Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[nashbill]

Well Belk is much nicer in NC, especially at the Charlotte flagship. Since Nashville is a smaller city, I am willing to bet Belk at SouthPark will be on par with the new Nordstrom at Green Hills. Even my store in Asheville has brands such as Michael Kors, Lacoste, Vince Camuto, Bobbi Brown, Eileen Fisher, etc.

I have no doubt that the SouthPark store is much nicer. It was the Belk I shopped at. I lived in Charlotte for 20 years. Or any Belk attached to a mall is nicer. My point is Belk has stopped building mall type stores. There new business model seems to build only in Life Style centers, or whatever they call those massive delelopments. I have been to the Belk around Nashville. I went in wondering where is the rest of the men's department. As far as the Nordstrom, it will probably be as nice as the Nordstrom there.

Don't get me wrong. I think a department store in uptown/downtown in either city would be great. The cities that still have them should hold onto them. To bad both Belk and Ivey's left there uptown locations years ago. I shopped at both.

[caterpillar2]

I have no doubt that the SouthPark store is much nicer. It was the Belk I shopped at. I lived in Charlotte for 20 years. Or any Belk attached to a mall is nicer. My point is Belk has stopped building mall type stores. There new business model seems to build only in Life Style centers, or whatever they call those massive delelopments. I have been to the Belk around Nashville. I went in wondering where is the rest of the men's department. As far as the Nordstrom, it will probably be as nice as the Nordstrom there.

Don't get me wrong. I think a department store in uptown/downtown in either city would be great. The cities that still have them should hold onto them. To bad both Belk and Ivey's left there uptown locations years ago. I shopped at both.

I believe that with the increasing uptown population and the rail, a store like Belks or Steinmart would do well. Belks would definately need to rebuild a "bargin basement" like the old Belks uptown. I loved that place. It had a thrieving cafateria too. Surely there are enough wealth people in the metro that supports a department store and would buy stock. I surely would.

[New Name]

Surely there are enough wealth people in the metro that supports a department store and would buy stock. I surely would.

I just think about how many young professionals and young families (30s) live in just my neighborhood...let alone all the other inner ring neighborhoods. Surely I can't be the only one that thinks going to the suburbs is inconvenient.

EDIT: I was elated when we got a city movie theater and bowling alley!

Edited July 7, 2011 by The Escapists

[krazeeboi]

I just think about how many young professionals and young families (30s) live in just my neighborhood...let alone all the other inner ring neighborhoods. Surely I can't be the only one that thinks going to the suburbs is inconvenient.

No, but it's just not enough of you guys...yet.

[southslider]

^Frankly, it's ok that the big chains ignore the latest in-town demographics, as that provides small business opportunities, whether it's for indies or smaller chains.

Ok, so H&M awaits a South Park location, and American Apparel leaves South End. But in the meantime, we have Revolution, Hong Kong and Buffalo Exchange.

Whole Foods selects South Park over Elizabeth, and Reid's leaves Uptown. Meanwhile, Trader Joes makes a killing in Midtown. Target adds groceries. And Harris Teeter plans redevelopment of their Plaza-Midwood and Myers Park stores.

The market often awards risk takers, be it a chain that took a chance on Metropolitan (high rents), or the indie that opened in Plaza-Midwood (lower rents). The newest and largest generation living in and around Uptown can't be ignored forever.

Chains just need to get out of their comfort zone to expand market share. Unlike Baby Boomers, Gen-Y doesn't shop at generic stores or strip centers. Retailers who provide a unique experience and/or an urban location, are finding untapped rewards.

And once a small business is rewarded, the bigger fish take notice. For example, Buffalo Exchange did open after Hong Kong. And Harris Teeter finally committed to upgrading stores, after Trader Joes opened and Target expanded (and perhaps also as a pre-emptive strike against Whole Foods).

Retail ultimately follows rooftops. South End may have some vacancies now, but demand is growing in-town, while contracting elsewhere. But even if retailers notice this urban undercurrent of pent-up demand, they may just be too small to afford the current rents, if not too big or stuck in their chain-store ways.

[kermit]

....Retail ultimately follows rooftops....

This truism has been used a couple of times in this thread. While its a useful abstraction it does overlook other important elements in the downtown retail location process.

Eastland mall provides an example of the problem wiith this perspective-- the number of "rooftops" didn't change over the years, but the relative level of household income dropped dramatically, resulting in mall death.

