Some new Charlotte photos

[initiald]

Some new Charlotte photos, mostly from this past weekend. A lot of photos of some of the new buildings completed in the past year or so and not too many street scenes this time.

Pano of the Levine Avenue of the Arts




Vue condos












UNC Charlotte Center City building




North Davidson/9th Street roundabout


7th Street Market, locally sourced food and drink




New Hyatt House hotel






Sprinter enhanced bus service to the airport


New solar panels on parking decks. About time.








Skye - condos, hotel (brand TBD), and rooftop restaurant




Duke Energy Center from The Green, a small park


Looking the other way on The Green








The fairly new Ally bank building, the most recently built office building (not counting the UNC Charlotte building, which has classrooms and such).


A burger joint and a sushi joint have opened in it. That's good because this part of Third Ward has been lacking in restaurants compared to the rest of center city.


Romare Bearden Park under construction. Third Ward has way too many surface lots. This is removing a whole block of them and will be the largest park in the center city. The grass covered lot behind this one is the site of the proposed AAA baseball stadium. It's been stalled but is starting to move forward now we hope.


The park design:

Source: Bearden Foundation

Packard Place. An old office building that has been remodeled into a start-up/small business incubator and a co-working and meeting space. Note the wind turbines on the roof. It was originally a Packard automobile dealership, hence the name.




On the right is the Mario Botto designed Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, clad in terra cotta, and to the left of it is the new Knight Theater.


The famous Disco Chicken statue




Knight Theater




The new Mint Museum




New EV charging stations have been placed around center city




Harvey B. Gantt African American Cultural Center






NASCAR Hall of Fame










A couple older photos I found that I took last autumn:

[arkitekte]

Charlotte is looking good.

[whatsthepoint13]

Wow, I see significant improvements to Uptown since I was there in 2008. It keeps getting better. Thanks!

[novaCJ]

It's great seeing infill in Charlotte, that place has massive potential.

[AviationGuy]

I've never been to Charlotte, but have been thinking of visiting in my search for a place to eventually retire to. Beautiful photos.

[ColDayMan]

Great update!

[Matthew]

Looks beautiful as always.

I was going to ask about the ballpark's location. You answered my question in your thread before I could ask! I noticed this week that both Charlotte's and Winston-Salem's ballparks will have the same name. The ballpark in Winston-Salem is a baseball palace and something like that would do well in Uptown. I'm guessing the location is visible from the Belk Freeway too? When I'm in Charlotte, I love to see the stadium lights (Bank of America Stadium) from the freeway. Adding more stadium lights is good (Yes, I'm among those who like to drive around the buildings before leaving).

[Danny]

Very nice pictures of Charlotte! Thanks for sharing, initiald!

I´ve enjoyed watching your pretty and very modern city. I like very much its skyscrapers. Those open spaces are really nice too. And I´ve liked very much its museums. I think Charlotte must be a very good city to live in. It looks very clean, very green, modern...

I hope to see more.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

[RobertWalpole]

It's nice to see the Romare Bearden Park proceeding.

[LSyd]

some really cool designs, thanks

-

[initiald]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Looks beautiful as always.

I was going to ask about the ballpark's location. You answered my question in your thread before I could ask! I noticed this week that both Charlotte's and Winston-Salem's ballparks will have the same name. The ballpark in Winston-Salem is a baseball palace and something like that would do well in Uptown. I'm guessing the location is visible from the Belk Freeway too? When I'm in Charlotte, I love to see the stadium lights (Bank of America Stadium) from the freeway. Adding more stadium lights is good (Yes, I'm among those who like to drive around the buildings before leaving).

It would be pretty visible from I-77. It may be obscured a bit by Bank of America stadium when on I-277 loop. Even better is how good a view of the skyline it will give. This is the original rendering for the stadium design, but I've seen some newer concepts that use the stadium in Columbus as a stand in:

Souce: Charlotte Knights

[Matthew]

I loved the old site though, where the buildings seem to wrap-around the ballpark. It's nice looking-out at the skyline, but it's more amazing to be in it. It also has a greater impact on the heart of the city, by placing the crowds in the center. Jerry Reese unfortunately ended any chance of seeing a ballpark there and he is still trying to stop the ballpark. I would love to see Major League Baseball in Uptown, but when the NBA returned, it ended any chance of that happening in the near future. He should allow the International League ballpark to move forward and try for MLB in 10-15 years. Strong support for the Knights in a new ballpark could dramatically increase the chances of an MLB team moving to Charlotte.

The same architects (360 Architecture) behind Columbus' ballpark also designed the ballpark in Winston-Salem, based on AT&T Park and The Historic Brookstown Inn. They are the best ballpark architects in my opinion. I think they are working on the A's new ballpark? Who is the design architect for Charlotte's ballpark? Odell is actually well-known in the Carolinas for sports facilities and may not work with anyone else? I'm not aware of any design architects working with them on any of their sports facilities?

[min-chi-cbus]

LOVE the architecture -- I'm pretty impressed! It looks like EVERYTHING there is brand new, which I guess shouldn't be surprising, but alas. Now how is Charlotte bulding condos after the condo bust? Why would there be demand for condos in a city/region with low cost of living? I never understood that dynamic, because condos generally make sense where homeownership is in demand but traffic, geography or other constraints make it almost impossible to own close to the core.

[stepper77]

Charlotte really does do things right. I was impressed with the activity downtown when I was there in 2009.

[Wheelingman04]

Originally Posted by novaCJ

It's great seeing infill in Charlotte, that place has massive potential.

I totally agree.

[The Jerk]

Wow, that's Charlotte? I guess a lot has happened since I was last there in 2001

[The Jerk]

My Favorite;

[Ex-Ithacan]

I enjoyed the tour (and update). Some wonderful pics, but this one really impressed:



Thanks.

[KB0679]

*sigh* I really do miss the old stomping grounds. It tugs on the heartstrings every now and again.

Now as far as 440 South Church that houses Ally Financial, I thought that was finished before 1 Bank of America was, which is the most recent office building to be constructed?

[Onward]

Originally Posted by min-chi-cbus

LOVE the architecture -- I'm pretty impressed! It looks like EVERYTHING there is brand new, which I guess shouldn't be surprising, but alas. Now how is Charlotte bulding condos after the condo bust? Why would there be demand for condos in a city/region with low cost of living? I never understood that dynamic, because condos generally make sense where homeownership is in demand but traffic, geography or other constraints make it almost impossible to own close to the core.

I agree with everything you said. But uptown Charlotte is a pretty desirable place with plenty of reasons to pay more "for the region at least". As to the Condo market the building intiald posted was on hold for quite sometime and a major eyesore. Wasn't till recently someone else took over the project and went about finishing it. The Hotel portion wasn't even apart of the original plans. But due to the current condo market, became a necessity to getting the project done.