Misc. Uptown Projects/News

[RANYC]

24 minutes ago, Rufus said:

This wording is a little off -- makes it sound like you have to "check-in" to use the facilities. But, I won't split hairs in terminology. 

Bryant Park has free public bathrooms and they are heavily maintained daily, including tracking totals of users for each bathroom. I'd say look and hope for that kind of investment, and it'll pay off.  The head of the Bryant Park Corporation, the organization that maintains the park, is noted as saying that the bathroom is the most important asset to the park. Other parks try to imitate it, but they don't allocate staff to their bathrooms as frequently. 

Yes, not worth splitting hairs.  Check-in is a catchall term.  Can be read in multiple ways including having to obtain a key to access locked, single-occupant facilities.

[KJHburg]

31 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Aren't there free public restrooms at Bearden Park and First Ward Park? 

Yes in both parks there are restrooms they may not be open 24/7 but open during the day I know.  

[carolinaboy]

Does anyone have a good estimate of the number of homeless in the uptown area and surrounding center city core?

[carolinaboy]

According to mecklenburghousingdata.org there are 3,162 people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, 588 of which are experiencing "chronic homelessness". I'm not great with this kind of data but I assume these 588 could be mostly the homeless that wander around the uptown area.

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous photos and uptown was busy today as Tuesday is the new Monday and Thursday is the new Friday.  

[DJ8hep]

Awesome update @CLT Development!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3p6_c8s-VK/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Edited February 22 by DJ8hep

[KJHburg]

this is good news for the uptown office market as it is the biggest lease in quite a while uptown.  Triust Insurance that they are selling off is staying uptown and moving in the 550 South Caldwell building aka Nascar Plaza.  Even though they are taking sublease space it is taking a big block of sublease space off the market. 

Truist Insurance Holdings moves uptown Charlotte HQ - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""Truist Insurance Holdings Inc. has moved its uptown Charlotte headquarters from Truist Center.

The insurance brokerage is subleasing 69,271 square feet from Vaya Health on floors 15, 16 and 17. Keith Bell, Cushman & Wakefield executive managing director, said Truist Insurance Holdings moved in earlier this month.

Bell told Charlotte Business Journal that the floor plan, as well as the building's location, made 550 South a good fit for the company's headquarters.  

"The existing floor plan and structure fit their ease and requirements to a T, and it has a really good executive floor," he said. "They like that part of town because it’s up and coming, and (550 South) is a very professional building."

Bell and Matt Bowen, managing director of Cushman's tenant representation team, handled negotiations on behalf of Truist Insurance Holdings. Cousins Properties owns the building, at 550 S. Caldwell St.

John Howard, chairman and chief executive officer of Truist Insurance Holdings, said in a news release today that the new office space reflects the company's commitment to its clients and employees.

"In keeping with that goal, our new headquarters provides facilities designed to foster creativity, innovation and productivity," he said. "Equally as exciting, we’re able to bring together our Charlotte-area employees in one location while providing the various segments of our organization with office suites on the three floors we will occupy."

550 South is currently 96% leased, Bell said. That figure includes four floors that are vacant and available for sublease. The 20-story, 395,000-square-foot tower opened in 2009. The tower, previously called NASCAR Plaza, was renamed in 2021.""

this answers my question I asked in the BankTown thread about hoping where this would end up and uptown is great! 

[KJHburg]

this mysterious apartment complex that is rising at N Tryon right outside the 277 loop.  I only say that because not much is know about the developer or the what it will finally look like.   Due to road blockage I was able to get some good photos of this one.  It is up to 9 floors of cinder block construction and I have no idea how tall it will be .   The apartment complex mostly likely to survive a category 4 hurricane here in Charlotte. 

[CLT Development]

14 hours ago, KJHburg said:

this mysterious apartment complex that is rising at N Tryon right outside the 277 loop.  I only say that because not much is know about the developer or the what it will finally look like.   Due to road blockage I was able to get some good photos of this one.  It is up to 9 floors of cinder block construction and I have no idea how tall it will be .   The apartment complex mostly likely to survive a category 4 hurricane here in Charlotte. 

Developer is Silver Hill Real Estate out of Columbus, Ohio, The project is 232 units, 260 parking spaces, and thats about it. It's called "Silver Hills NoDa" but I hope they figure out just how far away they are from NoDa. I emailed them this morning to ask for a rendering.

[Vitamin_N]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

 The apartment complex mostly likely to survive a category 4 hurricane here in Charlotte. 

Hopefully there won't be any earthquakes.

[Guest]

Connectivity in this area is utterly disastrous. I can’t wrap my head around how all of these units are being built without proper infrastructure improvements. I hardly think tenants will be walking anywhere from apartments like this one or the one further up Tryon tucked next to the tracks with no easy access. Which means they will drive, and this area isn’t made for that either. I expect high vacancies for quite awhile and hopefully a reevaluation of what gets built and in what order.

[CLT2014]

Where do people grocery shop that live in that stretch hugging 277 on the north side of Uptown? Do they tend to go to the tiny HT in Fourth Ward or Food Lion in NoDa? The Plaza HT seems like fighting a lot of traffic patterns.