While central Charlotte may still lack rooftops it is seeing a skyrocketing growth in the total number of available dollars. While the 2010 census generally reported an underwhelming growth in intown populations, I suspect we will see strong growth in income when the detailed data are released. I would bet on the downtown retail situation to change quickly once the first pioneer stores arrive.

Edited July 9, 2011 by kermit

[101_ce]

I have no doubt that the SouthPark store is much nicer. It was the Belk I shopped at. I lived in Charlotte for 20 years. Or any Belk attached to a mall is nicer. My point is Belk has stopped building mall type stores. There new business model seems to build only in Life Style centers, or whatever they call those massive delelopments. I have been to the Belk around Nashville. I went in wondering where is the rest of the men's department. As far as the Nordstrom, it will probably be as nice as the Nordstrom there.

Don't get me wrong. I think a department store in uptown/downtown in either city would be great. The cities that still have them should hold onto them. To bad both Belk and Ivey's left there uptown locations years ago. I shopped at both.

Oh okay haha! It definitely is a nice store. I really don't think Belk has opened any mall-quality stores in lifestyle centers yet, except for The Summit and The Shops at River Crossing in Macon. The Macon store is probably much nicer than the other Macon store, which is mall-based.

[caterpillar2]

I just think about how many young professionals and young families (30s) live in just my neighborhood...let alone all the other inner ring neighborhoods. Surely I can't be the only one that thinks going to the suburbs is inconvenient.

EDIT: I was elated when we got a city movie theater and bowling alley!

Me too. I was embarrassed to think that we had neither. At one time, there were several theaters (Fox, Carolina, Imperial, Charlotte) downtownas well as many other cool venues.

[New Name]

I bet this is mentioned somewhere else in another topic - but - Uptown Harris Teeter has an Asian hot-bar now! This was the renovation in the deli section....sweet! I know it's not much, but only Morocroft and Cotswold had a 7-day-a-week-11am-7pm hot-bar. Think about what this implies: there are enough young/single/on-the-go types in Uptown now to support a buffet Harris Teeter hot-bar 7 days a week!

[sleightofhand]

I'm having trouble remembering the name but the parking deck that was built near Bobcats arena recently that was The Green or something like that. Anyway, I spoke with a friend who's working on a project to get some major retail in the base of the parking deck and building a hotel one the small piece of land right beside it. TFWIW.

[Guest]

I'm having trouble remembering the name but the parking deck that was built near Bobcats arena recently that was The Green or something like that. Anyway, I spoke with a friend who's working on a project to get some major retail in the base of the parking deck and building a hotel one the small piece of land right beside it. TFWIW.

You shoudl be able to find a thread for it called "Center City Green"

[HopHead]

Anyway, I spoke with a friend who's working on a project to get some major retail in the base of the parking deck and building a hotel one the small piece of land right beside it. TFWIW.

Interesting... So there's the rumored W hotel at the old 210 Trade site and now potentially another hotel nearby? Personally, I think apartments should be at one of those two locations. Especially given how well rental units are doing around town.

[15895]

The area around the arena, transit station, and epicenter is going to make uptown an undisbuted destination.

[nonillogical]

This seemed to fit as well in this thread as any, but as I was riding around the cultural campus yesterday I noticed a lot of newly-posted maps of the area, complete with a key to all the retail spaces, the new info here being the specific locations for Emeril's restaurant, Emzy, and Mizan. It looked like work was going on in all of these spaces already. Flex + Fit and Energy Cafe are already open, and I think Q Sundries & Dry Cleaning may be as well. There will be a few retail spaces remaining open, 2 on the Duke Energy breezeway and 2 at the Church St. side of the Mint Museum. Overall, a lot more retail spaces than I thought there were, so that's pretty exciting.

Habasaki grill across the street in the Ally building is coming along, and I was surprised to see next to it a sign saying Coming Soon: American Roadhouse Burger Bar. I didn't even know there were 2 retail spaces in that building.

[tozmervo]

"7venth Public Market" is the new name for the market going into Reid's former joint at 7th Street Station. Sounds Svedish.

http://obsbite.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-city-market-has-name.html

[DMann]

From the Charlotte Business Journal:

I spoke with Clay Landers at Camden Management Partners in Atlanta today, who called me after reading this story (now updated) from Friday's print edition. Landers, a partner at Camden, had some news to share: Pursuit Group, he says, is no longer a partner in the Carolina Theatre project in uptown Charlotte.

