Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[RANYC]

5 hours ago, carolinaboy said:

I know there has been discussion about the abundance of surface parking in Uptown. Thanks to Urbanlooker on the Norfolk page for this link:

Parking in downtowns/uptowns

We're not all that bad on a relative basis

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous uptown shots.  It is good to see the streets crowded or somewhat crowded with people (of course this was Wednesday and saw quite a few lines at places to eat)  However I did notice all the retail in the Overstreet Mall at 200 South College the old BB&T Center has been closed.   I am guessing it is did not survive the Covid work from home.   I know it is still light on certain weekdays uptown like Friday.   Crane up at the Moxy.  The places open and serving lunch seem to be doing good even Capital Grille had diners on the patio.  

[TCLT]

5 hours ago, RANYC said:

We're not all that bad on a relative basis

It excludes pretty much all of first and second wards which are the worst surface lot offenders though. But amazing tool overall. 

[CLT Development]

6 hours ago, RANYC said:

We're not all that bad on a relative basis

on our tour of Greensboro, Taiwo said Greensboro was 36% and Raleigh and Charlotte were in the mid 20%s

[KJHburg]

12 hours ago, TCLT said:

It excludes pretty much all of first and second wards which are the worst surface lot offenders though. But amazing tool overall. 

I did not realize that until I moved the map around they did not include most of N Tryon and 1st ward areas.  I think that would put us a little higher.  I travel the southeast and Texas and all their major cities and there is not a single city that can match Uptown Charlotte with vacant or underused land in their downtown area.  (and that is because of 1st and 2nd wards)   

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I did not realize that until I moved the map around they did not include most of N Tryon and 1st ward areas.  I think that would put us a little higher.  I travel the southeast and Texas and all their major cities and there is not a single city that can match Uptown Charlotte with vacant or underused land in their downtown area.  (and that is because of 1st and 2nd wards)   

I have to take issue with you here.  I'm in Dallas and Fort Worth all the time, and I see a massive amount of under-utilized lots.  Yes, there are some nice stretches/nice bustling corridors, but there are plenty of highway-adjacent wastelands as well.  I've yet to see anything quite like 4th ward in Dallas.

Edited August 25, 2023 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

3 hours ago, RANYC said:

I have to take issue with you here.  I'm in Dallas and Fort Worth all the time, and I see a massive amount of under-utilized lots.  Yes, there are some nice stretches/nice bustling corridors, but there are plenty of highway-adjacent wastelands as well.  I've yet to see anything quite like 4th ward in Dallas.

I am talking  about acres of surface parking and or abandoned buildings as we have uptown Hal Marshall Center, the brooklyn village office buildings all empty and rotting, rotting parking deck that has never completed and acres of gravel parking lots.  Yes underutilized  places in Dallas and Houston but we have a huge share of them ourselves.  Mecklenburg County and Levine Properties are the two worst offenders of this.  

[RANYC]

10 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I am talking  about acres of surface parking and or abandoned buildings as we have uptown Hal Marshall Center, the brooklyn village office buildings all empty and rotting, rotting parking deck that has never completed and acres of gravel parking lots.  Yes underutilized  places in Dallas and Houston but we have a huge share of them ourselves.  Mecklenburg County and Levine Properties are the two worst offenders of this.  

Oh yea, forgot about the Levine garage.  You're right, we're somewhat unique in having such a vertically prominent blight in such a high-profile spot near our downtown.  And it's been there for years, and it actually encompasses an entire block when you include both the multi-story garage and its concrete "stonehenge" context.  And yes, there's the Hal Marshal Center for Vagrancy Studies.  If you pretend it's a center of anthropology for vagrancy studies surrounded by a campus of its core subjects, your visitors will give it a pass and may even be impressed.

[CLT Development]

2 hours ago, RANYC said:

Oh yea, forgot about the Levine garage.  You're right, we're somewhat unique in having such a vertically prominent blight in such a high-profile spot near our downtown.  And it's been there for years, and it actually encompasses an entire block when you include both the multi-story garage and its concrete "stonehenge" context.  And yes, there's the Hal Marshal Center for Vagrancy Studies.  If you pretend it's a center of anthropology for vagrancy studies surrounded by a campus of its core subjects, your visitors will give it a pass and may even be impressed.

I'm going to call it that from now on. The Hal Marshall Center for Vagrancy Studies. 

[hinsp0]

I will be teaching Vagrology 101 this fall at the UNCC uptown campus.  I will also be teaching a seminar on the daily migration to and from the men’s shelter.

