SouthEnd Midrise Projects

[lewy2000]

Agree with Bikeguy. The two biggest issues with preventing South End from becoming a real destination are:

1. South Boulevard - incredibly uninviting, you have to be somewhat brave to cross it. Cars fly up and down south. Ex. The intersection of East and South, is unnecessarily wide to be the lynchpin between Dilworth and South End. Needs to be addressed. It creates a dilworth side and a "south end" side. Horrible stroll district.

It will happen regardless of South Blvd.

Camden will be the future stroll district and unofficial Main Street of South End. Especially once Furman's projects and Wilmore Park are finished plus the surrounding parcels are developed.

[kermit]

^ Agreed, South blvd is far too much of a barrier for Dilworth and Southend to feel like connected places.

 

Construction Updates:

 

Silos Phase 2 is steadily progressing. The building nearest the blue line and Remount is framed to three stories. Five (?) story ornamental steel framing at the corner should create a bit of street presence.

 

Camden Southline / Publix: Framing looks to be nearly complete for the apartments. I believe they are beginning rough plumbing and electric. The unscreened parking deck on the south side of the site looks AWFUL from S blvd. Publix has nearly finished closing in their foundation parking level with slab walls.

 

Sycamore Brewing: Judging from exterior and landscape tasks which remain they are certainly not going to open in the short term. Perhaps second half of July at the soonest (?)

 

Camden / West: Parking deck looks to be about 1/3 complete. I have not seen more than three people on site during workdays in the past three months when I have driven by.

 

No evidence of progress on either office project

 

Cambridge / Carson: 1/4 of the concrete foundation work (on the Carson / South corner) appears to be largely complete. The remainder of the site remains dirt. Unlike Camden the site always looks busy when I drive by.

 

There are LOTS of empty units at Silos and Colonial.

 

Anyone know the deal on the Remount / South corner parcel? (across from Goodbottle sometimes used for Mac's parking). Its seems to generate lots of interest but deals always seem to fall through. Is it simply bad timing or are there heavy environmental issues holding the corner back?

Edited May 11, 2014 by kermit

[ChessieCat]

Agree with Bikeguy. The two biggest issues with preventing South End from becoming a real destination are:

1. South Boulevard - incredibly uninviting, you have to be somewhat brave to cross it. Cars fly up and down south. Ex. The intersection of East and South, is unnecessarily wide to be the lynchpin between Dilworth and South End. Needs to be addressed. It creates a dilworth side and a "south end" side. Horrible stroll district.

2. Lack of Quality - the bar needs to be raised in South End. Junction 1504 is suburban sprawl dropped in a urban district. The minimum qualities of build materials needs to be raised. Along with these massive developments including retail spaces. Most are built horribly from a pedestrian point. Blank walls for whole blocks.

If these are addressed, I believe we can turn South End into something special. These two issues just hold back the neighborhood so much, IMHO.

 

Agree with you completely on #1.  The pedestrian crossing lights don't even work properly at the intersection of East and South.  Numerous times I've seen people almost get hit trying to cross and despite having a bike lane on East Blvd, I almost saw a cyclist get hit yesterday at the intersection.  Something needs to be addressed here...

[ah59396]

As lewy said, Camden will be the "main street" of south end, not south blvd.  I'm okay with S. Blvd being more of a main through way for vehicle traffic and actually having pedestrian activity centered around Camden and the light rail.  Continue to develop store front along that corridor and make it SUPER bike and ped. friend (cough cough rail trail) and it'll become the gem of Southend.  Especially between Carson station and East/West.

[archiham04]

As lewy said, Camden will be the "main street" of south end, not south blvd.  I'm okay with S. Blvd being more of a main through way for vehicle traffic and actually having pedestrian activity centered around Camden and the light rail.  Continue to develop store front along that corridor and make it SUPER bike and ped. friend (cough cough rail trail) and it'll become the gem of Southend.  Especially between Carson station and East/West.

