearable traffic, a choice of what I consider ideal neighborhoods to reside, 

You may worry too much. It is difficult to determine your feelings since you send mixed messages. For example, is your absolute last sentence a joke? On one hand you complain about uptown and then you encourage folks to move uptown. As usual, you speak as if everyone is single and prefers to live in the city. Many don't that is why there is "sprawl." 

You asked if anyone lived in SouthEnd?  What does that matter? Do you feel that those the live in Southend have a more intellectual prospective of life in the area? 

 As long as you aren't the one investing millions in the infrastructure of the city and taking a risk during a precarious time, maybe you should sit back, relax and watch us develop. 

 

[15895]

2 hours ago, Larry Singer said:

And your constant crying about "urban sprawl" gets old. People chose urban sprawl when they became over 25 years old and decided that they wanted yards and parks safe for their children and neighborhood schools, etc. Obviously, it is the best choice as the cities with urban sprawl are the cities for which the majority aspire to relocate.  If you don't like urban sprawl, live downtown. I'm not bothered with it. America is a free country and people should live in the manner for which they worked and aspired. Seriously, why do people give a crap about density? What is wrong with places that aren't that dense? Obviously, people that hate cities with sprawl and choose to live here must be a bit feeble minded anyway. 

I'm glad that you found the question concerning a "model" entertaining. I was hoping for a response mentioning a "unique" city or what you see as utopia, not one of a group of other with similarities. 

I certainly don't think that Charlotte is perfect, but it is for me and the majority of the other one million city residents. I enjoy good restaurants, friendly bars, occasional performing arts, mostly bearable traffic, a choice of what I consider ideal neighborhoods to reside, 

You may worry too much. It is difficult to determine your feelings since you send mixed messages. For example, is your absolute last sentence a joke? On one hand you complain about uptown and then you encourage folks to move uptown. As usual, you speak as if everyone is single and prefers to live in the city. Many don't that is why there is "sprawl." 

You asked if anyone lived in SouthEnd?  What does that matter? Do you feel that those the live in Southend have a more intellectual prospective of life in the area? 

 As long as you aren't the one investing millions in the infrastructure of the city and taking a risk during a precarious time, maybe you should sit back, relax and watch us develop. 

 

That’s funny because I literally said:

You like Urban Sprawl, that’s what you want. I’m not going to convince you to not like it. Im not convincing anyone to have different preferences. 

Im talking to people who don’t want urban sprawl. Who don’t particularly want Charlotte’s urbanity to reflect that of Houston / Atlanta, who want the city to be dense. 

I’m not saying anyone should want density, I’m saying people who do want density. 

I don’t feel like people in SouthEnd have a more intellectually prospective of life. I think South End is full of transitional young single people with higher paying jobs, college degrees. I think a focus should be on creating an inner-core that all incomes and families and residents can afford to live in and not just (I) people in poverty (II) people in the top range of income (III) focused on young college professionals. People either can’t afford center city, uncomfortable in neighborhoods that they perceive as too much crime or SouthEnd doesn’t fit their lifestyle (Im 31, it’s not my vibe.)

In regards to my last comment. It was basically “practice what you preach.” Why advocate for certain laws, for Charlotte be a certain way but you’re not willing to live the lifestyle yourself? How does one go around talking about density this, density that, anti-car, etc yet at the end of the day lives in a low dense part of a neighborhood (even if it is one like NoDa) with a car. If you don’t live like that, why do you think others would? 
 

I like my neighborhood because it’s full of families, a diverse & mixed-income neighborhood, plenty of public schools, neighborhood parks even despite having a ton of newer large developments. 

Skyscrapers are just skyscrapers. I don’t think Legacy Union changes anything. I don’t think Legacy Union does anything but serve as office space. Focusing on the entire center city (different policies for further out areas), into neighborhoods that go unnoticed. More parks, zoning reforms, wider sidewalks, etc. 

