Ballantyne

[CLT2014]

I'm struggling to see how these new additions to Ballantyne Corporate Place reflected in the image are reimagining Ballantyne into a more walkable place... They are set back from the road, with entrances oriented towards parking lots, and over half the photo is parking garages with no retail. People will just drive everywhere for errands like they already do in Ballantyne... But it looks like a pleasant place to jog.

Edited November 5, 2022 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

2 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

I'm struggling to see how these new additions to Ballantyne Corporate Place reflected in the image are reimagining Ballantyne into a more walkable place... They are set back from the road, with entrances oriented towards parking lots, and over half the photo is parking garages with no retail. People will just drive everywhere for errands like they already do in Ballantyne... But it looks like a pleasant place to jog.

The Bowl area is the area under construction next to the Ballantyne Resort Hotel that is the more walkable section.  That being said these office and apartment towers will be walkable to this new walkable area.   The green space behind those buildings will be developed it is the old daily fee golf course.  That photo was not of Phase 1 but across the street from it.  I have walked all over this area and it will be very walkable with a street grid in the future.  Lots of green space too. 

https://reimagined.projectballantyne.com/phasing/

the Bowl underway now.   https://reimagined.projectballantyne.com/the-bowl/

 

 

[DJ8hep]

The Bowl area is the area under construction next to the Ballantyne Resort Hotel that is the more walkable section.  That being said these office and apartment towers will be walkable to this new walkable area.   The green space behind those buildings will be developed it is the old daily fee golf course.  That photo was not of Phase 1 but across the street from it.  I have walked all over this area and it will be very walkable with a street grid in the future.  Lots of green space too. 
https://reimagined.projectballantyne.com/phasing/
the Bowl underway now.   https://reimagined.projectballantyne.com/the-bowl/
 
 

Will they break ground on the 26 story high rise once the main portions are done next year?

[KJHburg]

2 minutes ago, DJ8hep said:

Will they break ground on the 26 story high rise once the main portions are done next year?

I think they are doing mid rise apartments first in the Bowl 

[DJ8hep]

I think they are doing mid rise apartments first in the Bowl 

Ah that makes sense! It will be really interesting once those streets open up!

[KJHburg]

Ballantyne Reimagined visit today.   Ballantyne's Backyard aka old golf course is cut in half now with the new road being built from Ballantyne Corporate Place to N Community House Road.  It did disrupt my walk there but I went around it. 

The Bowl area near the resort hotel looks GREAT!  The land development looks almost done and vertical construction on the new retail and apartments can begin soon (with some deep pilings)  They flattened out a hilly area.    This project is going to be great and with LiveNation programming that amphitheater many of you may attend a concert out there in the future.  

Dinosaurs have been unearthed in all the construction and fire ant mounds are everywhere on the now closed golf course.  

Ballantyne the place to B.  And this makeover will bring this suburban office park into the future.   Fortune 500 companies everywhere down here with Brighthouse Financial HQ, TIAA, BofA, Wells Fargo, MetLife etc.   Credit Karma's new home in the Overlook office tower looks great.  

photos galore! 

[videtur quam contuor]

That place is so popular nobody goes there anymore-L. P. Berra

[SydneyCarton]

I was in Ballantyne last weekend.  The view of Uptown from Johnston Road is impressive.

[DJ8hep]

They partially opened the park at Ballantyne Reimagined! I seriously can’t wait for the full site to be open!

[Hushpuppy321]

Looks great.  The reimagined project will be a real gem once it’s built out.

[Take2]

I just don't get excited at all regarding Ballantyne.  Just see it as one big mess that has me avoiding that side of town all together. Except for the very very occasional visit to the Elevation main Campus. Buy I suppose what they are doing with the old Golf course is better then nothing. Just my 2 cents.

[southslider]

With Johnston Rd, Reimagined is east, Village is west, and never the two shall meet.

[InSouthPark]

10 hours ago, Take2 said:

I just don't get excited at all regarding Ballantyne.  Just see it as one big mess that has me avoiding that side of town all together. Except for the very very occasional visit to the Elevation main Campus. Buy I suppose what they are doing with the old Golf course is better then nothing. Just my 2 cents.

