First Ward Urban Village / North Tryon Vision Plan

[SydneyCarton]

[KJHburg]

Saw Daniel Levine's master plan for First Ward land holdings but alas it was washed away before any bankers or contractors could bid on it or finance it.  Seems it was a multiple tower proposal surrounded by mid rises.  Oh well we can wait a few more years. 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Photo #1 the shame of uptown Charlotte.     My idea is still the Fort Bragg (Liberty) Urban Warfare Training center.  (since it seems never to be opened for parking or any other purpose)   

Photo #2 UNC Charlotte would be great if there were more buildings with this and an actual urban campus.  UTSA in San Antonio has a suburban campus like UNC Charlotte and a multi building downtown campus that is expanding.  Dittos for University of Houston which has a downtown campus in addition to a suburban one.  UTSA has 34,000 students so only slightly bigger than UNCC.

 

[tozmervo]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Photo #1 the shame of uptown Charlotte.     My idea is still the Fort Bragg (Liberty) Urban Warfare Training center.  (since it seems never to be opened for parking or any other purpose)   

Photo #2 UNC Charlotte would be great if there were more buildings with this and an actual urban campus.  UTSA in San Antonio has a suburban campus like UNC Charlotte and a multi building downtown campus that is expanding.  Dittos for University of Houston which has a downtown campus in addition to a suburban one.  UTSA has 34,000 students so only slightly bigger than UNCC.

I think you meant Fort Liberty (formerly Bragg). The name change was official in October 2022. 

[SydneyCarton]

[1020AM]

Anyone know what's going on across the street (Bre\vard) from First Ward Park? They put orange fencing around some the area a week or two ago and thought it might be for another event, but this morning I noticed some heavy equipment in there.  

[RANYC]

6 minutes ago, 1020AM said:

Anyone know what's going on across the street (Bre\vard) from First Ward Park? They put orange fencing around some the area a week or two ago and thought it might be for another event, but this morning I noticed some heavy equipment in there.  

In a separate thread, @CLTdevelopmentconfirmed with Dan Levine that site prep work is being done for the Music Festival in early May..."we think."

[Desert Power]

Feels like a successful music festival is just going to encourage Levine to sit on these lots for longer.

[CLT Development]

On 1/17/2024 at 11:33 AM, RANYC said:

In a separate thread, @CLTdevelopmentconfirmed with Dan Levine that site prep work is being done for the Music Festival in early May..."we think."

LOL, no we think, it's what its for, it'll be done. One day I'll ask about the parking deck I promise, I'm working my way there. 

Edited January 19 by CLT Development

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, CLT Development said:

LOL, no we think, it's what its for, it'll be done. One day I'll ask about the parking deck I promise, I'm working my way there. 

By the way, what does site grading for a music festival result in?  Any sort of enduring improvement or is this really a disregard-able project?

[CLT Development]

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

By the way, what does site grading for a music festival result in?  Any sort of enduring improvement or is this really a disregard-able project?

Grabbing lunch in two weeks so I'll make sure I ask. I would wonder if its going to be landfilled tbh, or if there will just be a more gradual slope to the bottom grade. 

[TCLT]

2 hours ago, CLT Development said:

Grabbing lunch in two weeks so I'll make sure I ask. I would wonder if its going to be landfilled tbh, or if there will just be a more gradual slope to the bottom grade. 

I assume they’re also pulling out the exposed rebar and filling in the rust pond at the corner of 8th and Caldwell? It’s insulting he waited to do that until he was able to get someone to pay for it. The fact he’s able to profit off these blighted parcels is gross. Where have the fines been?

[1020AM]

[DonkeyKong]

BK Partners puts portion of Brooklyn Village site that it bought in July up for sale.

[DMann]

maybe now some movement,ala Daniel Levine!

[Prodev]

2 hours ago, DonkeyKong said:

BK Partners puts portion of Brooklyn Village site that it bought in July up for sale.

