The Avenue

[atlrvr]

An email today said that the Avenue sales center will open Sept. 10th, but that no reservations would be take for approx. 2 months.

Also, this was the last sentence which is vague yet seems expected:

Avenue is Novare Group's first project in Charlotte, but more are on the way.  We're excited to be a part of one of the most vibrant, growing communities in the Southeast and sincerely hope to see you soon.

Very best regards,

The Avenue Sales Team

[Norm2]

Wow.....i just now noticed that they released floorplans for this building.....and they look awesome!

[dubone]

wow. lots of updates on their website FINALLY.

[RiverwoodCLT]

I will be glad to see steel going up, and not in the ground. Looks like it will be the third condo project to finish after the Courtside and 230 South Tryon.

Who will be next to finish, Tradmark or Eptic Centre? I guess the Vue will be the last high rise condo to be completed.

[dubone]

Tradmark or Eptic Centre

do you mean peptic center, aka arlington? or epicentre?

trademark will be the next to finish, as it is already mostly sold out, is smaller, and is further in the construction process than epicentre.

also, until i saw the floor plans, i don't think i realized that it had that quarter-circle element to the shape. I think that is really cool, and definitely makes it complement the IJL shape/architecture in an interesting way.

It also will give it more girth/mass from some angles in the skyline compared to a simple rectangular shape, as it almost appears in the rendering.

[appatone]

Just for the heck of it I breezed through Novare's website again to look at some of their other buildings. I have to say that I think Avenue is the best looking project they have right now.

I would say my second pick would be Viridian in Nashville as far as Novare towers go. I wonder if Novare put more design thought into the Charlotte and Nashville scrapers because they knew that in cities with fewer skyscrapers their towers would stick out more. Some of the Atlanta buildings look like Myrtle Beach condos but I guess you don't notice as much in Atlanta since there are so many scrapers all around the city. I also think that since they had to fit the tower into a smaller amount of space in Charlotte they went higher than their typical 22 floors and shortened and fattened their seemingly signature rectangular long and thin design. That's really what makes them look like boring beach condos, the long thin rectangle footprint. I

[Rickydavisfan21]

I want to see the back of this building it looks to be very interesting, grrrrrr I'm so impatient

[UrbanCharlotte]

The Avenue opens its sales center today. Does anyone have anymore info on this?

[9yrs]

I went by the sales center this morning. There were at least 20 people in there (around 10:15). They get you "signed up" -- you have to be there in person...can't have someone else sign you up. Then, you wait in line (or we had to anyways) to get into the part of the sales center that has the full 1-bedroom model and a 1/8 scale model of the building. It looks great! And very good price point when you compare to other high-rises. Though they are only giving ranges right now. What does everyone think of the "lottery" system they are using? Do you prefer that to the "highest bidder" method Spectrum used with 230 South Tryon? The lottery system certainly makes one hope he/she is lucky!!!

[TowerRooster]

....... Then, you wait in line (or we had to anyways) to get into the part of the sales center that has the full 1-bedroom model and a 1/8 scale model of the building.........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WOOOW.... a 1/8th scale model? Are you sure?? How big was it? 1/8 scale would have to be a little over 4 stories tall, right?.... Or do I not completely understnad what you meant by the scale... is it more like 1 inch per 8 feet or something.

[CATFAN]

I went by the sales center this morning. There were at least 20 people in there (around 10:15). They get you "signed up" -- you have to be there in person...can't have someone else sign you up. Then, you wait in line (or we had to anyways) to get into the part of the sales center that has the full 1-bedroom model and a 1/8 scale model of the building. It looks great! And very good price point when you compare to other high-rises. Though they are only giving ranges right now. What does everyone think of the "lottery" system they are using? Do you prefer that to the "highest bidder" method Spectrum used with 230 South Tryon? The lottery system certainly makes one hope he/she is lucky!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

how much are the price ranges for a single bedroom. I think they are starting from 170k

thanks

[9yrs]

hmmm...it wasn't 4 stories tall...i could have sworn they said 1/8 scale, but you must be right. sorry about that. i'm not a mathematical genius (obviously). 170-250k for 1 br.

[dman379]

9yrs,

What was the price range for the 2BR units? While 170-250k is pretty attractive for 1BR condos in Uptown Charlotte, don't be quite so sure that all of their 1BR units will fall within that range. This summer I visited Novare's Eclipse Buckhead condominiums down in Atlanta. Their website quotes 2 BR units from the $240's to $300's, but when I showed interest in their biggest 2BR unit on the 19th floor, they told me the price point was 355k. Granted it was on the 2nd to top floor, but I still felt misled when it fell outside of their advertised price range.