Pursuit Group had been the lead developer on the Carolina Theatre project and the main principal in CMP Carolina Theatre, the development entity with an option to purchase the uptown property from the city. Pursuit Group had planned a high-end condo project called Encore attached to the theater, which would be preserved.

Camden is now focusing on an office and retail development at the site. Pursuit Group, headed by developer Jim Donnelly, is working with CMP as a consultant only, Landers says.

"We invited them into the partnership for that structure, and that ultimately did not work out," he says. "They are a welcome consultant to the extent they can contribute anything. It's still a strong deal, it's just a very different application than what (Donnelly) was pursuing."

Landers says he is working to finalize financing for Encore and still intends to preserve the Carolina Theatre as part of the mixed-use project.

CMP has until Dec. 1 to purchase the property. The city granted CMP a two-year extension on its option to purchase the land back in 2009.

Edited July 26, 2011 by DMann

[Spartan]

Interesting... So there's the rumored W hotel at the old 210 Trade site and now potentially another hotel nearby? Personally, I think apartments should be at one of those two locations. Especially given how well rental units are doing around town.

A certain event in September of next year may have an influence on the hotel rumors.

[southslider]

Add 200 apartments to Uptown at the corner of Stonewall and McDowell. According to The Observer, the City is selling the 2.2 acres of surplus I-277 right-of-way for $4 million, which will help pay off the NASCAR Hall of Fame loan and the new Caldwell/South interchange.

[rjp212]

Add 200 apartments to Uptown at the corner of Stonewall and McDowell. According to The Observer, the City is selling the 2.2 acres of surplus I-277 right-of-way for $4 million, which will help pay off the NASCAR Hall of Fame loan and the new Caldwell/South interchange.

Here's to hoping it's not suburban in style.

[nonillogical]

Here's to hoping it's not suburban in style.

Why would you assume it would be? Nothing too "suburban" is going to get approved there.

This is a pretty small parcel, right? So if it's 200 units, it might be in the 6-7 story range. Exciting to get some more residential around there! The transition from uptown to Dilworth should become much nicer, especially if we could get some minor pedestrian improvements to the McDowell/277 underpass.

[HopHead]

Where exactly is the news article (or some reference) that says an apartment building will be going into that parcel?

Edited July 27, 2011 by dbull75

[Guest]

Here's to hoping it's not suburban in style.

Based on the developer, hawkins-dixon... things don't look good, here is their only project to date.

However, 100 units per acre sounds pretty decent to me though for a former parking lot... This is the gateway from Dilworth to Uptown, so anything we can get is ok, as long as it looks great!

EDIT: There is a parent company called Proffit-Dixon, who is developing Fountains at New Bern Station, this is more what i expect to be built on the land.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Guest

[kermit]

Where exactly is the news article (or some reference) that says an apartment building will be going into that parcel?

I am also confused about the location. This is the only Observer article I can find discussing the apartments http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/27/2483578/city-aids-w-trade-plan.html but it contains now specifics beyond: the parcel is "near the Interstate 277 interchange with Caldwell Street." I didn't think anything near McDowell was part of the interchange reconfiguration.

[Guest]

I am also confused about the location. This is the only Observer article I can find discussing the apartments http://www.charlotte...trade-plan.html but it contains now specifics beyond: the parcel is "near the Interstate 277 interchange with Caldwell Street." I didn't think anything near McDowell was part of the interchange reconfiguration.

This part was not actually reclaimed from 277 but it is included in the parcels as "Parcel 5" I read the meeting transcript and its indeed Parcel 5 at the intersection of McDowell and Stonewall. Which is the parking lot shown here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mcdowell+and+stonewall+charlotte,+nc&hl=en&ll=35.216874,-80.84105&spn=0.015602,0.031028&oe=UTF-8&z=16&layer=c&cbll=35.21647,-80.840468&panoid=IpbYQ37q32G2jRYX53AMOA&cbp=12,271.81,,0,-2.93

Its the second smallest of the parcels for sale. As long as it looks like Fountains at New bern Station I think we will be fine.

[southslider]

^^Considering these 2 acres of Uptown are zoned UMUD, I'd say it's a safe bet that the ~200 apartments won't be suburban-looking.

And the Council July 25th agenda item can be found online, including the site map:

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/CityClerk/CouncilRelated/Documents/Agenda%20Attachments/2011/07-25-2011/7.pdf

Edited July 27, 2011 by southslider