And if I were to move back to Charlotte, I’d live in Lake Norman or maybe Ballantyne. Not uptown. Definitely not SouthEnd. Preferably a Charleston style shotgun house with a BMW, so. To me, Charlotte doesn’t have any urban neighborhoods that I would want to live an urban lifestyle in at the moment nor seemingly anytime soon. 

I didn’t choose another specific area because I don’t like engaging in conversations like that. I’ll choose a composition of cities to talk about the characteristics but I’m not getting into specifics because that’s when people start drifting to where is better and I don’t like that. And everywhere has its own set of facts. And then people are going to talk about things out of context, because they don’t know the other area etc. It’s not the dialogue I prefer. 

& FYI, you’re probably one of the only people on this board who aren’t interested in density, urban issues and urban growth of the inner-city core. 

But im not convincing people to fundamentally change Charlotte. I mean, at least not like the majority on this board. I’m fine with increased housing in Wesley Heights, wider sidewalks & South Blvd. getting a road diet and bike lanes and making the crosswalks way bigger. Other people are focused on building more Skyscrapers than Raleigh to become a “world class city” whatever that means. 
 

Practice what you preach. Once you live the life you’re preaching, then talk to me. I feel like it’s super important to have a perspective of the lifestyle of that which you want other people to live by. Because reality of living it is different than occasionally joining it then back off to your big house and nice yard. 
 

Edit:

Center City Charlotte in uptown and the other neighborhoods are way less diverse and even more expensive than my neighborhood that is more populated, next to the waterfront with Hell’s Kitchen, The Atlantic HQ, and other prestigious firms and restaurants, 2 metro stops, all of it. The Smithsonian museums are only a few blocks away. And yet it’s cheaper here than center city Charlotte… How does that work…

The below shows the extremes of the center city Charlotte zip codes where as I mentioned earlier. You either are young, single willing to live in the dorms if SouthEnd…. In poverty or very racially skewed. Or very wealthy. Everyone else is screwed. The neighborhoods are of extremes. That’s where I think opportunity lies… break down the barriers keeping these extremes. I want policies to give Charlotteans the freedom to choose to live in center city instead of government having laws that restricts that from happening. I don’t want Charlotte to be like anywhere else, I do want it have policies that don’t artificially exclude people from center city. 

Uptown:

My neighborhood:

 

28203:

28207:

My Neighborhood:

28207:

My neighborhood:

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by AirNostrumMAD

[Professor]

On 12/23/2023 at 11:41 AM, 15895 said:

That’s funny because I literally said:

You like Urban Sprawl, that’s what you want. I’m not going to convince you to not like it. Im not convincing anyone to have different preferences. 

Im talking to people who don’t want urban sprawl. Who don’t particularly want Charlotte’s urbanity to reflect that of Houston / Atlanta, who want the city to be dense. 

I’m not saying anyone should want density, I’m saying people who do want density. 

I don’t feel like people in SouthEnd have a more intellectually prospective of life. I think South End is full of transitional young single people with higher paying jobs, college degrees. I think a focus should be on creating an inner-core that all incomes and families and residents can afford to live in and not just (I) people in poverty (II) people in the top range of income (III) focused on young college professionals. People either can’t afford center city, uncomfortable in neighborhoods that they perceive as too much crime or SouthEnd doesn’t fit their lifestyle (Im 31, it’s not my vibe.)

In regards to my last comment. It was basically “practice what you preach.” Why advocate for certain laws, for Charlotte be a certain way but you’re not willing to live the lifestyle yourself? How does one go around talking about density this, density that, anti-car, etc yet at the end of the day lives in a low dense part of a neighborhood (even if it is one like NoDa) with a car. If you don’t live like that, why do you think others would? 
 

I like my neighborhood because it’s full of families, a diverse & mixed-income neighborhood, plenty of public schools, neighborhood parks even despite having a ton of newer large developments. 