My big worry about Camden becoming the "main street" is the pedestrian crossings for the Light rail.  There aren't ANY  for 2 blocks- between East and Park (skips Kingston).  There is a crossing at Worthington, but past Tremont they are non-existent.  Will the businesses along the rail line open onto the rail trail?  That restaurant/retail spot behind the Circle did not exactly soar.  Will a one-sided pedestrian street work?

[atlrvr]

^ Agreed, South blvd is far too much of a barrier for Dilworth and Southend to feel like connected places.

 

Construction Updates:

 

 

Camden / West: Parking deck looks to be about 1/3 complete. I have not seen more than three people on site during workdays in the past three months when I have driven by.

 

....

 

There are LOTS of empty units at Silos and Colonial.

 

....

 

Anyone know the deal on the Remount / South corner parcel? (across from Goodbottle sometimes used for Mac's parking). Its seems to generate lots of interest but deals always seem to fall through. Is it simply bad timing or are there heavy environmental issues holding the corner back?

 

I don't normally go buy there during the day, but they are definitely still building, because the parking deck is more complete.  The last time this board discussed no action at the site, there was no parking deck at all.  I still maintain its a labor shortage issue, but AP is also the general contractor on Solis Dilworth, so hopefully they get things sorted out.  Right now its just grading on that projecting, which is obviously a different labor crew than the guys pouring concrete/lifting pre-cast garage panels.

 

As far as Silos and Colonial, I'm not so concerned.  These places only opened within the last few months.  Leasing 15-20 units per month is considered healthy in the apartment sector, so thats like 18 months for Conolial and a 12 months for Silos to fill up.  If they were going any faster, I'd argue that their rents are too low.

 

As far as the parcel at the corned of Remount and South (between South and the LRT line), it is reportedly under contract with Morgan Group, who will develop Pearl South End apartments.  I don't know any updated status, though I suspect they are watching the leasing activity described above.

[Niner National]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if it is a labor shortage. The landlord for my office building built Plaza25 behind Midwood Smokehouse and he mentioned difficulty finding a contractor/crews before he started construction on that project. 

[ChessieCat]

My big worry about Camden becoming the "main street" is the pedestrian crossings for the Light rail.  There aren't ANY  for 2 blocks- between East and Park (skips Kingston).  There is a crossing at Worthington, but past Tremont they are non-existent.  Will the businesses along the rail line open onto the rail trail?  That restaurant/retail spot behind the Circle did not exactly soar.  Will a one-sided pedestrian street work?

 

The intersection at Tryon and Camden/Summit is also not very pedestrian/bike friendly.  Again numerous times I've seen pedestrians almost get hit trying to cross Tryon from Apostophe lounge and drivers also get confused by the intersection and the way the lights work...

[Miesian Corners]

If South Blvd got a decent streetscape project (read: buried utilities), it would look at least 95% better overnight.  But this being Charlotte and the HQ of Duke, I'll assume that will never happen.

[ScottCLT]

The intersection at Tryon and Camden/Summit is also not very pedestrian/bike friendly.  Again numerous times I've seen pedestrians almost get hit trying to cross Tryon from Apostophe lounge and drivers also get confused by the intersection and the way the lights work...

I have been in a near-collision on a couple occasions where the Camden light is green and peopl coming from Tryon think they are taking a "right" onto Tryon and just zoom past even when the light is red for them. It wouldn't hurt to put up some extra signage. Plus, the pedestrian crossing light across Tryon was broken for years...it works agin now, but before you would hit the button and wait 10 minutes and then just give in and jaywalk. Glad they got that fixed at least. There should be another pedestrian crossing at the Boulevard across to to Fowler building. People cross there anyway...might as well make it safe.

[nonillogical]

Steel framing and crane are up for something at the corner of S. Church and Palmer, where the small 1-story brick building was demolished a few months ago. I'm guessing it will be a small infill office building. If its like the Flores building on the same block I think that will be fine as it came out attractive enough, but with some of the re-uses going on up the street at the back of Unknown Brewing, I don't think it would be ridiculous to demand a couple of additional retail spaces on Church.

[atlrvr]

^ That small building will be a 1-story annex for Flores.  Something like a Rec center for its employees.  Not exactly sure, but I'm almost positive that it will be only 1 story and match the general design theme of the existing Flores office building.