They've actually been marketing this land since September '22. The multifamily parcel on this block was also re-listed for sale in Q3 or Q4 '23 after Jefferson fell out of contract.  

[KJHburg]

Laura Williams Tracy story in the Biz Journal about the Levine parking deck and 1st Ward development.  I dont want to clip and paste this article so here it is in its entirety and take nothing out of context.  

Daniel Levine talks plan for uptown parking deck, land holdings - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""Next to First Ward Elementary School in uptown is a lesson on timing and real estate investments.

Daniel Levine, who has invested in properties in uptown since 1980, is the largest private landowner in First Ward. His vision for the area led to First Ward Park and UNC Charlotte’s uptown campus.

But the nearby parking deck Levine started in 2015 sits substantially completed but unfinished and closed to the public. Concrete pillars that would have supported an apartment building wrapping the deck stand in a field, supporting nothing.   

Meanwhile, nearby UNC Charlotte employees at the Dubois Center look across to the deck where state money paid for them to have access to parking spots that are yet to be delivered.

Building permits for the development have long expired. North Carolina building codes only require that the site be kept secure.

Levine, who is widely considered a vital partner in the redevelopment of North Tryon Street, remains reluctant to share many details about why the parking deck continues to sit, five years after it was supposed to be completed. But forces swirling around his land holdings — specifically, the likelihood of the Silver Line light-rail line eventually passing beside the parking deck — leave clues to the delay.

“I acknowledge it’s a hot topic all over our community,” says Levine, in some of his first comments about the deck since construction stopped before the pandemic.

“It’s bordering Mecklenburg County’s Hal Marshall site, which is also a significant opportunity, both for center city and the region. I can confidently tell you there’s a promising plan in the works and that it should satisfy all the inquiring minds. There’s more to come.”

More than a decade ago, Levine reached a deal with the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to deliver priority items, such as First Ward Park, affordable housing and public parking. For building those items, Levine would receive infrastructure reimbursements in the form of tax-increment grant payments.

Levine opened First Ward Park in 2015, which came with about $11.4 million in reimbursements from the county.

The deal for the parking deck was up to $23.7 million in exchange for more than 1,000 spaces near First Ward Park. Multiple deadlines for delivery of the parking spaces have passed.

The city has the option to terminate the infrastructure reimbursement agreement with Levine Properties but has decided not to, says Todd DeLong, assistant director of economic development for the city.

“Since these grants are performance-based, there is no financial risk to the city by keeping the agreement active. The developer will not receive any grant payments associated with parking until the spaces are complete and available for the public to use,” DeLong says.

Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham, whose district includes First Ward, says the original city approval for the parking deck requires screening to meet design standards. Without the apartment building, the deck would need some additional building, site and elevation modifications to meet city standards.

The parking deck has not earned tax incentives from the city. But it was built with $4.2 million in state money, which was to ensure 305 parking spaces for use by nearby UNC Charlotte.

Levine halted construction of the 1,200-space parking deck in 2016 and made plans to add an apartment component with 264 wood-framed units in a five-story building with a small amount of retail. Plans then changed again, with the apartment piece growing to 418 units.

Levine declined to say why the apartment development stalled — at a time when multifamily development boomed across the city. And though he declines to say what needs to happen for the parking deck to open, he says he wants to open the deck as soon as he is able.

“We know that we are behind schedule,” Levine says. “But there’s nobody in North Carolina that wants that deck to move forward any faster than I do. We have paid for that deck. You can look on Polaris and see what kind of property tax I’m paying on an annual basis for a property that’s not producing. There’s nobody that wants it done more than I do.”

In the context of development of the North Tryon district, Levine says he envisions a mix of uses, including residential, office, retail and entertainment.

“You cannot force development. Regardless of what type, it takes time, it takes vision, it takes capital, it takes commitment, a great deal of good decisions coming together to make good development happen,” he says.