If you don't live around there, then it won't be that exciting to you...and that's fine.  If you do, it is.  I live a few miles from there and don't really venture much down that way because of traffic and there really isnt anything there I can't get somewhere just as quick like southpark.  But when this is all done, I will be able to ride my bike from my house to the new town center on a greenway.  A beautiful new park, amphitheater, Olde Meck and I am sure other coffee shops and restaurants.  Probably a Wegmans down the road.   

This is being built out as a pedestrian friendly area.  We don't have anything like it in S. CLT.  Pineville is one block and inaccessible to most anyone walking there.  Downtown Matthews is great but if you want to talk about traffic, woof (but is great once you get there).  

But for me...I am really excited, at least when the whole bowl area and greenway connection is completed.  Besides the makeshift golf course, Ballantyne doesn't have any parks. 

[DJ8hep]

If you don't live around there, then it won't be that exciting to you...and that's fine.  If you do, it is.  I live a few miles from there and don't really venture much down that way because of traffic and there really isnt anything there I can't get somewhere just as quick like southpark.  But when this is all done, I will be able to ride my bike from my house to the new town center on a greenway.  A beautiful new park, amphitheater, Olde Meck and I am sure other coffee shops and restaurants.  Probably a Wegmans down the road.   
This is being built out as a pedestrian friendly area.  We don't have anything like it in S. CLT.  Pineville is one block and inaccessible to most anyone walking there.  Downtown Matthews is great but if you want to talk about traffic, woof (but is great once you get there).  
But for me...I am really excited, at least when the whole bowl area and greenway connection is completed.  Besides the makeshift golf course, Ballantyne doesn't have any parks. 

I feel the exact same way, I live just a couple of miles from this site as well!

[ArchiCLT]

22 hours ago, InSouthPark said:

Besides the makeshift golf course, Ballantyne doesn't have any parks. 

Ballantyne has several parks, but they're not as high-profile as this new development. Elon Park, Ballantyne District Park, Flat Branch Nature Preserve, Davie Park (on 51), and the Lower McAlpine Creek Greenway to name a few.

[InSouthPark]

19 minutes ago, theronhobbs said:

Ballantyne has several parks, but they're not as high-profile as this new development. Elon Park, Ballantyne District Park, Flat Branch Nature Preserve, Davie Park (on 51), and the Lower McAlpine Creek Greenway to name a few.

 

Most of those aren't really designed "parks" tho.  They are walking trails and sports fields and shelters.  Greenspace, yes.  I can guarantee you not a single person ever said "hey lets go hang out at Davie Park." unless they had a 4 year old or a dog. Elon Park might be the only exception.  The Ballantyne park will be (at least from the looks of the plans) a place people come to do photo shoots, stroll with a coffee (maybe a beer), walk or ride their bike to,  and just hang out.   With the amount of people that live in Ballantyne and far south Charlotte, this is really an amenity we haven't had.  

[videtur quam contuor]

Elon means oak tree in Hebrew. The name and variations had a historic religious relevance but more recently it has become a fashion choice without religious connotation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_(name)#:~:text=Elon (אֵילוֹן in Hebrew) is,Male

[Hushpuppy321]

Ballantyne Reimagined will be a beautiful Arrow in Charlotte’s Urban Quiver to attract and retain new residents.  Will bring a nicely designed Urban Center to the Suburbs.  Nothing to complain about as this is using relatively unimproved areas.  Hopefully the BlueLine Extension to this area will materialize by 2040.

[Windsurfer]

23 minutes ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Ballantyne Reimagined will be a beautiful Arrow in Charlotte’s Urban Quiver to attract and retain new residents.  Will bring a nicely designed Urban Center to the Suburbs.  Nothing to complain about as this is using relatively unimproved areas.  Hopefully the BlueLine Extension to this area will materialize by 2040.

That sounds like an oxymoron: "nicely designed Urban Center to the Suburbs".   

[Hushpuppy321]

13 minutes ago, Windsurfer said:

That sounds like an oxymoron: "nicely designed Urban Center to the Suburbs".   

