Uptown
Viewed from an upper level in one of Charlotte’s glitzy skyscrapers, the Uptown roofs below resemble an ever-changing sea. There is new construction everywhere – high-, mid- and low-rise. Moreover, a good many of those roofs represent homes: penthouses, condominiums, apartments and even single-family homes.

Uptown is one of the city’s fastest-growing areas, with 8,500 residents now and perhaps double that in another five years. In fact, there is so much housing growth that the Multiple Listing Service has given Uptown its own designation: Area 99.

More than 150 dining establishments and 40 late-night bars attract the urban crowd – a figure that is steadily increasing.

As the numbers grow, so do the amenities that add so much to life. Some Uptown residents find so much here to entertain them that they park their cars on Friday and don’t move them the entire weekend. They’re within walking distance of much of the city’s cultural and entertainment venues, with more headed their way.

Block-long, massive Bank of America Stadium anchors Uptown on the southwest end. Snarling panther statues outside the gates hint at the passions inside as the Carolina Panthers take on NFL opponents. At the other end of Uptown stands the ecclesiastically styled McColl Center for Visual Art. The city’s cultural district, dubbed North End, extends from the center’s front door southward to the center of town, Independence Square, at Tryon and Trade streets.

This district includes Discovery Place science museum, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Spirit Square, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, the McColl Center for Visual Art and a handful of private art galleries. The area also includes an elaborately renovated Museum of the New South and the new $27.5 million ImaginON, an ambitious project of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library and Children’s Theatre that includes a youth library, classrooms, technology center, early childhood reading center, performance stages and a craft shop. At the site of the old Carolina Theatre, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art intends to preserve the façade and stage of the theatre and incorporate them into a new building. The museum will include works by preeminent modern-era artists including Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Opportunities to eat, drink, and be entertained abound in Uptown. The number and variety of Uptown restaurants keep growing, with fine dining, down-home Southern standbys and ethnic cuisine all part of the mix. Prefer to dine on your rooftop terrace or by your urban window? Reid’s Fine Foods at Seventh Street Station parking garage supplies Uptown kitchens. In summer, you can supplement the fare with farm-fresh produce from the Center City Green Market in the Station’s plaza.

Recently restored, the Charlotte trolley can be heard clanging from the Atherton Mill in South End up to Ninth Street in Uptown. The #85 car was built at the Dilworth Trolley Barn in 1927 and is the only original electric trolley car still in operation. Three new cars joined the original this summer to provide trolley rides seven days a week.

The current route was rebuilt in anticipation of the light rail system which will share the trolley corridor. The system, which runs through the Charlotte Convention Center and the Westin Hotel, will link Charlotte to outlying towns beginning in Fall 2006. Anticipation for the light rail system has caused property values to skyrocket along the proposed route.

Another exciting addition to Charlotte’s development is the construction of a $265 million arena at Trade and Caldwell streets that will be home to the Bobcats, Charlotte’s new NBA expansion team. Under the ownership of Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, the team plays at the Charlotte Coliseum for its opening season this fall and will move to the new arena in 2005.
The growing First Ward neighborhood, once the site of numerous parking lots, has seen significant changes in recent years, in part due to the construction of the new arena.

The aptly-named Courtside, a 16-story condominium high-rise in First Ward at the corner of Sixth and Caldwell, will feature 7,500 square feet of retail and restaurants at the street level. An urban entertainment center across from the arena, will include a movie theater, restaurants and shops. Called Millennium Square, the center is slated to open in 2005.

In First Ward’s Garden District around Ninth and Davidson streets near the trolley line, condominiums and “townloft” homes are going up in a wide price range.

For a long time, Fourth Ward was the only residential pocket in what was the concrete expanse of Uptown. The turn-of-the-century homes in this quaint quadrant between North Tryon and West Trade streets had fallen into disrepair but were restored by determined homeowners and the bank that became Bank of America.

Fourth Ward is now one of the most charming spots in the city with its sidewalks and street lamps, its cozy front porches and Fourth Ward Park. Jefferson Square on Church Street models European urban architecture, and similar residential buildings are quickly following.

A new wave of construction is joining the condominium mid-rises already along Tryon and Church. Some projects include 715 North Church boasting 85 condominiums, where some units are reserved for artists working at the McColl Center for Visual Art, and offices on the ground floor.

Fifth and Poplar, a 305-unit mix of penthouses, rental units, and town homes, offers a number of amenities, including a concierge service, state-of-the-art fitness center, central courtyard and its very own Harris Teeter.

Several buildings continue to preserve Charlotte’s historic charm. See the 1928 Frederick Apartments, renovated as condos, and Settlers Place condo community, which incorporates the 94-year-old N.C. Medical College building.

