Charlotte, North Carolina

[antinimby]

Wachovia tower
will be green

RICHARD MASCHAL

http://www.charlotte.com/images/charlotte/charlotte/16179/261771138794.jpg


Posted on Wed, Dec. 06, 2006 (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16179492.htm)

The design of Wachovia's new uptown tower unveiled this afternoon reveals a 48-story building with a blue-green glass skin, granite base and a top with sloping planes designed to create a dynamic shape on the city's skyline.

As about 300 business, political and community leaders applauded, the wraps came off a model of the building, a 42-story condominium tower behind it and the cultural facilities forming a multi-million dollar campus on South Tryon Street.

Almost 800 feet tall, with more than 1.5 million square feet of space, the roughly $880 million building will be "green," with features such as recycled rainwater and a green roof with plants on top of the trading floor.

It will be the second building in Charlotte after ImaginOn to seek certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Bob Bertges, director of corporate real estate for Wachovia, said the bank didn't want something "cool for a couple of years but sustainable over a long period of time."

© Copyright 2006 The Charlotte Observer

[antinimby]

More renderings from that article.

http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/charlotte/KRT_packages/archive/business/wachovia/images/01afrocenter.jpg
Part of the cultural campus on South Tryon, the partly transparent Afro-American Cultural
Center will provide a gateway to uptown. Designed by The Freelon Group, it will house art
and performances.



http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/charlotte/KRT_packages/archive/business/wachovia/images/02bechtler.jpg
The Bechtler Art Museum, designed by Mario Botta, will be clad in rose-colored terra cotta.
Like the other projects, will be completed in 2009.



http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/charlotte/KRT_packages/archive/business/wachovia/images/04mintmuseum.jpg
The new Mint Museum, by Machado and Silvetti, will stand next to the tower. With its grand
staircase, it will house the crafts collection and contemporary painting and sculpture.



http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/charlotte/KRT_packages/archive/business/wachovia/images/05kidmuseum.jpg
The 1,200-seat Knight Theater, also designed by TVS Architects, will be behind the Bechtler.
It will be used by the N.C. Dance Theatre and other groups.


http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/charlotte/KRT_packages/archive/business/wachovia/images/06condo.jpg
The 42-story condo tower, designed by RJT + R of Atlanta.

[lofter1]

Can Charlotte support all those fancy new buidlings for their arts institutions?

The Charlotte economy tanked a few years back -- and a large theater complex designed by Cesar Pelli (the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center (http://www.blumenthalcenter.org/about/history.asp); 1992) housing a ~ 2,000 seat auditorium and an ~ 450 seat theater -- has been only partially successful, both artistically and financially.

[ablarc]

^ Street paving is nearly always shiny and reflective in Charlotte.

[Hof]

I've been to Charlotte a lot,and it's one of those kind of big/small cities that somehow lacks an urban feel.It lacks that "something" that can propel it's DT into the ranks of interesting places after sundown,like Boise,Nashville or Dallas have.
Charlotte's heart,while filled with attractively tall megastructures,remains a cold and lonely place after dark.From an approaching distance,especially at night,the city looks like a substantial chunk of NY's Financial District was uprooted and dragged South.It's a cool looking skyline.Then,when you get Downtown and actually drive around the core,you discover that it's as empty as a pocket.

The city's epicenter is at the intersections of Tryon and Trade,a place designed to fool the eye into seeing a tromp l'eol Manhattan corner.The street is bathed in shadow during morning and afternoon--ala Midtown--due to the imposing skyscraper canyon created there.Nascent tree-life struggles to prosper in the shade,the foliage seeing their only sun at noon like many of the Big City's streetscapes.Morning sunlight bounces off the walls of glass and gives a moving dappled light to the surroundings.