In all seriousness, I hate to be crass and sarcastic about this.  We need to find a constructive solution.  The root is that we have a mental health and substance abuse crisis and we need resources designed to compassionately support those who struggle with substance abuse and grave emotional and mental conditions.  It would be great to see Charlotte become a model for treatment of those who for so long have been villanized.

[Windsurfer]

9 minutes ago, hinsp0 said:

I will be teaching Vagrology 101 this fall at the UNCC uptown campus.  I will also be teaching a seminar on the daily migration to and from the men’s shelter.

In all seriousness, I hate to be crass and sarcastic about this.  We need to find a constructive solution.  The root is that we have a mental health and substance abuse crisis and we need resources designed to compassionately support those who struggle with substance abuse and grave emotional and mental conditions.  It would be great to see Charlotte become a model for treatment of those who for so long have been villanized.

Follow Portland. They're ahead of the game since they've had so many problems in the past several years. The latest city councilman, who unseated Hardesty, a very liberal person, came up with what I think is a valid strategy. He categorized homeless folks into 1) those who are on the run from the law, 2) those who are down on their luck due to bills and medical issues, 3)those who are mentally ill, and 4)those who are just looking for an adventure.  Not all are equal, and if you treat each of those categories appropriately you'll see some improvement. IE, those running from the law get jailed,  those who are experiencing crisis get help, those who are mentally ill get their own help, and the ones looking for adventure get nudged to move on. 

[kermit]

While it is super easy to dismiss homeless folks as assuming there is something 'wrong' with them, it really looks like most contempoary homelessness is caused by high housing costs. Things like wait lists for subsidized housing, stagnant wages (until recently), gentrification removing what little NOAH remained, auto purchase/insurance/maintenance costs have all made housing substantially more difficult to access. Fortunately its much easier to solve housing supply problems than mental health issues.

Anecdotally, I did a bunch of exploring in Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit in June and homelessness did not appear to be a big issue in any of those towns. Conversely, I was shocked by the large number of homeless encampments I saw just across the border in Hamilton (where Toronto proximity has driven up housing prices).

[causes of homelessness aside, I often work at UNCC Uptown and take transit there. I completely agree that the neighborhood has become increasingly uncomfortable over the past few years]

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by kermit

[KJHburg]

2 new office tenants sign onto One South Plaza aka old BofA Plaza at 101 S Tryon.  One a local relocation of a law firm Fox Rothschild and one a  new to market unnamed bank with no local offices presently.  They leased 10.834 sq ft.  These 2 tenants took a 20,000 sq ft of space in this tower.   I am curious about this new bank to our market.  

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/08/29/fox-rothschild-one-south-uptown-office-tourmaline.html

Other uptown news the new Monarch Food Hall in the One Independence Blvd across the Square from this tower announces 3 new tenants. 

https://charlotte.axios.com/321119/a-new-food-hall-is-coming-to-uptown/

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

2 new office tenants sign onto One South Plaza aka old BofA Plaza at 101 S Tryon.  One a local relocation of a law firm Fox Rothschild and one a  new to market unnamed bank with no local offices presently.  They leased 10.834 sq ft.  These 2 tenants took a 20,000 sq ft of space in this tower.   I am curious about this new bank to our market.  

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/08/29/fox-rothschild-one-south-uptown-office-tourmaline.html

Other uptown news the new Monarch Food Hall in the One Independence Blvd across the Square from this tower announces 3 new tenants. 

https://charlotte.axios.com/321119/a-new-food-hall-is-coming-to-uptown/

I believe The article also mentioned an IT firm that took 15k square feet in March with an option to expand to 23k.

Edited August 29, 2023 by RANYC

[RANYC]

Is the Bread Company apartment project located in Fourth Ward and developed by Daniel Corp still on?

[KJHburg]

8 hours ago, RANYC said:

Is the Bread Company apartment project located in Fourth Ward and developed by Daniel Corp still on?

Yes as far as I know they just do 1-2 apartment complexes a year and they had to get all the historical district approvals.  

[DJ8hep]

Some captures today today! (Library demo prep seems to be underway a little bit)

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by DJ8hep

[kermit]

The new World Cities rankings from GaWc have been released. Charlotte was in the Gamma class in 2018, Gamma plus in 2020, but we have been demoted two classes to Gamma minus in 2022. I did not dig into why the decline occurred, but based on recent discussions here it does not surprise me.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by kermit

[atlrvr]

I went to their website, and oh my is it a train wreck.  I actually have no opinion, since they don't lay out a clear methodology.  The data sets used are from the 1990's up through 2014.  Perhaps some of these are refreshed annually, but that isn't available if they are.  They have open source code for R to measure connectivity, which I guess looks fine.