[ChessieCat]

I have been in a near-collision on a couple occasions where the Camden light is green and peopl coming from Tryon think they are taking a "right" onto Tryon and just zoom past even when the light is red for them. It wouldn't hurt to put up some extra signage. Plus, the pedestrian crossing light across Tryon was broken for years...it works agin now, but before you would hit the button and wait 10 minutes and then just give in and jaywalk. Glad they got that fixed at least. There should be another pedestrian crossing at the Boulevard across to to Fowler building. People cross there anyway...might as well make it safe.

 

With Food Truck Friday generating a lot of pedestrian traffic + Common Market and the like located at the northernmost corner of the Camden triangle, they're gonna have to figure out that intersection sooner or later and make it more pedestrian/bike friendly...

[nonillogical]

With Food Truck Friday generating a lot of pedestrian traffic + Common Market and the like located at the northernmost corner of the Camden triangle, they're gonna have to figure out that intersection sooner or later and make it more pedestrian/bike friendly...

I ride my bike through that intersection most mornings heading to work, and while its not a usual problem spot for me, it doesn't seem like it should be hard to improve on with minor alterations. Its a stretch of Tryon that doesn't tend to carry a whole lot of traffic but people are in the mood to start speeding up after the Bland St. light. Would adding street parking to Tryon be ridiculous here? Most of the time it does not seem necessary to have multiple lanes, and when they ARE full, its very hard to not nick the corner when going South on Tryon the way the curb angles into the slight turn. 

 

Drivers coming from Summit also often ignore the no left turn sign, or realize it halfway into their turn. 

[tozmervo]

I've often thought S Tryon from West Blvd north would be a good candidate for a street diet, except it's a state road, so even getting it repaved is a monumental achievement. 

[lewy2000]

I've often thought S Tryon from West Blvd north would be a good candidate for a street diet, except it's a state road, so even getting it repaved is a monumental achievement. 

 

Good call. According to the South End Strategic Plan they are going to test on-street parking on that section of S. Tryon.

 

http://files.charlottecentercity.org/HSE-Good-to-Great.pdf (item #4)

[Guest]

1200 South Blvd

Its been a busy day procrastinating on doing work.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Guest

[Guest]

Looks like Summit and Church got a name "District Flats" Enjoy a new rendering.

https://livelovely.com/building/129779/1449-South-Church-Street-Charlotte-NC-28203

with pricing.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Guest

[Norm2]

Looks like Summit and Church got a name "District Flats" Enjoy a new rendering.

https://livelovely.com/building/129779/1449-South-Church-Street-Charlotte-NC-28203

with pricing.

Talk about a boring base >.<

[Guest]

Talk about a boring base >.<

Honestly there should be  a little more to it. Hopefully… 

This version is slightly more fun...

Although I'm sure it'll be more like the first one I posted.

[nonillogical]

Honestly there should be  a little more to it. Hopefully… 

This version is slightly more fun...

Although I'm sure it'll be more like the first one I posted.

It is looking in line with both of those, but neither rendering really shows the retail space on Summit, or the corner, which has the more interesting street level. I'm still having a hard time visualizing the entrance to the retail. Its there, it just feels a little awkward as it sits up kind of high and will need a staircase and ramp. Still glad it got included though. 

[InitialD]

Photo I took last week of Camden Gallery:

 

[videtur quam contuor]

Sadly, to our loss, this is a photo of 20 (or so) suspended lines and the supporting poles and pole support wires.

[ChessieCat]

Apologies for posting this topic in this forum.  Did anyone hear the pack of coyotes on Sunday night?  People have been noticing Animal Control trucks more than usual in South End...

[lewy2000]

Apologies for posting this topic in this forum.  Did anyone hear the pack of coyotes on Sunday night?  People have been noticing Animal Control trucks more than usual in South End...

 

No but two of my chickens were taken by coyotes last summer.  I live behind Price's Chicken Coop so I'm curious where the coyotes live in South End.  Irwin Creek and the greenway area?