Big,modern buildings march off smartly in all directions,and imposing,uplifting statuary graces the Tryon/Trade corners,elevated on classic pillars above the street.It makes you want to look for a Subway station or grab a falafel from a street vendor.
Busy as hell during the day,it turns into an immensely dull place after dark.Every now and then,I was told,sports events or concerts bring some life to the place,but mostly it is at 5PM that Midtown Charlotte shrugs off any New York/big city metaphors and becomes a lonely skyscraper garden.I walked all around it one pleasant summer evening and couldn't get to my car fast enough.Ever since,I would only drive through.I'm sure there are things going on down there,I just couldn't find them.

I remember seeing some photos online displaying a timeline of Charlotte's downtown.In the 40s-50s it had a typically busy center,filled with demi-midrises and Deco banks.Then,for some baffling reason,by the late 60s almost ALL of the Downtown's structures were razed and the whole of Midtown lay barren.The City tore out it's entire history,and gradually,throught the 70s-80s,it got busy filling all the open space with freeways,stadiums and civic buildings.The mega-scrapers began going up in the 80s-90s,so almost everything in Charlotte's core is not much older than Britney Spears.

There is hardly ANY of the City's history on display.Charlotte's architectural heritage is almost exclusively Late 20th Century Modernist.It's like Downtown Charlotte just recently got planted where it is.

[ablarc]

^ Accurate assessment, Hof.

Then,for some baffling reason,by the late 60s almost ALL of the Downtown's structures were razed and the whole of Midtown lay barren.
Parking. The "baffling reason" was to provide parking for the highrises.

For a while there were so many lil ol' low-rise buildings to replace for parking lots that they didn't even consider structure parking to be an alternative. Since they taxed according to the building's value, property owners got instant tax relief when they tore down their unprofitable and obsolete buildings for parking. The planning director --who was well educated and from a real city up north-- cynically referred to it as "land banking" to make it seem thrifty and sage to the business community who demanded it and whom he claimed merely to be serving.

The City tore out it's entire history,and gradually,throught the 70s-80s,it got busy filling all the open space with freeways,stadiums and civic buildings.The mega-scrapers began going up in the 80s-90s,so almost everything in Charlotte's core is not much older than Britney Spears.

There is hardly ANY of the City's history on display.Charlotte's architectural heritage is almost exclusively Late 20th Century Modernist.It's like Downtown Charlotte just recently got planted where it is.
All true.

Built as a Roman grid with 400 foot square blocks, Charlotte's fabric decayed to the point that only its cardo and decumanus (Tryon and Trade) survive as viable urban streets.

Structure parking has now taken over, since there are no more surviving little buildings to replace with lots. And the land-banked lots are gradually being replaced with arenas, stadiums, courthouses and miscellaneous other blockbusters that will render the city permanently unwalkable except for its two principal streets.

Bars and nicer restaurants have appeared in the last decade, and Cesar Pelli's superb Carnegie Hall replica (the Blumenthal Center) helps animate the main street some evenings.

In the past decade rustbelt migrants have caused demand for inner city luxury condo towers, but most of the time when a resident of one of these leaves his or her unit it's to head straight for the car garaged on-premises in the deck.

[NDL]

The detail on Charlotte is great!

I was/am actually interested in Charlotte. While Manhattan isn't my thing, I am more of a Brooklynite/Staten Islander at heart. Do you think that a move to Charlotte would be a difficult adjustment, in other words, more so than any other city down South?

Thanks in advance

[ablarc]

I was/am actually interested in Charlotte. While Manhattan isn't my thing, I am more of a Brooklynite/Staten Islander at heart. Do you think that a move to Charlotte would be a difficult adjustment, in other words, more so than any other city down South?
Living in Charlotte is like being suspended in lukewarm water.

Not hard to adjust if you don't mind that. The people who live here are mostly used to it.

Some claim to like it. When they do that, it's accompanied by expressions of New York revulsion --though many have never been to NY.

I guess you could say Charlotte is the Anti-New-York.