I suspect some data is regularly updated, and other data isn't, just based on inputs.  So something like Charlotte losing international flights could have major impacts.

[Rufus]

7 hours ago, atlrvr said:

I went to their website, and oh my is it a train wreck.  I actually have no opinion, since they don't lay out a clear methodology.  The data sets used are from the 1990's up through 2014.  Perhaps some of these are refreshed annually, but that isn't available if they are.  They have open source code for R to measure connectivity, which I guess looks fine.

I suspect some data is regularly updated, and other data isn't, just based on inputs.  So something like Charlotte losing international flights could have major impacts.

From my understanding from a friend at Loughborough University, where the GAWC began, it's measured by some weird data, mostly having to do with global business and relevance. One look and seeing Luxembourg as a supposed Alpha city says everything you need to know, IMO

[tito_m9]

23 hours ago, kermit said:

The new World Cities rankings from GaWc have been released. Charlotte was in the Gamma class in 2018, Gamma plus in 2020, but we have been demoted two classes to Gamma minus in 2022. I did not dig into why the decline occurred, but based on recent discussions here it does not surprise me.

 

 

i still think it's pretty cool NC has 2 cities on this list, even though raleigh is in the sufficiency category. 

[KJHburg]

Major law firm will move to new never occupied space at 615 Regions and occupy less square footage than their current office at 550 South Tryon, the Wells owned building.

""Chicago-based law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman is vacating its longtime uptown Charlotte office, opting for a smaller space.

Katten signed a 10-year lease last week for a 31,38-square-foot space at Regions 615, located at 615 S. College St. Karen Nelson, local managing partner, said the firm will occupy a full floor and a small portion of a second floor at the top of the 17-story, 360,000-square-foot building.

The firm currently occupies two full floors at 550 S. Tryon St., the former Duke Energy headquarters, where Nelson said it has been since the building opened in 2009. It leases just under 50,000 square feet there.""

brings Regions to 99% leased. 

Katten Muchin Rosenman to move to smaller office in uptown Charlotte - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

though not mentioned in the article I am sure Wells Fargo will take over their space in their building which they have yet to rename.  

[atlrvr]

While this is a downsize of ~15k feet, they were pushed out by WF expanding (as KJ notes), and filling an empty spot at 615 Regions that was vacated (i think by Little Architecture downsizing).

Feels like a win.  The last bit of primo space still available is the old Ally space on Church, and then obviously 600 S Tryon (Legacy 3) after it comes on-line.

201 S College (Charlotte Plaza) and 301 S College (old 1 WF) are a bit of a challenge, and will have to compete on price (which is really tough now, as the companies that would used to be "value" space tenants are now the ones pretending to care about employee flexibility and go as remote as possible)

400 S Tryon is toast.....after thinking about it a bit more, I do think a conversion works here, but basically with "loggias" for the facades on the wider ends of the buildings.  I'm not creative enough to see any other way, unless there is massive unmet demand for data/switching centers in Uptown.

[KJHburg]

400 South Tryon is the building I worry about the most.  Cut out balconies on front and side from top to bottom interior storage units on each floor in the center core around the elevators. I am telling there has to be a way but might be cost prohibitive.  But they seem to be able to do it in Dallas with towers of big floorplates somehow.    All these apartments seem to have storage problems and maybe like walk in closets on each floor for the tenants would be hook for many. 

I think the jukebox aka 301 South College aka One Wells Fargo can be an office building.  They really did some nice upgrades and it has quite a few law firms in there now.   Charlotte Plaza I wish they would bring back a restaurant or something to the top floor.   The value of 400 South Tryon will plummet if it is 90% empty and thus its tax value that is why these conversions might need to be incented with tax abatments or something.  

some Dallas examples

look at this CityPlace tower former home of 7-11 USA HQ 

DMN: NexPoint To Redevelop Dallas’ Cityplace Tower with Hotel, Apartments by 2025 » Dallas Innovates  a hotel and apartments and office space in one huge tower

Iconic downtown Dallas building will transform offices into residences - CultureMap Dallas

Downtown Dallas office space is being converted into housing - Axios Dallas

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Photos of some of the office buildings that could or should be converted to other uses:  400 South Tryon,  301 South Tryon aka 2 Wells Fargo and the  historic Johnston Building which would be a great apartment tower in a historic setting.  

A local Charlotte example of 230 South Tryon condos and this was once the NC Federal S&L office building that was converted to condos.  

Edited September 14, 2023 by KJHburg