Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[DownEast]

5 hours ago, a2theb said:

Was this the same as the Charles Johnson proposed restaurant?

Yes.

[kermit]

Interesting chart on downtown landuses from the NYT. Charlotte’s numbers seem a bit out of whack to me, I would not have guessed there was that much residential. I am also guessing that the ‘other’ category is mostly stadia. (The data are from Costar (Their data tends to be sloppy) and uses their boundary for downtown, I do not know how that boundary matches the inner 277 area).

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/upshot/downtown-office-vulnerable-even-before-covid.html

[CLT2014]

From a land use perspective, I think those numbers make sense. There is the low-rise residential housing in First Ward that's about 5x5 blocks, much of third ward is residential (between the area around Bearden and then Frazier Park area), the residential areas around Gateway Village are now larger than the office building itself, and then Fourth Ward's residential is roughly 4 x 5 blocks.

[tozmervo]

I'd love to know what counts as Washington's "downtown"

[Norm2]

Odd that they are counting everything in NYC below 59th St as downtown. I thought downtown was everything below 14th St?

[JacksonH]

12 hours ago, tozmervo said:

I'd love to know what counts as Washington's "downtown"

I was thinking the same thing.  Probably K St and Pennsylvania Avenue from near Farragut West area to Foggy Bottom.

It totally makes sense to me that San Diego is at the bottom of that list with mostly residential.  I go to a gym downtown -- East Village area -- and there are towers all around, but almost every one of them is residential.  Same thing with Little Italy on the other side of downtown.   While there are office towers in the core of downtown, most jobs are up in the UTC area in northern San Diego, not downtown.

Charlotte seems about right to me when you consider First Ward (Garden District), Third Ward and Fourth Ward.

[Blue_Devil]

6 hours ago, JacksonH said:

I was thinking the same thing.  Probably K St and Pennsylvania Avenue from near Farragut West area to Foggy Bottom.

It totally makes sense to me that San Diego is at the bottom of that list with mostly residential.  I go to a gym downtown -- East Village area -- and there are towers all around, but almost every one of them is residential.  Same thing with Little Italy on the other side of downtown.   While there are office towers in the core of downtown, most jobs are up in the UTC area in northern San Diego, not downtown.

Charlotte seems about right to me when you consider First Ward (Garden District), Third Ward and Fourth Ward.

I am also curious to what they are considering Charlottes DT. Is SouthEnd thrown in there? What are the boundaries. 

[CLT2014]

52 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

I am also curious to what they are considering Charlottes DT. Is SouthEnd thrown in there? What are the boundaries. 

Per Co-star's website, CBD is everything within the 277 loop, with the exception of the industrial properties off Clarkson leading into the Pipe and Foundry property. SouthEnd is a different sub-market. 

https://www.costar.com/about/SubmarketMaps.aspx

http://gateway.costar.com/imageviewer/GetImage.aspx?webpimage=subMktMaps/9/CBD_off.jpg

Edited July 8, 2021 by CLT2014

[kermit]

Not specific to Charlotte but Emily Badger has an excellent column on “the end of cities” prophecies.

Quote

If the past year has laid bare many underlying forces in society, this was another one: a deep-rooted discomfort — suspicion, even — about urban life in America. But now city sidewalks are returning to life, pandemic migration patterns have become clearer, and researchers have dispelled early fears that density is a primary driver of Covid-19. So it is perhaps a good time to ask: What is so alluring about the perpetually imminent End of Cities?

Why won’t that idea itself die?

In America, it has been like a virus strain mutating to the moment: Surely disease will kill cities, or congestion will, or corruption, or suburbanization, or fiscal crises, or technology, or crime, or terrorism, or this pandemic (unlike all the pandemics that came before it).
…

“Anti-urbanism is an American religion, practiced widely and frequently in ordinary times, and passionately when cities are actually in trouble,” wrote Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist at N.Y.U.