[NDL]

Ablarc,

I thank you for reply, which is precisely what I was looking for. I have little toleration for that type of attitude, or for lukewarm places.

I am however, interested in other areas, although I am not well traveled.

Upstate looks interesting, except Buffalo's economy is poor.

Philly I love, but for me, the lethargy of City Hall would make living there too frustrating.

Baltimore has its' nice areas I suppose, but I know little about this city. It would appear to be on the rebound, however...

The Boston area is too much like NYC, in what I am trying to get away from.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[kliq6]

The detail on Charlotte is great!

I was/am actually interested in Charlotte. While Manhattan isn't my thing, I am more of a Brooklynite/Staten Islander at heart. Do you think that a move to Charlotte would be a difficult adjustment, in other words, more so than any other city down South?

Thanks in advance

This place has a chance, with proper commitment, to become the capital of the new South.

Also if you live on SI, your ready for Charlotte, its sleepy like your Island

[OmegaNYC]

You should try DC. My brother has been living down there for a couple of months. He tells me it is a great city, with much to see and do. Jobs pay pretty good there, too.

[ablarc]

^ Good suggestion.

Also: San Francisco.

[Bojangleman]

DC and SF are both great cities. But in DC you have to beware of certain neighborhoods (ie: the entire city outside Northwest)

Baltimore reminds me of a run-down, slummy version of Boston. Nothing but unpleasent experiences down there for me. I've heard that if Baltimore were New York's size, it would have in excess of 3,000 homicides per year. Yuck yuck.

Edit: And after living in Montana for six years, I must say that THAT is the anti-New York :P

[NDL]

Kliq: Actually, the reason why I can live on SI, is owed to the fact that Manhattan is right here. While the City can be daunting at times, I wonder if its' absence would be too great to bear. On the other hand, one of the reasons I am interested in relocating, is to get into something on the ground floor - which is something Charlotte offers.

Omega, Ablarc and Bojangle: Thanks for the DC suggestion, for it certainly offers a lot. Then again, the alure of a newer city, is to be able to start from the ground floor.

[ablarc]

^ Just be sure there are also upper floors.

[homeandaway]

i like this city
~Alex~

[TREPYE]

There is hardly ANY of the City's history on display.Charlotte's architectural heritage is almost exclusively Late 20th Century Modernist.It's like Downtown Charlotte just recently got planted where it is.

Having been there a couple of times one thing that I can say about Charlotte is that the architecture is pretty impressive. Particularly there are 2 towers there that I found myself envying over and they are the Bank of America Tower and the Heart Tower. What beautiful well crafted and delightful structures to look at :). Pelli's tower (BoA) soars up dramatically through a series of setbacks culminating into a quintessential crown. The Hearst is a beautifully ornamented structure that has a very unique V shape effect as the tower seems to widen at its gets to the top.

And it doesn't stop there I didn't see many towers that were some bland reiteration of that stupid 50, 60s modernism movement that destroyed NYC's DT skyline. I guess Charlotte was lucky to some how skip that dark epoch. All the towers are interesting to look at as they are generally distinct in facade, base, shape and roof top ornamentation. Also, one thing that clearly stands out as an example of city character is all of the fountains that they have. It seems like in all the blocks in DT (or uptown as they refer to it on some street signs :confused::p) have some sort of water fountain.

Charlotte's does its contemporary architecture right. Im not familiar with how the city looked like before but what they ended up with is not bad at all. You can tell from the designs of the towers that the developers, architects care about the effect that the buildings are going to have on the fabric of the city's apperance. Kudos for the Queen city.

[ablarc]

Having been there a couple of times one thing that I can say about Charlotte is that the architecture is pretty impressive. Particularly there are 2 towers there that I found myself envying over and they are the Bank of America Tower and the Heart Tower. What beautiful well crafted and delightful structures to look at :). Pelli's tower (BoA) soars up dramatically through a series of setbacks culminating into a quintessential crown. The Hearst is a beautifully ornamented structure that has a very unique V shape effect as the tower seems to widen at its gets to the top.
Yep, they make a harmonious couple with their pinkish granite cladding, paired windows, deco gestures and party hats. Did you notice Hearst's homage to Chrysler in the fan of triangular windows at the top? No spire though.

