From the Charlotte Observer:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/485/story/65406.html
Third Ward park is towers' draw
Green space helps buildings come to fruition
DOUG SMITH
dougsmith@charlotteobserver.com
Charlotte's Next Big Thing in center city projects will be a mixed-use development reaching into the sky.
Condos, offices, shops and restaurants will come together in two new towers, 32 stories and 14 stories, at Tryon and Third streets.
Residents will have a 16-floor "sky terrace" with a pool, hot tub and fitness center; a second-floor health club and spa; concierge service, and, of course, skyline views from balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows.
The modernistic buildings will be the 19th and 20th announced or started during uptown's four-year high-rise residential surge.
Spectrum Properties and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers are jointly developing the project -- named 300 South Tryon -- on a parking lot between Tryon and Church streets next to the historic Latta Arcade.
Michael Smith, president of Charlotte Center City Partners, believes it will be pivotal, creating a promenade along Third Street to a planned Third Ward park, putting more housing on Tryon and helping alleviate an uptown office space crunch.
"If you do pedestrian counts on South Tryon, there's just great activity there," he said. "Add to that the urban park and the amount of housing planned around it in Third Ward, and you have support for the retail."
The developers plan to start work on the 32-story mixed-use tower on the Tryon side in June and follow later with the 14-story condo tower on the Church Street side overlooking the planned park.
Spectrum Properties expects to complete the project by late 2009.
The tallest tower will have two floors of shops and restaurants -- about 40,000 square feet -- at the base, 168 residential condos selling from just under $250,000 to more than $900,000 on the highest floors and 316,000 square feet of office space in between.
Spectrum said the shorter building will total 151 units. Exact sizes, pricing and a construction timetable are to be determined.
Real estate watchers flinch at so much condo activity at a time when other large metropolitan areas are experiencing overbuilding and slumping sales.
But the addition of this project doesn't concern multi-family analyst Emma Littlejohn of The Littlejohn Group, who follows the urban market perhaps closer than anyone else in the city.
Openings of all those announced projects will be spread through the end of this decade and into the next, she said, boosting center city population from about 11,000 today to more than 21,000.
And, Littlejohn adds, demand for condos in the center city remains strong while the supply of luxury units like those planned at 300 South Tryon is limited.
"This announcement doesn't scare me at all," Littlejohn said. "I think their combination of location and amenities is going to be a home run."
The office space also seems to be timed appropriately.
Oversupply was a major issue uptown a few years ago, but the situation has changed dramatically over the past couple of years with the healthy growth of uptown's banks and financial services business.
Now, experts say, more offices are needed, even though uptown expects to add about 1 million square feet of speculative space by 2010 in three earlier announced towers.
Cornerstone and Spectrum felt confident enough about the market's strength to unveil the project and start construction without having the space leased up in advance.
Smith said the uptown vacancy rate has dropped to the 4 percent range, creating such a tight market that "you literally don't have enough space to recruit new businesses."
The developers made way for a 28-story office tower at Tryon and Third about eight years by demolishing several buildings, including Jake's restaurant and a mid-1920s office complex called Film Row.
Development was delayed, however, in the wake of a slumping real estate market.
Once discussions began a few years ago on the Third Ward park and a potential minor-league baseball stadium, the developers decided to re-evaluate.
"This project is all about the park," said Spectrum Chairman Jim Dulin. "It has that extra density because of the park."
The city, county and school system could complete details of a land swap in April or May, clearing the way for a baseball stadium next to the park.
Cornerstone, the real estate investment arm of Mass Mutual, is involved in the swap because it owns some of the property that would be used for the park.
"This is a fine example of how developments are accelerated and their density increased when projects like the land swap carry the day," Smith said.
Spectrum is pushing for approval of the swap, but officials said it's not mandatory for them to proceed with the estimated $200 million construction of 300 South Tryon.
They plan to start marketing commercial space and first phase condos in May and second phase condos in spring 2008.
300 SOUTH TRYON DETAILS
• 32-story tower with two levels of retail at the base, 13 floors of offices, 17 floors of condos.
• Architectural features include an eye-catching two-story "jewel box" retail structure at the Tryon and Third corner and a subtle flowing building design that draws attention down Third to the park.
• Each office floor has 25,000 square feet of space, 9-foot ceilings on lower floors, 12-foot ceilings on top two floors plus executive balcony on top office floor.
• Anchor tenant can put signage on building.
• Retail tenants to include a high-end restaurant, a sports bar/tavern, coffee shop, gourmet market.
• Condos in tower will have floor-to-ceiling glass and balconies or private terraces. Sizes range from studios (550 square feet) to two-bedroom units (1,100 square feet) and prices from under $250,000 to about $500,000. Seven penthouses on top three floors, 2,000 to 6,000 square feet each. Starting price: $900,000.
• Amenities to include 16th-floor sky terrace with pool and hot tub, fitness center, community room, wine room, theater room, pet park, private party terrace.
• Project features to include Club 300, a high-end health club and spa on second floor, concierge, large conference center, roof terrace in breakout area.
• Parking will be on four levels below building. Condo owners will have one space per bedroom (maximum: two). Office tenants will have additional parking in neighboring deck at Spectrum's 230 South Tryon condos.
• 14-story condo tower in phase two with a private party terrace connected to larger tower's amenities level by sky bridge. Penthouses, 1,900 to 3,000 square feet on top floor.
Development team
Developers: Spectrum Properties and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers.
Architect: LS3P Associates Ltd.
Contractor: R.J. Griffin & Co.
Condo sales: Helen Adams Realty.
Office leasing: Spectrum Properties, Ted Lee.
Info: 300southtryon.com.