Michael Smith, CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners, says the deck is a valuable asset, especially as plans move ahead on a North Tryon tech hub.

“That is a foundational asset for our aspirations for this district,” Smith says. “It’s our hope that it becomes operational as soon as possible. It will strengthen our aspirations for this place, serving the university’s interests, hospitality interests, commercial and entrepreneurial.” ""

Smith points out that parking decks are expensive to create and a necessary piece of infrastructure for other development goals.

“The public sector nor the private sector would never seek to have it occur that way,” Smith says of the dormant deck. “But it did. To look at it any other way than ‘OK, so now what,’ would be less than strategic.”

John Nichols, commercial real estate investor and broker with The Nichols Co., says the potential Silver Line arrival near Levine’s parking deck has surely changed the calculus for the site.

“When the world changes, you stop and regroup. The density could be much higher than was anticipated when the apartment project was conceived,” Nichols says. “This wasn’t the time to build the next development.”

In the meantime, Nichols says a parking deck is indestructible, except for keeping graffiti off the building.

“You’ve got to play your card when it’s time to play it. I can assure you when the time is right, he’s going to do it,” Nichols says of Levine. “He’s such a smart developer. I would never doubt much of what he does.”  ""

Edited February 9 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

I did indeed look up the tax bill and it is quite a bit given the deck is generating no income.  From Polaris.  

SEVENTH STREET INVESTORS LLC
Description:    M57-976
Location:    721 N BREVARD ST CHARLOTTE
Mailing Address:    8514 MCALPINE PARK DR STE 190 CHARLOTTE NC 28211
Parcel #:    08004115
Lender:    
Property Tax    Real Property
 
Bill Status:    PAID
Bill Flag:    
Bill #:    0008095457-2023-2023-0000-00
Old Bill #:    
Old Account #:    
Due Date:    9/1/2023
Interest Begins:    1/6/2024
Value
Real    $43,938,000
Deferred    $0
Use    $43,938,000
Personal    $0
Exempt & Exclusion    $0

Total Assessed Value    $43,938,000
Rate    Tax Districts    Description    Amount
.4731    MECKLENBURG    Tax    $207,870.68
.2604    CHARLOTTE    Tax    $114,414.55
.0128    SPECIAL DISTRICT 1    Tax    $5,624.06
.0218    SPECIAL DISTRICT 2    Tax    $9,578.48
Interest: $0.00
Total Billed: $337,487.77

Transaction History
Date    Type    Paid By    Trans #    Amount
12/22/2023    PAYMENT    SEVENTH STREET INVESTORS LLC    14332612    $337,487.7

[TCLT]

56 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I did indeed look up the tax bill and it is quite a bit given the deck is generating no income.  From Polaris.  

SEVENTH STREET INVESTORS LLC
Description:    M57-976
Location:    721 N BREVARD ST CHARLOTTE
Mailing Address:    8514 MCALPINE PARK DR STE 190 CHARLOTTE NC 28211
Parcel #:    08004115
Lender:    
Property Tax    Real Property
 
Bill Status:    PAID
Bill Flag:    
Bill #:    0008095457-2023-2023-0000-00
Old Bill #:    
Old Account #:    
Due Date:    9/1/2023
Interest Begins:    1/6/2024
Value
Real    $43,938,000
Deferred    $0
Use    $43,938,000
Personal    $0
Exempt & Exclusion    $0

Total Assessed Value    $43,938,000
Rate    Tax Districts    Description    Amount
.4731    MECKLENBURG    Tax    $207,870.68
.2604    CHARLOTTE    Tax    $114,414.55
.0128    SPECIAL DISTRICT 1    Tax    $5,624.06
.0218    SPECIAL DISTRICT 2    Tax    $9,578.48
Interest: $0.00
Total Billed: $337,487.77

Transaction History
Date    Type    Paid By    Trans #    Amount
12/22/2023    PAYMENT    SEVENTH STREET INVESTORS LLC    14332612    $337,487.7

Bleed him dry. 