Skyscrapers are just skyscrapers. I don’t think Legacy Union changes anything. I don’t think Legacy Union does anything but serve as office space. Focusing on the entire center city (different policies for further out areas), into neighborhoods that go unnoticed. More parks, zoning reforms, wider sidewalks, etc. 

And if I were to move back to Charlotte, I’d live in Lake Norman or maybe Ballantyne. Not uptown. Definitely not SouthEnd. Preferably a Charleston style shotgun house with a BMW, so. To me, Charlotte doesn’t have any urban neighborhoods that I would want to live an urban lifestyle in at the moment nor seemingly anytime soon. 

I didn’t choose another specific area because I don’t like engaging in conversations like that. I’ll choose a composition of cities to talk about the characteristics but I’m not getting into specifics because that’s when people start drifting to where is better and I don’t like that. And everywhere has its own set of facts. And then people are going to talk about things out of context, because they don’t know the other area etc. It’s not the dialogue I prefer. 

& FYI, you’re probably one of the only people on this board who aren’t interested in density, urban issues and urban growth of the inner-city core. 

But im not convincing people to fundamentally change Charlotte. I mean, at least not like the majority on this board. I’m fine with increased housing in Wesley Heights, wider sidewalks & South Blvd. getting a road diet and bike lanes and making the crosswalks way bigger. Other people are focused on building more Skyscrapers than Raleigh to become a “world class city” whatever that means. 
 

Practice what you preach. Once you live the life you’re preaching, then talk to me. I feel like it’s super important to have a perspective of the lifestyle of that which you want other people to live by. Because reality of living it is different than occasionally joining it then back off to your big house and nice yard. 
 

Edit:

Center City Charlotte in uptown and the other neighborhoods are way less diverse and even more expensive than my neighborhood that is more populated, next to the waterfront with Hell’s Kitchen, The Atlantic HQ, and other prestigious firms and restaurants, 2 metro stops, all of it. The Smithsonian museums are only a few blocks away. And yet it’s cheaper here than center city Charlotte… How does that work…

The below shows the extremes of the center city Charlotte zip codes where as I mentioned earlier. You either are young, single willing to live in the dorms if SouthEnd…. In poverty or very racially skewed. Or very wealthy. Everyone else is screwed. The neighborhoods are of extremes. That’s where I think opportunity lies… break down the barriers keeping these extremes. I want policies to give Charlotteans the freedom to choose to live in center city instead of government having laws that restricts that from happening. I don’t want Charlotte to be like anywhere else, I do want it have policies that don’t artificially exclude people from center city. 

Uptown:

My neighborhood:

 

28203:

28207:

My Neighborhood:

28207:

My neighborhood:

 

 

Thanks, if I move, it will be to 28207.  

[CLT2014]

I'm confused... honestly. Why are we comparing the suburban Eastover / Myers Park area of Charlotte (which we all know is basically single family home mansions) to an urban neighborhood of Washington DC in the Southwest waterfront that used to be 80% black and is gentrifying with white people moving in to luxury apartments? 

Many single family home mansion neighborhoods in the greater DC area are also largely white and Asian. McLean, VA ; Great Falls, VA ; 20816 in Bethesda, et.... are all more like Eastover / Myers Park than the Southwest waterfront. Just the unfortunate reality of our country that most neighborhoods of single family home mansions aren't very diverse because we have income inequality and these neighborhoods are expensive. 

Charlotte has some other zips that are probably more like the Southwest waterfront:
28205: 45% white, 28% black, 19% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 2.6% two or more
28273: 40% black, 25% white, 23% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 4.8% two or more
28204: 64% white, 23% black, 5% Hispanic, 3.7% Asian, 3.2% two or more
28212: 41% black, 28% Hispanic, 18% white,  8.2% Asian, et...

Are there other neighborhoods that are segregated? Absolutely. It is a real issue in Charlotte and many other cities (including DC where there are several zip codes completely segregated to 90%+ black). 