That ideological strand is particularly American and goes all the way back to Thomas Jefferson. Cities have been associated with corruption and inseparable from stereotypes about immigrants and African Americans. They’ve been viewed as unhealthy places to live, particularly for families…

To illustrate the absurdity of the ‘end of cities’ mantra she points out that no one in the UK or France is suggesting that the pandemic will alter London or Paris at all. This urban pessimism is uniquely American.

its a great piece and well worth burning one of your free NYT articles for.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/upshot/covid-cities-predictions-wrong.html

Edited July 12, 2021 by kermit

[Blue_Devil]

48 minutes ago, kermit said:

Not specific to Charlotte but Emily Badger has an excellent column on “the end of cities” prophecies.

To illustrate the absurdity of the ‘end of cities’ mantra she points out that no one in the UK or France is suggesting that the pandemic will be the end of London or Paris. This perspective is a uniquely American one.

its a great piece and well worth burning one of your free NYT articles for.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/upshot/covid-cities-predictions-wrong.html

The end of cities concept never made sense. People live in cities for the variety of options. Even in a mid size city like Charlotte, the amount of things you can do with in a 5 minute drive is staggering. Suburban life gets monotonously boring, especially if you are single or in a non child relationship. (Not for everyone of course). Rural life can be filled with daily activities, but you might have to drive 40 minutes to a grocery, so its not for everyone. 

[videtur quam contuor]

And if you think there is a housing shortage in a city try finding a quality home or really any kind of home in rural areas.

https://downhomenc.org/2021/03/24/staring-down-a-crisis-affordable-housing-in-rural-north-carolina/

[RANYC]

For the first time in ages, I went out on the town last Thursday night, and was impressed with Uptown.  In fact, I believe I preferred Uptown to South End.    Give me an elegant rooftop or divey hole on 5th street over some airy, big-box game hall in South End any day of the week.  Speaking of rooftop, from the Bohemian it did appear that a lot of units in nearby high-rise apartment buildings are vacant.  Anyone have any idea of the vacancy rate among uptown residential rentals?

Following my night out, I have confidence in the potential of actual street-fronting spaces along 5th and other streets to accommodate all sorts of carousing Charlotteans, and the Epicenter Entertainment Mall can move on to other uses.  I also believe Uptown deserves branding as the place for good-natured yet wry and somewhat ironical merry-making.  So thrilled to see this scribe by a 21 year-old Charlotte Ledger writer, recounting her night out clubbing in Uptown with her 51 year old mother.  I took my mom clubbing in uptown - The Charlotte Ledger (substack.com)

Uptown needs more entries (and promotion) like this...

Edited July 17, 2021 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

New midrise apartment complex proposed for 4th Ward at N Graham and 7th Street near the Park Plaza condos.

From the Charlotte Ledger today:

""Plans for residential building in Fourth Ward Historic District
An Alabama developer is planning an apartment building at Graham and 7th streets uptown, in the middle of the Fourth Ward Historic District.

Daniel Corp. of Birmingham would like to build a two-story parking structure with five levels of residential units on top of that, says Collin Brown of Alexander Ricks, who is representing the company in a rezoning for the project, which was filed last week. He said because plans are preliminary, he doesn’t know how many units it would contain.

Building in a historic district can be tricky, because in addition to running the usual gauntlet of city rezoning approvals, developers need the blessing of the Historic District Commission. It makes sure that new buildings fit the character of the surrounding neighborhood.

Some neighbors have expressed concerns about the proposed building’s height and its effect on traffic and parking.

The 1.7-acre site on two parcels contains an old car shop, surface parking lot and a vacant storefront that used to be Fourth Ward Bread Co. It has a façade that some neighbors have expressed interest in preserving in the design of any new building"""

[RANYC]

31 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

New midrise apartment complex proposed for 4th Ward at N Graham and 7th Street near the Park Plaza condos.

From the Charlotte Ledger today:

""Plans for residential building in Fourth Ward Historic District
An Alabama developer is planning an apartment building at Graham and 7th streets uptown, in the middle of the Fourth Ward Historic District.