[9yrs]

I don't remember exactly, but I do remember he said 2 br will start around $330k. I also remember that he gave us a range, and then said the Penthouse units will be under $1 million, which was confusing to me as there appear to be 1 br units on the top floor (and from what he previously said, those would be under $250k). I wonder if there are penthouse units they aren't releasing yet? I don't know. All I know is everything's a range (and I'm sure, as you say, they aren't completely accurate with the ranges).

[atlrvr]

They have finally finished driving in the steel and poured concrete for the basement.

The Penthouses are actually on the 35th floor with a small loft area extending to the 36th. This was done so the 4 penthouses could take advantage of the building setbacks to give them large terraces......which would probably be good area to keep your penthouse pet.

[Miesian Corners]

.....which would probably be good area to keep your penthouse pet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Which month do you get to keep?

[atlrvr]

Which month do you get to keep?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe I should have said pets.

[ElricSeven]

I don't remember exactly, but I do remember he said 2 br will start around $330k. I also remember that he gave us a range, and then said the Penthouse units will be under $1 million, which was confusing to me as there appear to be 1 br units on the top floor (and from what he previously said, those would be under $250k). I wonder if there are penthouse units they aren't releasing yet? I don't know. All I know is everything's a range (and I'm sure, as you say, they aren't completely accurate with the ranges).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think they're promoting a range of the cost of the most inexpensive units, from what I can tell. In other words, the range between each least expensive version of a single floorplan. What would have been more appropriate would be to state the ranges within a single floorplan, or even better, the overall range between the cheapest bottom floor unit to the largest, highest-floor unit. Yet another example of deception in the RE business.

[ElricSeven]

I don't remember exactly, but I do remember he said 2 br will start around $330k. I also remember that he gave us a range, and then said the Penthouse units will be under $1 million, which was confusing to me as there appear to be 1 br units on the top floor (and from what he previously said, those would be under $250k). I wonder if there are penthouse units they aren't releasing yet? I don't know. All I know is everything's a range (and I'm sure, as you say, they aren't completely accurate with the ranges).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Funny too, is that their prices seem to have risen:

Avenue will comprise 386 one- and two-bedroom units, as well as 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space. Prices are expected to begin in the $170,000s for one-bedroom units and the $270,000s for two-bedroom units. Features include sleek, contemporary architecture with floor-to-ceiling glass walls, kitchens with granite and stainless steel, 10-foot ceilings, 24-hour concierge, ultra-high-speed Internet access, reserved parking and upscale fitness and social centers. More information on the project is available at www.avenueuptown.com.

A quick check of the website shows the largest two-bedroom unit is 1271 square feet on the lowest, 10th, floor. That equates to about $260 per square foot. Seems like their pitch about providing affordable units at some bottom-basement cost above their costs is slipping a bit.

[dubone]

Here is the avenue's sales office at cotton mills

[appatone]

Do we have an official height on this one yet? I got bored and decided to do some math. I got the official height of five of Novare's buildings, figured out the meters per floor for each building. Got an average for the five and then multiplied it by 36. I got a height of 143.42 meters. This would be taller than IJL wouldn't it? Could Avenue go higher than IJL? Two other heights I did out of boredom, using the meter per floor ratio of Realm (novare's tallest meter per floor building) I got an Avenue height of 162.72. Using Veridian (the shortest meters pr floor building) I got 132.48. Do these numbers sound right to you guys? I guess I just didn't expect it to be that tall.

[atlrvr]

The 132M sounds right....it should be more in line with their taller buildings.....typically the lobby and mechanics on the roof add a good bit of feet, but of course each building has these so the more floors the building is, the less impact they have on average floor height......

[dubone]

so then the avenue will be among novare's shortest height per floor?

[atlrvr]

Hmmm....I had a feeling I didn't say it right.

If a 5 story building is 11 feet per floor for the top 4 floor, but the lobby is 20 feet and 10 feet of mechanics on the roof, then the total building is 74 feet, or 14.8' per floor.

If a 36 story building is 11 feet per floor for the top 35 floors, has a 20 foot lobby and 10' of mechanics, then the building would be 415 feet but only 11.5' per floor.

That's what I meant by taller buildings have average shorter floor heights.

[A2]

Hmmm....I had a feeling I didn't say it right.

If a 5 story building is 11 feet per floor for the top 4 floor, but the lobby is 20 feet and 10 feet of mechanics on the roof, then the total building is 74 feet, or 14.8' per floor.

If a 36 story building is 11 feet per floor for the top 35 floors, has a 20 foot lobby and 10' of mechanics, then the building would be 415 feet but only 11.5' per floor.

That's what I meant by taller buildings have average shorter floor heights.

That would put it at roughly the same heght as the Ugly white building we all know as the Former Wachovia building at 400 South Tryon. (Duke now occupies it of course)

But that is still a respectable height for that side of town. I will take it. B)

A2