SouthEnd Midrise Projects

[RVA2CLT]

That looks great and keeps the street frontage consistiant with that of 'The Kingston'. Hopefully that 10 story Camden project will be built with similar street frontage on both Kingston, adjacent to 'Kingston and Park', as well as on Camden and West, thus creating an immediate mixed-use, denser urban feeling to that area. Very exciting. 

[nonillogical]

One other thing, given the proportions of this and the site size, this is only half of it. The first news we had on this did say it would be 2 buildings. I'm assuming the other one (Kingston House?) will be more or less identical. It's also nice that the houses fronting Tryon got left in. Even though they'll probably get torn down eventually it makes for some smaller infill projects where we probably would have gotten a single superblock otherwise. 

[kermit]

The light rail pedestrian and bike path beside Junction 1504 has been reopened (the barriers are gone and people are using it). Junction does have units which have back patios which walk out directly onto the path (each unit appears to include a half height metal gate on the back patio).

[sutterbomb]

If SouthEnd ever gets to that point I'll be very impressed. 

 

Agreed - it'll take decades to get there, if it ever does. I just moved from the Ballston neighborhood, which has 20+ story office/residential/retail buildings for a few blocks on either side of the metro, with new construction on the rise. The 5-10 story new construction we're seeing in Southend would be small in that neighborhood, and it's not as tightly packed to begin with. 

 

That said, I do see a lot of similarities between the two areas and really look forward to seeing how South End grows.

[Prodev]

Anyone hearing anything lately on 1200 South and Cambridge's plan? I've heard unreliable rumors that they may not move forward. 

[RVA2CLT]

Anyone hearing anything lately on 1200 South and Cambridge's plan? I've heard unreliable rumors that they may not move forward. 

 

for 1200 South, the last I heard was on Nov 14 from a Cambridge rep based in Houston who advised:

"At this stage we are working through our permitting process, and it is very difficult to provide an ETA for the start of our project."

[kermit]

Colinial plans to start leasing in April

 

http://mecktimes.com/news/2012/12/17/colonial-properties-trust-to-start-leasing-60m-south-end-apartment-complex-in-april/

[SouthEndCLT811]

Colinial plans to start leasing in April

 

http://mecktimes.com/news/2012/12/17/colonial-properties-trust-to-start-leasing-60m-south-end-apartment-complex-in-april/

 

After reading this I did a little google search and came across this video that shows a virtual tour of the complex.

 

 

I was on the leasing site the other day and disheartened by the floorplan and the rent they're requesting:

 

http://www.colonialprop.com/charlotte/colonial-reserve-at-south-end/

 

Studio: $1075-1130

1Bdr: $1400-1580

2Bdr: $2315-2515

 

Living at Post Southend and having a lease up in April I thought this may be an option but what my roommate and I pay for a ~1200 square foot 2 bedroom we'd barely be able to afford a 681-847 square foot 1 bedroom at this complex. I've heard Junction 1504 is priced similarly. It seems I was wrong thinking that more of these mega complexes coming into the neighborhood would make rent more competitive/reasonable.

[kermit]

^ Yikes! Unbelievable rents.

 

Can they really get $1200 per bedroom?

[nonillogical]

Yeah I have a hard time believing they will be able to get that. You can get into the Ashton, which will still be the nicer building and have the more desirable location, for less. 

[tozmervo]

Yeah. At least for the moment. I have to think rental pricing in Southend has to burst soon, though. 

[tiblerbrit]

Wow, $1600 is what I paid for a 1 bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of a building near Dupont Circle in DC in 2010. I think they're pushing it here...

[atlrvr]

Most of these communities I believe use Yieldstar to set pricing, which is sort of the airline/hotel room black-box pricing software.  Units they make available in theory decrease in pricing on a daily basis until it is rented.  I'm sure on a new community, they can tweak it a bit.  I remember when Camden South End switched to the model, the software required that a top-floor studio be priced at $2,200 when it first came on the market (this was many years ago) due to the model inputs that the unit hadn't been vacant in years, that is had an uptown view, that there were no other studios open at the time, etc.  Obviously the rent went down before it was leased, but the staff really had no ability to negotiate.

 

I guess my point is the market will make sure pricing ends up fair.  Ashton South End at one point offered 5-months free during lease-up right when they were competing against several other complexes that had just come on-line as well as the recessions.

 

The good news is that if they can achieve these rent levels, that should lead to further new development.

 

___________________

 

As far as Cambridge's plan at Carson/South (1200 South), they have been moving through the permitting process, but don't know if there is a reason they would stop at this point.  Honestly, its the least inspiring complex that I think misses the most from a location, and streetscape perspective and wouldn't mind if its shelved.  I doubt we see any plans like the original hotel/office/apartment towers any time soon, but the site deserves something denser then this.

[Guest]

After reading this I did a little google search and came across this video that shows a virtual tour of the complex.