[CLT Development]

21 minutes ago, TCLT said:

Bleed him dry. 

Hey now, I've gotten to know him, he's a human, and a good guy. And despite all the criticism I've given him over the years we see eachother as friends. I don't think he wants to go out with an empty district. Theres a real concerted effort by some big people to revitalize uptown through this district. Details have come out a bit in the press about a Hugh McColl project. Something like this could be his "Swan Song" in partnership with UNCC to incubate a tech hub uptown. Like another "Pearl" concept but for technology. He is just a man, and I'm sure he'd like to stop spending millions on unused land. 

NOTE: This is part hyperbole, but I heard rumors while at the State of the Center City, saw mention of Hugh looking to do a tech hub with UNCC, and now this info. It just makes so much sense. Hugh desperately wants to save Uptown, I've heard him speak about it twice now at events.

BUT ALSO: Side note, it's Charlotte so, LOLZ

Edited February 9 by CLT Development

[RANYC]

7 hours ago, CLT Development said:

Hey now, I've gotten to know him, he's a human, and a good guy. And despite all the criticism I've given him over the years we see eachother as friends. I don't think he wants to go out with an empty district. Theres a real concerted effort by some big people to revitalize uptown through this district. Details have come out a bit in the press about a Hugh McColl project. Something like this could be his "Swan Song" in partnership with UNCC to incubate a tech hub uptown. Like another "Pearl" concept but for technology. He is just a man, and I'm sure he'd like to stop spending millions on unused land. 

NOTE: This is part hyperbole, but I heard rumors while at the State of the Center City, saw mention of Hugh looking to do a tech hub with UNCC, and now this info. It just makes so much sense. Hugh desperately wants to save Uptown, I've heard him speak about it twice now at events.

BUT ALSO: Side note, it's Charlotte so, LOLZ

Never doubted he was a human being.  Our criticisms aren't challenging that.  Is he a good developer?  That's in question.  Is he land-banking to the peril of this portion of Uptown?  That's in question.  Should 1st Ward pivot to a Technology R&D hub?  Perhaps.  Did we have to have 5 years of a multi-story blight in order to make that pivot? 

In August of last year, Bizjournals reported that Hugh McColl was recently installed as a member of UNC Charlotte's Board of Trustees.  At the time, Hugh was open about his intentions to push this tech hub concept forward in his new role.  The "Hub" planners have to keep Dan close on this, not because he's a compelling or signature developer, but because he's the landowner and, by default, must be a key stakeholder.  Ultimately, they'll need to give him his due and stoke his ego so that at the right time, he'll sell to this new plan and reap whatever windfall he thinks is appropriate.

[kermit]

^ As usual I don’t have any first hand info but I do know a few things about the UNCC and UNC System budget. Given that, recent maneuvers by STEM programs on campus that used up most of their social capital, and the current anti-urban leanings of the legislature, I have a very hard time seeing any significant money from the system or the state to fund a tech hub in Charlotte in the current climate. While there was a $500,000 federal planning grant received recently, I am not seeing much potential for state funds to come in to make any plans into reality. In order to get any actual money from the grant program the state, city and university would really need to have their crap together in a way that we haven’t seen in 20 years.

This strikes me as idea that is good enough that it gets written about, but it has no one with actual power pulling levers for this in Raleigh. Would be happy to be wrong, but color me pessimistic.

https://inside.charlotte.edu/news-features/2023-10-25/charlotte-awarded-tech-strategy-development-grant-us-economic-development

Edited February 9 by kermit

[J-Rob]

10 hours ago, CLT Development said:

Hey now, I've gotten to know him, he's a human, and a good guy. And despite all the criticism I've given him over the years we see eachother as friends. I don't think he wants to go out with an empty district. Theres a real concerted effort by some big people to revitalize uptown through this district. Details have come out a bit in the press about a Hugh McColl project. Something like this could be his "Swan Song" in partnership with UNCC to incubate a tech hub uptown. Like another "Pearl" concept but for technology. He is just a man, and I'm sure he'd like to stop spending millions on unused land. 