[RANYC]

Spent the past 2 weeks in Nashville, Asheville and Charleston.  It struck me that they're all richly "stroll-worthy," with plenty of storefront interfaces & pedestrian engagement within the streetscape across very large swaths of their urban centers.  Charlotte seems to simply lacks this.  Major gap.  Not sure how something like that gets corrected quickly. 

5 hours ago, MothBeast said:

Connectivity in this area is utterly disastrous. I can’t wrap my head around how all of these units are being built without proper infrastructure improvements. I hardly think tenants will be walking anywhere from apartments like this one or the one further up Tryon tucked next to the tracks with no easy access. Which means they will drive, and this area isn’t made for that either. I expect high vacancies for quite awhile and hopefully a reevaluation of what gets built and in what order.

I wonder if in the era of cheap money / low interest rates, it was enough to move a project forward, site unseen, just based on glossy high-level statistics about the surrounding area.  I've driven by this project a bunch (I don't dare walk), and it feels very disconnected and in a very unappealing block.  If folks on here are telling me apartment vacancies are high in uptown, I don't see how this project fares all that well.  

Edited February 26 by RANYC

[Rickybobby]

14 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

Where do people grocery shop that live in that stretch hugging 277 on the north side of Uptown? Do they tend to go to the tiny HT in Fourth Ward or Food Lion in NoDa? The Plaza HT seems like fighting a lot of traffic patterns.

We live in Brightwalk, I got to the HT in Southend and my wife typically goes to the Plaza HT. 

Wayne's Supermarket or mini uptown HT for any last minute simple needs.

[KJHburg]

Plus a Sprouts is coming soon just not announced likely at 36th and N Tryon in the ground floor of that apartment complex.  Plus there is a Compare Foods at N Tryon and Sugar Creek which is busy all the time.  But more grocers are coming.  One was coming to the Johnston Y site before that all fell apart.  

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Really need/want that Publix to come to fruition near the sky houses. Is that project officially dead? I think I remember some talks a long time ago that the project was shifting from office to residential but not sure. Need another full grocer option other than Whole Foods uptown. 

Edited February 26 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[CLT Development]

11 hours ago, RANYC said:

Spent the past 2 weeks in Nashville, Asheville and Charleston.  It struck me that they're all richly "stroll-worthy," with plenty of storefront interfaces & pedestrian engagement within the streetscape across very large swaths of their urban centers.  Charlotte seems to simply lacks this.  Major gap.  Not sure how something like that gets corrected quickly. 

I wonder if in the era of cheap money / low interest rates, it was enough to move a project forward, site unseen, just based on glossy high-level statistics about the surrounding area.  I've driven by this project a bunch (I don't dare walk), and it feels very disconnected and in a very unappealing block.  If folks on here are telling me apartment vacancies are high in uptown, I don't see how this project fares all that well.  

I don't know if it could be corrected quickly, most of the charm these cities have is more or less illegal with modern zoning. It would require Charlotte to have been as large a center for industry along a river (timber, concrete) like Nashville. Or a town originally propped up by the richest family in America (Vanderbilts). And don't get me started on exactly how Charleston was created, because while it was a major hub for boats and shipping, it was also THE major center for Chattel slavery. Charlotte just never had quite as much of the stock of Main Street architecture as Nashville or Charleston. It did however have a similar amount as Asheville but boomed during a time when people were tearing down historical architecture, unlike the other three cities which had their booms much more contemporarily when history was saved. 

[videtur quam contuor]

Asheville took on major debt in the time just before the Great Depression and then committed to paying their debts rather than bankruptcy as some other cities chose. It took forty years or so to complete the bond payments and during that time no projects were begun that required debt (generally). This meant that the glory period of Asheville remained and by the time the late 20th century arrived the city was ready to honor their heritage rather than losing it to the "modernity" of the mid 20th century as happened to so many other cities. 

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/02/05/answer-man-ashevilles-depression-era-debt-repaid/22933669/

[CLT Development]

20 minutes ago, videtur quam contuor said:

Asheville took on major debt in the time just before the Great Depression and then committed to paying their debts rather than bankruptcy as some other cities chose. It took forty years or so to complete the bond payments and during that time no projects were begun that required debt (generally). This meant that the glory period of Asheville remained and by the time the late 20th century arrived the city was ready to honor their heritage rather than losing it to the "modernity" of the mid 20th century as happened to so many other cities. 

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/02/05/answer-man-ashevilles-depression-era-debt-repaid/22933669/

This is fantastic extra context to "but boomed during a time when people were tearing down historical architecture, unlike the other three cities which had their booms much more contemporarily when history was saved."

[KJHburg]

Because this site is a whole city owned block this needs to be put here as it is important to uptown.  Basically integrating this in any new transportation center is dead (which I did not think was a good idea anyway as the Hornets want this facility a whole quicker than the city wants to redo the transportation center.) 

from the Biz Journal tonight

 

""The Charlotte Hornets want to build a bigger and more expensive practice facility than originally planned and locate it on a stand-alone site behind Spectrum Center, according to details shared today by city government.