Daniel Corp. of Birmingham would like to build a two-story parking structure with five levels of residential units on top of that, says Collin Brown of Alexander Ricks, who is representing the company in a rezoning for the project, which was filed last week. He said because plans are preliminary, he doesn’t know how many units it would contain.

Building in a historic district can be tricky, because in addition to running the usual gauntlet of city rezoning approvals, developers need the blessing of the Historic District Commission. It makes sure that new buildings fit the character of the surrounding neighborhood.

Some neighbors have expressed concerns about the proposed building’s height and its effect on traffic and parking.

The 1.7-acre site on two parcels contains an old car shop, surface parking lot and a vacant storefront that used to be Fourth Ward Bread Co. It has a façade that some neighbors have expressed interest in preserving in the design of any new building"""

Geez..."expressed concerns about the...effect on traffic and parking."  If a developer can't replace a car shop and parking lot in the middle of uptown without fielding complaints about traffic and parking, then will uptown Charlotte ever really "fill in"?  

Edited July 19, 2021 by RANYC

[Matthew.Brendan]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

The 1.7-acre site on two parcels contains an old car shop, surface parking lot and a vacant storefront that used to be Fourth Ward Bread Co. It has a façade that some neighbors have expressed interest in preserving in the design of any new building

What do we think UP? Place your bets on the developer saving a legit brick storefront. Haha. I think we all know the answer to that one. *starts humming Another one bites the dust*

[RANYC]

31 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

What do we think UP? Place your bets on the developer saving a legit brick storefront. Haha. I think we all know the answer to that one. *starts humming Another one bites the dust*

I know Charlotte wants to hold on to some sort of heritage, but I see this as a fairly slight and plain 2-story brick box with some ornamentation in the front.  If a developer can replicate some of that ornamentation and the materials, while giving us a fully filled-in block and a building that frames the street-scape, then I'm not looking to complicate the builder's life or the economics.

[49er]

People complain that most of the history in Charlotte was razed by previous generations yet we make the same justification now when new development is proposed to replace old building stock. 

[atlrvr]

Given this is in the Historic District and both the demolition of all existing structures and design of any new structure must be approved by the HDC, there is a chance it will be preserved, though I don't know how the current commissioners would feel about a Facadectomy.  The trend in recent years nationally in historic renovations has been against Facadectomies.  I actually suspect the commissioners would stipulate the entirely of the original building be preserved, which as you can see from aerial's is 80-100' deep, if any is to be kept.

If that's the case, they would propose replacing it, as there would be no economical way to incorporate the entire structure.

[49er]

Yeah, I remember this being done to the old Fat City in NoDa and to the storefronts on Park Ave in South End. It's much better than nothing. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

One City Center (Durham) integrated old buildings exactly like this one seamlessly.  

Edited July 19, 2021 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[carolinaboy]

I know of 2 facades in downtown Norfolk, VA that have been incorporated into new development in the last five or so years. One was for the new Hilton hotel and the other was for a mid-rise apartment building. I believe both projects are better for keeping the facades.

I like this facade in Charlotte and hope it can remain.

[DMann]

Radcliffe flowers!

[KJHburg]

Probably like this complex in Birmingham  5 floors over 2 levels.

But a facade save could be incorporated into the project.   Somehow they do this up in Raleigh 

The Palmer - Daniel Corporation

[DMann]

I would take that!

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I'm suspecting the proposed development on that site will have the look and quality of the Fifth & Popular condos to mesh with the 4th ward vibe.

A little off topic of above (but still Graham st)...you know the most discreet block on that st is the Bethune School (10th & Graham) which I pass almost daily but it's just so random and I never really pay attention to it.  I bet a lot of ppl haven't noticed it either.  It's a massive block and is near the potential silver line station...just thinking if that area were to be redeveloped, would make that intersection feel a lot safer and friendlier for foot traffic.

Edited July 19, 2021 by CharlotteWkndBuzz