Just curious about why the comparison to Eastover in particular? It would maybe be relevant if Southwest DC had been majority white and then became diverse with a black population, but I am not aware of any areas in metro DC that were historically very white / rich that became more diverse with African Americans. Typically the diversity in Washington DC has come from whites moving in to inner-DC zip codes and gentrifying the neighborhood, which has caused many African Americans to relocate or have to move to the periphery / suburbs. I think Charlotte and most other cities (including DC) are already experts though at building luxury apartment buildings in historically black neighborhoods and moving in / creating diversity that way. Very few examples of the other way around. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

this is going to be some epic patio and outdoor dining area as they have been working on it for a while.

 

[KJHburg]

Couple miscellaneous photos of uptown and our tallest.  

Gateway Center I forgotten how nice this building is and innovative when it was built by Cousins and Bank of America.  Think it was a Duda Paine designed too.  Love their Christmas tree too there.  

[KJHburg]

Uptown "ghost" towers ie. just a handful of towers have a great deal of vacancy.

Uptown’s ghost tower problem may call for local government action - Axios Charlotte

[CLT Development]

6 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Uptown "ghost" towers ie. just a handful of towers have a great deal of vacancy.

Uptown’s ghost tower problem may call for local government action - Axios Charlotte

"The city could also incentivize office conversions, possibly for affordable housing."

This is literally impossible.

[midtownclt]

Everyone check out the sinkhole on 6th Street at Settlers Place between Church St. and Pine St. in Fourth Ward.

Will have to get a pic in the daylight hours.  

[Desert Power]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Uptown "ghost" towers ie. just a handful of towers have a great deal of vacancy.

Uptown’s ghost tower problem may call for local government action - Axios Charlotte

That picture makes my head hurt.

[CLT Development]

14 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

That picture makes my head hurt.

The Rendering, let me tell ya, I wish they had asked me to create that because it would have looked so much better.

[JRCLT]

11 hours ago, midtownclt said:

Everyone check out the sinkhole on 6th Street at Settlers Place between Church St. and Pine St. in Fourth Ward.

Will have to get a pic in the daylight hours.  

We’re just gonna ignore this…? How large is it?

[Jakeupps]

According to Threads about yeh big.

https://www.threads.net/@cltdevelopment/post/C153bQhMoIY

[midtownclt]

[QCxpat]

Today's CBJ,  "Massive remake of One Wells Fargo Tower among winning proposals in Center City Partners contest" by Elise Franco

Excerpts:  "Charlotte Center City Partners is making progress in its effort to reshape the market for uptown's vintage office properties.  In September, the nonprofit sought proposals that "identify, reimagine and explore potential new uses" for aging towers.  Teams were required to have an uptown building owner, a design or development firm and a construction company."

""When we posted the competition, we put in evaluation criteria.  We didn’t want this to just be an academic exercise," he (James Labar, Center City Economic Development Director) said.  "We looked hard at proposals that were leaning into taking action, innovation and activating uptown.  All of them really talked about this ground-level public realm engagement that needs to happen." 

"James LaBar said the contest was meant to be an exercise in changing the way public and private sector leaders look at solving for market challenges."  "Four submissions were chosen with two proposals tying for first place and two tying for second, Labar said.

First Place Proposals

"A proposal from Asana Partners, SK+I Architecture and MRP Realty for 526 S. Church St.;  and a proposal from Progressive AE, Childress Klein, Archer Western and Cushman & Wakefield for One Wells Fargo took the top spot.  Each will recieve $15,000 from Charlotte-based workplace solutions firm CBI."

"One Wells Fargo at 301 S. College St. is a 42-story, 994,000-square-foot office tower built in 1988 that went into receivership in October after its loan matured last summer.  Tampa Bay, Florida-based Vision Properties currently owes about $157 million on the loan.  Plans for the property include a partial conversion and complete refurbishment of the existing office building and adjacent plaza into new office space, residential units, a multi-level urban plaza and ground-floor community uses.  The multifamily component will have 162 units, 20% of which will be reserved for those earning below the area median income.  The projected cost is about $106.5 million."