Sounds like the best of both worlds 

[Take2]

On 1/12/2023 at 11:21 AM, InSouthPark said:

If you don't live around there, then it won't be that exciting to you...and that's fine.  If you do, it is.  I live a few miles from there and don't really venture much down that way because of traffic and there really isnt anything there I can't get somewhere just as quick like southpark.  But when this is all done, I will be able to ride my bike from my house to the new town center on a greenway.  A beautiful new park, amphitheater, Olde Meck and I am sure other coffee shops and restaurants.  Probably a Wegmans down the road.   

This is being built out as a pedestrian friendly area.  We don't have anything like it in S. CLT.  Pineville is one block and inaccessible to most anyone walking there.  Downtown Matthews is great but if you want to talk about traffic, woof (but is great once you get there).  

But for me...I am really excited, at least when the whole bowl area and greenway connection is completed.  Besides the makeshift golf course, Ballantyne doesn't have any parks. 

Pretty much every "estate" in Ballantyne has its own private park. The area is full of beautiful suburban housing communities. Nothing about the area is Urban. Nothing is pedestrian friendly.  The area was created to house corporate relocations and the droves of people that moved South with those corporations.  

Exclusionary zoning has kept low-income housing virtually nonexistent and housing  prices were/are intentionally high for one reason, to keep it segregated. Yes I know that recent statistics have the area as 57% white but blacks accounted for just 10%. I cannot imagine that Hispanics and Asians make up the remaining 33% so not sure how the census derived those numbers.

That said, Ballantyne is by no means alone regarding all of the above, it's just a behemoth of an example.  

This summary of the Kerner Report though 50yrs old makes better sense of it. 

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Take2

[SoDoSoPa]

6 hours ago, Take2 said:

Pretty much every "estate" in Ballantyne has its own private park. The area is full of beautiful suburban housing communities. Nothing about the area is Urban. Nothing is pedestrian friendly.  The area was created to house corporate relocations and the droves of people that moved South with those corporations.  

Exclusionary zoning has kept low-income housing virtually nonexistent and housing  prices were/are intentionally high for one reason, to keep it segregated. Yes I know that recent statistics have the area as 57% white but blacks accounted for just 10%. I cannot imagine that Hispanics and Asians make up the remaining 33% so not sure how the census derived those numbers.

That said, Ballantyne is by no means alone regarding all of the above, it's just a behemoth of an example.  

This summary of the Kerner Report though 50yrs old makes better sense of it. 

 

If you take a look at the area schools, the demographic breakout is accurate.  

Using AKHS as an example:

[KJHburg]

Ballantyne yearly report and does show the timeline for the Ballantyne Bowl area.  New connection to the McAlpine Greenway will be done this summer.

https://www.goballantyne.com/news/looking-back-on-2022

Making a suburban area more dense is going on all over the country and is popular with office tenants, residents, visitors etc.  I think what they are doing in Ballantyne is great!   Not everyone wants to be in Southend or uptown.  This is making Ballantyne more competitive with other such areas in the country.  One instate area is the very dense North Hills in Raleigh and Atlanta has multiple areas like this.  

[buildleft]

8 hours ago, SoDoSoPa said:

If you take a look at the area schools, the demographic breakout is accurate.  

Using AKHS as an example:

This data is at least several years old. Ardrey Kell is now majority-minority: 48.7% White, 25.0% Asian, 12.5% Black, and 10.7% Hispanic

https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3702970&ID=370297002910

I can't find CMS census #'s rn for some reason, but I recall them showing similar figures for the '21-'22 school year.

Edited January 21, 2023 by buildleft

[XRZ.ME]

Ballentyne, Rea Rd and Waverly (also Steele Creek and north Meck) area has high number of Asian populations, and the highest concentration is approaching 40%.

This census tract with 36.7% Asian population (846/2308) in 2020 census, back in 2010 census it has 22% Asian (417/1894)

So out of the 414 net addition in this area, 429 of them are Asian.

Assuming the same trend for 2030 census. This census tract will become an Asian majority area. 1365/2812=48.5%