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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Hallelujah! Uptown Charlotte Goes Green!

April 16, 2008

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady with Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Hallelujah! Uptown Green Market! Condos, Organic Food!

THE DETAILS OF CENTER CITY GREEN
• Size: 12-story parking deck to include condos, a restaurant and a green market.
• Location: 2-acre site bounded by Fifth, Sixth and North Brevard streets and the light-rail line.
• The condos: 88 units, 560 to 960 square feet, priced from the $180,000s to the $280,000s. Green features to include eco-friendly finishes such as cork, recycled glass, bamboo, compact fluorescent lighting, and energy-saver appliances.
• The restaurant: Developers are aiming for a health-conscious eatery featuring wholesome dining.
• The green market: Developers are working with Charlotte Center City Partners on a year-round market featuring fresh vegetables, fish, meats and dairy products -- all sold by local vendors.
• Parking: Condos with balconies would be constructed beside a 1,400-space deck. Glass elevator towers and a helix -shaped parking ramp add artistic elements.
• Design: Developers will seek LEED silver certification and include such green features as bicycle storage, showers and changing rooms.
• Development team: Spectrum Properties, developer; LS3P Associates Ltd., architect; BE&K Construction, general contractor; Bank of America, lender.
• Timetable: Groundbreaking by late June; completion by fourth quarter of 2009.
• Information:http://www.centercitygreen.com/.
DOUBLE-DUTY DECKS
Developers are trying to improve the uptown streetscape by hiding or disguising parking decks. Here are some examples:
• Seventh Street Station, on the light-rail line between Sixth and Seventh streets, houses a specialty grocer and restaurants. It features fins and reflective panels that play musical tones.
This garage and several of its contemporaries helped changed the public's perception of uptown as a giant office park and made it more attractive for the residential resurgence under way in the center city today.
• Wachovia created The Green, a lively, 1.5-acre park atop an 860-space parking garage on South Tryon Street between The Ratcliffe condominiums and St. Peter Catholic Church.
• Bank of America's Gateway Village on West Trade Street conceals a 2,800-space parking garage behind condos, apartments, shops and restaurants.
• At other uptown projects constructed since the city adopted screening rules in the 1990s, parking garages such as the one at the 46-story Hearst Tower on North Tryon Street are shielded by building facades on the lower levels.
• Wachovia's First Street Campus under construction at Tryon and Stonewall streets conceals about 2,200 parking spaces beneath a 48-story office tower.
Doug Smith: Charlotte Observer
The full article is on Condo News at www.condocando.com

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