Even Elmwood Cemetery, the historic green spot separating Fourth Ward from Third Ward, is getting a face-lift as it plays host to strollers and joggers.

In Third Ward, in Uptown’s southwest quadrant, small, renovated homes mix with new condominiums and apartments. It’s flanked on its southern side by Bank of America Stadium, the Panthers’ practice field, and on its northern side by West Trade and Gateway Village – Bank of America’s mammoth new mix of homes, retail and office space. The Village stretches along five blocks of West Trade and also has a YMCA. Gateway Lofts and Post Gateway Place near Trade Street add nearly 300 apartments to Uptown.

The arrival of Johnson & Wales University also enhances Third Ward as it opens its doors in the fall of 2004, creating an $82 million campus and bringing 2,000 students to the center city. The school, which leases part of the Gateway Village, is constructing an eight-story apartment building for students at Fifth and Graham to house 800 students.

The last piece of the Uptown residential puzzle began with The Ratcliffe on the Green, an upscale condominium high-rise in Second Ward, an area in the southeast quadrant of Uptown that had been occupied mostly by government buildings. The luxurious Ratcliffe offers an interactive park with fish fountains and landscaped walkways and is surrounded by 60,000 square feet of retail and office space. Other residential development around Marshall Park is called for in the city’s 2010 plan. It is predicted that Second Ward will soon be home to more than 2,000 new housing units.

Looking for a classy Park Avenue penthouse or Manhattan-style loft? The condominium high-rise called The Park will rise atop a parking deck at Third and Caldwell and at 21 stories will be Uptown’s tallest residential structure. Its verdant rooftop will include gardens, sitting areas, a walking trail, a pool and a small forest of trees.

The excitement that attracts people to Uptown home ownership is evident also in commercial life. The Westin Hotel on Stonewall and College Streets opened in 2003, offering a unique new building for the Charlotte skyline. With 700 rooms, the hotel is right across from the Charlotte Convention Center and features a bar, restaurant and 44,000 square feet of meeting space.

Bank of America’s new building, The Hearst Tower on North Tryon Street soars 46 stories, making it the city’s second tallest building after the Bank of America tower, which rises above all others at 60 stories. Across Tryon, the 30-story IJL Financial Center, which was built in 1996, shares similar window designs and exterior colors as the Hearst Tower. Recently known as Three First Union, Three Wachovia Center ascends 32 stories on South Tryon, and a 27-story tower at 300 S. Tryon includes a front courtyard and outdoor seating and dining.

It’s all happening within a relatively small area – the blocks radiating outward from the intersection of Trade and Tryon streets. For the city at large, that’s the center of action.

And for an increasingly large number of Charlotteans, it’s the place they call home.

Urban Neighborhoods
Nestled between Uptown’s high-rises and Charlotte’s southside suburbs are what many consider the jewels of the Queen City’s residential crown - its original streetcar suburbs. As you travel the broad, tree-lined, leaf-canopied streets you’ll see the Charlotte of the turn of the last century and pre-World War II.

Real estate listings for Charlotte’s center-city neighborhoods are in areas 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the Multiple Listing Service.

Start in the oldest suburb, Dilworth. The vision of Edward Dilworth Latta, this neighborhood was developed in the 1890s thanks to the advent of the streetcar and was the first place for Charlotteans to live outside the city. The streets of Dilworth feature house after house with front porches. The homes are primarily bungalows – with the occasional Queen Anne thrown in – and some larger, two-story Colonial Revival homes that line Dilworth Road East and West.

East Boulevard divides the residential areas. The road is lined with restaurants, offices and shops, many located in renovated homes. You also will find the city’s only Greek Orthodox Cathedral, which draws thousands to its annual Greek Festival. At the other end of the boulevard is the entrance to Freedom Park, well known for its annual arts festival, athletic fields, walking paths and amphitheater.
Charlotte’s largest hospital, Carolinas Medical Center, is in Dilworth. This 777-bed teaching hospital is the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and is the centerpiece of the ever-expanding Carolinas Healthcare System.

Nearby on East Boulevard is a new mixed-use development called Latta Pavilion. Named for Dilworth’s original entertainment center, Latta Pavilion includes condominiums, office and retail space, landscaped courtyards and walkways. Across the street, a new retail project will be built on the site of the landmark Epicurean restaurant. Another development facing Latta Pavilion, The Kenilworth will feature upscale living in the heart of Dilworth with units priced between $500,000 and $1 million.

South End, one of Charlotte’s hottest communities, is on Dilworth’s western edge. Only 10 years ago, the area was an eyesore of run-down mills. Today, the mills have been renovated into shops, restaurants and lofts, making it a trendy locale.

While the rebirth initially generated commercial development, new residential options are cropping up, including Summit Grandview and The Arlington, a 25-story condominium high-rise. Factory South features loft condominiums in a renovated mill with retail and dining on the first level.