NOTE: This is part hyperbole, but I heard rumors while at the State of the Center City, saw mention of Hugh looking to do a tech hub with UNCC, and now this info. It just makes so much sense. Hugh desperately wants to save Uptown, I've heard him speak about it twice now at events.

BUT ALSO: Side note, it's Charlotte so, LOLZ

Whats a reasonable timeline for some of these potential plans? I think I read they've been "discussing" the tech corridor for 14 months, but that sounds like not much more than vision-boarding. I understand coordinated development doesn't happen quickly, but it also seems like they are trying to plan for the Silver line, that may or may not happen in 20 years. Reading between the lines, I interpret "wait and see" and "maybe something cool happens at some point in time".

I would love to be wrong, but I don't have high hopes. The Pearl took vision, but once they atrium-wake forest deal happened, the Pearl took shape quickly. From an outsider perspective, it seems like First Ward is lacking a key catalyst/tenant to move things along. (I don't know I see UNCC, a state funded school, committing $$$ and moving quickly like Atrium-Wake Forest).

@CLT Development, would love for you to tell me I am wrong and that there is more than meets the eye.

Edited February 9 by J-Rob

[CLT Development]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

^ As usual I don’t have any first hand info but I do know a few things about the UNCC and UNC System budget. Given that, recent maneuvers by STEM programs on campus that used up most of their social capital, and the current anti-urban leanings of the legislature, I have a very hard time seeing any significant money from the system or the state to fund a tech hub in Charlotte in the current climate. While there was a $500,000 federal planning grant received recently, I am not seeing much potential for state funds to come in to make any plans into reality. In order to get any actual money from the grant program the state, city and university would really need to have their crap together in a way that we haven’t seen in 20 years.

This strikes me as idea that is good enough that it gets written about, but it has no one with actual power pulling levers for this in Raleigh. Would be happy to be wrong, but color me pessimistic.

https://inside.charlotte.edu/news-features/2023-10-25/charlotte-awarded-tech-strategy-development-grant-us-economic-development

Their 2019 fiscal year budget before the pandemic included a $190M investment in Uptown, this never happened, but it represents significant precedent, and with the urgent need to revitalize this district, and uptown I do not see this as far fetched what so ever.

32 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

Whats a reasonable timeline for some of these potential plans? I think I read they've been "discussing" the tech corridor for 14 months, but that sounds like not much more than vision-boarding. I understand coordinated development doesn't happen quickly, but it also seems like they are trying to plan for the Silver line, that may or may not happen in 20 years. Reading between the lines, I interpret "wait and see" and "maybe something cool happens at some point in time".

I would love to be wrong, but I don't have high hopes. The Pearl took vision, but once they atrium-wake forest deal happened, the Pearl took shape quickly. From an outsider perspective, it seems like First Ward is lacking a key catalyst/tenant to move things along. (I don't know I see UNCC, a state funded school, committing $$$ and moving quickly like Atrium-Wake Forest).

@CLT Development, would love for you to tell me I am wrong and that there is more than meets the eye.

I wish I could share more informations, but unfortunately quite a bit is still pretty confidential.

I'm also just confused about the confused face, CBJ told about 30% of the story, and I know the other 70%.

Edited February 9 by CLT Development

[kermit]

1 hour ago, CLT Development said:

Their 2019 fiscal year budget before the pandemic included a $190M investment in Uptown, this never happened, but it represents significant precedent, and with the urgent need to revitalize this district, and uptown I do not see this as far fetched what so ever.

If you are referring to the UNC System budget that money is long gone. Major enrollment issues at several regional campuses (ECU, UNCG and UNCA) means that they will not be able to find this money in the next few years.

Edited February 9 by kermit