A presentation to Charlotte City Council estimated the team investment in the practice center at $70 million to $100 million, making the total cost $100 million to $130 million. The changes proposed by the city and team would reshuffle the financing of a portion of the $275 million package approved in 2022 to overhaul the city-owned NBA arena and build the practice facility.

As part of the revised agreement, the Hornets will have five years to decide whether they want to build additional privately funded projects on the site, such as a hotel. City government estimates that, assuming the training center and hotel are built on the site, the projects will generate $18 million in county and city property tax revenue over a 15-year period.

Dodson estimated the practice center will occupy about 60% of the property, or 1.9 acres. The site at 501 E. Trade St. has an appraised value of $20.6 million, according to property records.

“A state-of-the-art practice facility is a necessity within today’s NBA from a competitive standpoint and impacts several aspects of a team, including health and wellness, skill development and player recruitment,” Hornets Chief Operating Officer and Interim President James Jordan told CBJ in a statement. “Having our new practice facility as part of a bigger, more integrated and more impactful mixed-use development demonstrates the commitment, the investment and the vision we have for elevating our organization and enhancing our community.”""

Charlotte Hornets, city propose new site, timeline - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Edited February 27 by KJHburg

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Because this site is a whole city owned block this needs to be put here as it is important to uptown.  Basically integrating this in any new transportation center is dead (which I did not think was a good idea anyway as the Hornets want this facility a whole quicker than the city wants to redo the transportation center.) 

from the Biz Journal tonight

 

""The Charlotte Hornets want to build a bigger and more expensive practice facility than originally planned and locate it on a stand-alone site behind Spectrum Center, according to details shared today by city government.

A presentation to Charlotte City Council estimated the team investment in the practice center at $70 million to $100 million, making the total cost $100 million to $130 million. The changes proposed by the city and team would reshuffle the financing of a portion of the $275 million package approved in 2022 to overhaul the city-owned NBA arena and build the practice facility.

As part of the revised agreement, the Hornets will have five years to decide whether they want to build additional privately funded projects on the site, such as a hotel. City government estimates that, assuming the training center and hotel are built on the site, the projects will generate $18 million in county and city property tax revenue over a 15-year period.

Dodson estimated the practice center will occupy about 60% of the property, or 1.9 acres. The site at 501 E. Trade St. has an appraised value of $20.6 million, according to property records.

“A state-of-the-art practice facility is a necessity within today’s NBA from a competitive standpoint and impacts several aspects of a team, including health and wellness, skill development and player recruitment,” Hornets Chief Operating Officer and Interim President James Jordan told CBJ in a statement. “Having our new practice facility as part of a bigger, more integrated and more impactful mixed-use development demonstrates the commitment, the investment and the vision we have for elevating our organization and enhancing our community.”""

Charlotte Hornets, city propose new site, timeline - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Another surface lot is going away so I guess that's good.  Do pro-basketball practice facilities stimulate other types of adjacent development though?

Edited February 27 by RANYC

[J-Rob]

10 hours ago, RANYC said:

Another surface lot is going away so I guess that's good.  Do pro-basketball practice facilities stimulate other types of adjacent development though?

I don't think the practice facility itself will spur much development, but they are including a Novant sports medicine clinic that would be open to the public, which would be a nice add. Also, I think the Hornets have the option to add a hotel adjacent to the practice facility, which (combined with Moxy) would have some downstream impacts to foot traffic, potential retail, etc.

Plus, to your point about surface lots, getting rid of vacant lots and adding people (two hotels and the Novant clinic) should inherently help the surrounding blocks.

Edited February 27 by J-Rob

[Rufus]

Ok hear me out:  this is good news bc it takes up another empty lot. 

But I also have this idea of taking the sliver of land between Midnight Diner and that gorgeous building at Trade & Brevard, and turn that into a plaza that connects to the Moxy. Use the remaining portions on that block to set up food trucks or kiosks for food. Heck, you can even extend the plaza to cross 4th as well and go behind Skye. And then on either side where there are vacant lots, build small scale entertainment like the B Tower on 5th. 

Ok here's what I am thinking : 

Edited February 27 by Rufus
Added image

[CLT Development]

27 minutes ago, Rufus said:

Ok hear me out:  this is good news bc it takes up another empty lot. 

But I also have this idea of taking the sliver of land between Midnight Diner and that gorgeous building at Trade & Brevard, and turn that into a plaza that connects to the Moxy. Use the remaining portions on that block to set up food trucks or kiosks for food. Heck, you can even extend the plaza to cross 4th as well and go behind Skye. And then on either side where there are vacant lots, build small scale entertainment like the B Tower on 5th. 

Ok here's what I am thinking : 

There is some strange grading in this area that will need to be fixed, but I think this is doable.

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Great news! This would then free up space in the old practice facility. With sports betting becoming legal next month and spectrum center is an approved spot for a sports book, I’d say make the old practice facility a state of the art sports book and restaurant. It’s got the size and height for something like a sports and social  type place in Cary. Would add daily foot traffic and be a place of interest and gravitational pull for that part of town. 

Edited February 27 by CharlotteWkndBuzz