South End is also home to the Charlotte Trolley as it runs from Atherton Mill to Ninth Street Uptown. The trolley line will also serve Charlotte’s new light rail system, expected to begin operations in 2006. Developers are planning residential projects near the tracks to entice Uptown workers, and property values along the route have skyrocketed in anticipation.

If you’re more traditional than trendy, Myers Park may be right for you - if you can handle the price tag. Myers Park was developed in the early 1900s by a real estate tycoon who wanted to create a neighborhood in the country. Today his countryside is a mere five minutes from Uptown, but you can’t help feeling miles away as you travel the curving boulevards and lanes with their towering willow oaks that dwarf even the grandest Myers Park homes.

While most of the homes in Myers Park are older, traditional houses, a few infill projects offer new options. These projects, primarily townhouses and condominiums come at a hefty price due to skyrocketing land values. In fact, Myers Park features two of only a handful of developments with units exceeding $1 million. Among them is 2400 Roswell, with 21 luxury condos and nearby St. Serrant, offering two balconies for each of its 11 units. Both developments provide lavish décor and amenities to appeal to the most prestigious clientele.

The Queens University campus is on Selwyn Avenue, in the heart of Myers Park. This liberal arts school was founded in 1857 and moved to its Myers Park campus in 1914. In addition to undergraduate studies, the university offers several graduate degrees, courses for working professionals and continuing education classes.

The shops and restaurants along and just off Providence Road on Myers Park’s eastern edge - including Laurel Market, the shops in the Villa and the old Manor Theater (rumored to be haunted!) are neighborhood favorites.

Eastover, tucked between Providence and Randolph roads, was developed after Myers Park and features majestic homes on broad, rolling lawns. Some of the original homes have been replaced by even more grandiose homes or infill projects for the truly discriminating buyer. The Crillion, an upscale development of 11 luxurious townhomes in the heart of Eastover, features units priced over $1 million.

Eastover is also home to the Mint Museum of Art, which garnered its name from the building in which it is housed - Charlotte’s original mint, which was moved from Uptown to this site in 1936. The Mint specializes in art of the Americas, from pre-Columbian to present day, and presents many national exhibits.

Across Randolph Road is the charming community of Elizabeth, a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood where residents can walk to a variety of locally owned restaurants. The homes, located off Randolph Road and 7th Street, are bungalows, but feature a greater architectural variety than those of Dilworth. Consequently, the neighborhood’s popularity means even the smallest homes fetch a hefty per-square-foot price.

The main campus of Central Piedmont Community College is located on the edge of Elizabeth. CPCC is the largest community college in the state and has satellite campuses across the region.

A short walk from the campus is Thompson Park, home to Mecklenburg’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The quaint St. Mary’s Chapel, also in the park, is owned by the city, but available to anyone to rent for weddings.

It’s hard to imagine three hospitals on one block, but that’s exactly what you find at the intersection of Randolph Road and Caswell Avenue. Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Orthopedic Hospital and Mercy Hospital are a stone’s throw from one another. Numerous medical offices are also nearby.

Next to Elizabeth is Chantilly, a small neighborhood popular among young professionals who want to live in the shadows of Uptown. Chantilly features beautiful streets and charming bungalows. It’s not yet as pricey as Elizabeth, though it’s well on its way.

From Chantilly, you come to Plaza-Midwood, a neighborhood comprising several smaller subdivisions. Plaza-Midwood traces its development back to 1903, when the first roads and trolley line were laid among the trees. The community is bordered by Central Avenue and The Plaza.

Central Avenue has enjoyed a great deal of redevelopment lately. New restaurants and entertainment venues have made it a hot destination. The Plaza, on the other hand, is a residential boulevard lined with stately old homes, including the historic Van Landingham Estate, which is available to rent for special events.

The wide variety of homes in Plaza-Midwood may be the draw behind its diverse population. This is one of the few historic neighborhoods ringing Uptown where you will still find charming, affordable homes among larger, expensive homes. As with other historic neighborhoods, Plaza-Midwood is seeing its share of infill projects where the price per square foot is relatively high.

Charlotte Country Club, the city’s oldest country club, is surrounded by grand homes dating back to 1920. The Country Club’s quiet, curving streets blends seamlessly with those of Plaza-Midwood, making the two communities seem singular.

The latest urban neighborhood to see a rebirth is Historic North Davidson, or “NoDa.” The community, out North Davidson Street at about 35th Street, is known for its funky art galleries and colorful bungalows. In addition to the old shotgun homes, NoDa has seen a boom in residential construction in the past few years. The Renaissance offers 230 affordable townhomes with a variety of floor plan options and the 100-year-old Highland Park Mill No. 3 at 33rd and North Davidson has been renovated into urban apartments.