• Image - Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

"Plans for the 14-story, 778,000-square-foot building at 526 S. Church St. include complete conversion to multifamily with up to 440 units.  Conversion of the former Duke Energy Corp. headquarters, built in 1975, will also include rooftop amenity space and ground floor retail that aims to activate the area.  The project is expected to cost $251 million, which includes MRP's #35.5M acquisition of the property in December, 2022."  "Welch Liles, managing director at Asana, said about 25% of the building will be demolished to make room for a 60,000-square-foot standalone retail building on the corner of the site.  The rest of the office building will then be converted to multifamily and include a pedestrian plaza through the property."  "Liles said the plan is more financially feasible than demolishing the existing building completely and starting from the ground up.  A full demolition would have cost about $40 million, he said."  In the economic conditions we face today, we were able to save on the cost of construction on a new tower, which allows us to deliver new units at about a 20% premium," he said.  "It’s still tough to make those numbers work with lender expectations and investor expectations, and there’s still need for assistance to get (any) conversions out of the ground."  "Liles said the hope is to break ground later this year. He expects the single-phase project to take about 22 months to complete."

• Image - The Business Journals

Second Place Proposals

"CBI is also providing $2,500 to both of the second place proposals."  "The team made up of Perkins + Will and Balfour Beaty Construction was recognized for its plan to convert the 38-year-old First Citizens Plaza at 128 S Tryon St. to multifamily.  The projected $137.7 million project includes conversion of the 23-story, 528-square-foot office tower to 128 apartment units with ground-floor retail, university space, artist gallery, and health and wellness space."

• Image - CTBUH - The Skyscraper Center

"Gresham Smith, DPR Construction and Do Greater Charlotte proposal aims to rehabilitate and refurbish the 103-year-old vacant building at 500 N. Tryon St.  Do Greater, a local nonprofit, plans to make the two-story, 20,000-square-foot space its flagship location.  The project is estimated to cost about $4.7 million."

• Image - Wikipedia

Honorable Mention:  Proposals for 2 Wells Fargo Center

"Two proposals were also submitted for Two Wells Fargo Center at 325 S. Tryon St."  First, "Little Diversified Architectural Consulting's plans included a complete conversion of the 32-story office tower into a residential tower with public plaza space and ground-floor retail."  Second, "Architecture and design firm Gensler's proposal outlined a plan to convert the entire 834,563-square-foot block containing the 52-year-old office tower into a 324-unit residential tower, renovate the 12-story office building next door into modern office space, and redesign and activate the adjacent public plaza."

• Image - Charlotte Business Journal

Link:  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2024/01/10/center-city-partners-childress-klein-wells-fargo.html  (updated)

Edited January 11 by QCxpat

[RANYC]

2 minutes ago, QCxpat said:

Today's CBJ "Massive remake of One Wells Fargo Tower among winning proposals in Center City Partners contest" by Elise Franco

Excerpts:  "Charlotte Center City Partners is making progress in its effort to reshape the market for uptown's vintage office properties. In September, the nonprofit sought proposals that "identify, reimagine and explore potential new uses" for aging towers. Teams were required to have an uptown building owner, a design or development firm and a construction company."

""When we posted the competition, we put in evaluation criteria.  We didn’t want this to just be an academic exercise," he (James Labar, Center City Economic Development Director) said.  "We looked hard at proposals that were leaning into taking action, innovation and activating uptown. All of them really talked about this ground-level public realm engagement that needs to happen."

"A proposal from Asana Partners, SK+I Architecture and MRP Realty for 526 S. Church St.; and a proposal from Progressive AE, Childress Klein, Archer Western and Cushman & Wakefield for One Wells Fargo took the top spot.  Each will recieve $15,000 from Charlotte-based workplace solutions firm CBI."