 

 

I was on the leasing site the other day and disheartened by the floorplan and the rent they're requesting:

 

http://www.colonialprop.com/charlotte/colonial-reserve-at-south-end/

 

Studio: $1075-1130

1Bdr: $1400-1580

2Bdr: $2315-2515

 

Living at Post Southend and having a lease up in April I thought this may be an option but what my roommate and I pay for a ~1200 square foot 2 bedroom we'd barely be able to afford a 681-847 square foot 1 bedroom at this complex. I've heard Junction 1504 is priced similarly. It seems I was wrong thinking that more of these mega complexes coming into the neighborhood would make rent more competitive/reasonable.

I have a pretty big 2 bedroom in Brooklyn and pay 315 dollars less rent... That should say something...

[HopHead]

They are out of their minds if they think they'd get $2400 for a 2 bedroom in SouthEnd. Heck, for most places in Charlotte with exception to something like the Vue. 

[Dub_Ag]

I'm not sure what to be more astounded by, their expectations for rent or that their studios are 400 sf!

[RVA2CLT]

Those rents are redonkulous and will absolutely be adjusted when those units come available. Trust me, a 4th/5th floor  2 Bed, 2 Bath +1300sqft, granite surfaces, stainless steel appliances, balcony with view of Uptown/Dilworth/Southend with gated-parking, valet trash, pool, gym etc. adjacent to the Light Rail Station, next to bars/restaurants and boutique retail is still obtainable under $1,900 a month for a 12 month lease.

With these 5 projects set to be open for business come summer 2013

- Junction,
- Fountains

- 300 Tremont
- Silos
- Park & Kingston

it will be interesting to see if the 'Market Rates' change or if they will need to bait with incentives to get them filled especially if the following projects have broken ground by that time.

- Park & Kingston
- Camden & West
- Camden South Blvd
- 1200 South Blvd
- Summit & Church


Also, keep in mind that Colonial Grand is the same outfit who built/own The Enclave in Uptown's 1st ward,
Those were built as condos and then made into rentals when condo market tanked,
They may be posting their Ask @ top dollar to see if any of those former interests are around, believe the hype, and willing to hit the Bid.

From a business perspective, if I came to the neighborhood with a new product that I am positive is superior in quality and offerings to what was currently, immediately, available I am going to ask Top-Dollar, not a discount,
especially when all the other comparable product has been snatched up like hot-cakes. That is, until the neighborhood and the rental market corrects this assumption and forces rates down.

I am not too worried.
 

[nonillogical]

There is some construction equipment at the Summit/Church site today and holes being dug. It could just be more utility/environmental prep work but hopefully its actually beginning construction.

 

I don't know if anyone has managed to dig up a rendering, but I just hope its a little better than the podium parking description we got would imply, especially since the originally proposed townhomes for the site looked great. 

[kermit]

A few observations from an evening bike ride along the LRT path:

 

• Colonial really looms over South blvd. It actually casts a shadow over Sedgefield shopping center. The corridor is already has a very different feel
• The at gade parking for Fountains and Silos is going in. Its not awful at Fountains since the lot is between the LRT facility and the buildings. The lot at Silos is quite large and feels like it may impeade development along Youngblood
• Junction 1504 does not feel too suburban while you bike beside it (the dispersed parking helps alot), however once you compare it to Spectrum its becomes pretty awful (I was riding northbound)
• The pool is in and running at Junction 1504. It is beside the LRT trail and pathatecly small given how much space they have.
• Steel is going up at Long Animal Hospital (Ideal Way and South). It will be a more substantial building than I had assumed (the facade looks to be three stories above grade, I suspect that the third story is just for show. The steel framing suggests the building may not be totally bland.
• The past few times I have been by Triple C have not been at peak but it seems really quiet these days
• The still empty (I believe) Morehead Street Tavern seems like a lost opportunity
• Electical substations take up a surprising amount of space along the line (Carson and LRT and beside Circle and LRT)
• Is there any hope of Time Warner bugging out to their larger facility on Arrowood? Their parking lot and soviet style office space really creates a hole around Carson st. The area north of Carson station feels really empty in comparison to the area to the South.
• The Tremont and Kingston projects are just visible from the path but they feel somewhat remote so far (there is still lots of building to go)

EDIT: I also noticed (for the first time) that there is a ped-xing across the LRT at Old Pineville and Scaleybark. So clearly there is precidence for such a thing away from downtown (e.g. Publix / Camden / Spectrum)

Edited December 19, 2012 by kermit

[tozmervo]

It's finally officially official, Publix. 

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/27/3749458/developers-announce-plans-for.html

 

55000 Publix + 8500 for other retail, surface and subsurface parking

[Niner National]

Looking forward to the renderings for this.

[southslider]

^Don't bother looking for renderings on the City's website. This site already has TOD zoning.

[SouthEndCLT811]

While Myers Park and Plaza Midwood will have an "Urban" HT, the Publix in Southend will be of their urban format.  In the article below it references a Publix being built in Miami as an idea of what ours will be like.

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2012/12/publix-developer-confirms-plans-for.html?s

[DCMetroRaleigh]

I love the urban design, but Charlotte is way too cold for those palm trees.

[tozmervo]

lol, try telling that to all the Palmetto trees South Carolina tries growing everywhere!