"One Wells Fargo at 301 S. College St. is a 42-story, 994,000-square-foot office tower built in 1988 that went into receivership in Octobder after its loan matured last summer.  Tampa Bay, Florida-based Vision Properties currently owes about $157 million on the loan.  Plans for the property include a partial conversion and complete refurbishment of the existing office building and adjacent plaza into new office space, residential units, a multi-level urban plaza and ground-floor community uses. The multifamily component will have 162 units, 20% of which will be reserved for those earning below the area median income.  The projected cost is about $106.5 million."

• Image - Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

"Plans for the 14-story, 778,000-square-foot building at 526 S. Church St. include complete conversion to multifamily with up to 440 units. Conversion of the former Duke Energy Corp. headquarters, built in 1975, will also include rooftop amenity space and ground floor retail that aims to activate the area.  The project is expected to cost $251 million, which includes MRP's #35.5M acquisition of the property in December, 2022." 

•   Image - The Business Journals

Second Place Proposals

"CBI is also providing $2,500 to both of the second place proposals."  "The team made up of Perkins + Will and Balfour Beaty Construction was recognized for its plan to convert the 38-year-old First Citizens Plaza at 128 S Tryon St. to multifamily. The projected $137.7 million project includes conversion of the 23-story, 528-square-foot office tower to 128 apartment units with ground-floor retail, university space, artist gallery, and health and wellness space."

• Image - CTBUH - The Skyscraper Center

"Gresham Smith, DPR Construction and Do Greater Charlotte proposal aims to rehabilitate and refurbish the 103-year-old vacant building at 500 N. Tryon St.  Do Greater, a local nonprofit, plans to make the two-story, 20,000-square-foot space its flagship location.  The project is estimated to cost about $4.7 million."

• Image - OfficeSpace.com

Link:  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2024/01/10/center-city-partners-childress-klein-wells-fargo.html

Pay winners $15,000,  and then what?

[J-Rob]

22 minutes ago, RANYC said:

Pay winners $15,000,  and then what?

Yeah, can someone explain the economics of this competition to me? Are these proposals actually going to be implemented? I like the idea of the contest, but I am also surprised companies representing multi-hundred million projects invested energy to participate in this competition for $15k. Did they participate for fun and goodwill?

[Guest]

This doesn’t mean One Wells Fargo is getting a partial residential conversion, or did I miss something?

[RANYC]

Bizjournals is reporting that Johnson & Wales to convert the DoubleTree by its campus into Student Housing.  This follows the 2022 sale of a building at Pine & 5th street.  Eventually, the DoubleTree will accommodate 450 students.  Article says that J&W enrollment is at 1128, which shocked me as I thought the Charlotte campus was bigger than that.  Campus is spread across nearly 15 acres of uptown property too.  I wish there were some way to use some of this campus to create a dense, walkable yet low-rise “restaurant row,” fed by school talent or perhaps incubating emerging chefs.

Edited January 10 by RANYC

[Crucial_Infra]

3 hours ago, QCxpat said:

"Four submissions were chosen with two proposals tying for first place and two tying for second, Labar said.

Not sure it works that way but if it makes the two third place winners feel good I guess it’s ok  

[RANYC]

4 hours ago, J-Rob said:

Yeah, can someone explain the economics of this competition to me? Are these proposals actually going to be implemented? I like the idea of the contest, but I am also surprised companies representing multi-hundred million projects invested energy to participate in this competition for $15k. Did they participate for fun and goodwill?

The Brooklyn & Church contest entry involving the former Duke Energy HQ isn’t really new or needing to be revealed.  I was under the impression that was a done deal and full steam ahead.  Perhaps the contest and winning the contest were opportunities to showcase this project again and to spur developer creativity in how old could be made new again in uptown.  

Or

The development group for Brooklyn & Church are confronting a tough financing environment and passing the time entering their plans into competitions for a few grand here and there until conditions improve.

Edited January 10 by RANYC