And it doesn't stop there I didn't see many towers that were some bland reiteration of that stupid 50, 60s modernism movement that destroyed NYC's DT skyline. I guess Charlotte was lucky to some how skip that dark epoch.
It was just a sleepy little burg in the Old South during those years, so hardly anything was built. They mostly concentrated on taking out low-rise urban fabric for parking lots.

All the towers are interesting to look at as they are generally distinct in facade, base, shape and roof top ornamentation.
Mandatory party hats are written into the zoning.

Charlotte's does its contemporary architecture right. Im not familiar with how the city looked like before but what they ended up with is not bad at all. You can tell from the designs of the towers that the developers, architects care about the effect that the buildings are going to have on the fabric of the city's apperance. Kudos for the Queen city.
Looks nice from a distance and to drive through on the cardo and decumanus ... but it's still not walkable.

[pianoman11686]

What other kinds of interesting provisions are written into Charlotte's zoning? Are there height limits?

[ablarc]

What other kinds of interesting provisions are written into Charlotte's zoning? Are there height limits?
No height limits or FAR, and precious little else. Thus: no ruinous on-site parking requirement, no setbacks, etc. In fact there are very few rules that apply in the inner city.

The suburbs are another story.

[antinimby]

^ I like how Charlotte the city, thinks.

Btw pianoman, you're in NC so why don't you pay ablarc a visit? :D

That is, if you don't mind ablarc.

[pianoman11686]

Mind him? He's one of the main reasons I continue to like spending time on the forum! (You too, of course ;))

In any case, I'm all the way over in Durham, a good three hours away, with no car. :(

Ablarc: I take it most of your work is done in the suburbs (unfortunately). Are these for the most part independent of Charlotte, and thus have different rules? Or did Charlotte zone outlying areas differently?

[ablarc]

...the suburbs (unfortunately). Are these for the most part independent of Charlotte, and thus have different rules? Or did Charlotte zone outlying areas differently?
Charlotte's land area is over 95% sprawling suburb; the downtown --fully circumscribed by freeways, like city walls-- is an anomalous special-use district unhampered by the millstone of suburban zoning. Fairly recently it has started to evolve from being an office park to an inhabited area with a little modest nightlife; conversion of a vast old department store to residential and mixed use helped kick-start that trend, together with demolition of (low-rise) subsidized housing projects. Finally, Rustbelt migrants have created a market for quasi-urban high-rise condos (always equipped with plentiful on-premises structure parking).

Ill-conceived downtown construction of a football stadium, a convention center and a basketball arena has produced the predictable dead zones; the stadium with its kalahari of rarely-full parking lots effectively takes out almost a quarter of the inner city.

Fourth Ward provides a pocket of Victorian quaintness that should be walking distance to downtown's towers, but hardly anyone who lives there actually braves on foot the gauntlet of homeless folks and parking lots. There is now a supermarket.

It doesn't yet function as a city, though it may eventually. Last time it was in good working order was the Thirties.

[TREPYE]

Mandatory party hats are written into the zoning.
That is awesome. Why is it that NYC does not do that???? Not for ALL developments but for those that are gonna be above a certain height. They should build upon the storied skyline not continiue to ruin it.

Looks nice from a distance and to drive through on the cardo and decumanus ... but it's still not walkable.

From what I saw they are building a light rail system. Would this improve its walkability?

[ablarc]

From what I saw they are building a light rail system. Would this improve its walkability?
This will have little or no effect on Charlotte's walkability, since it will function essentially as a commuter line. Its purpose is to reduce traffic from the south into downtown by taking cars off the eternally clogged interstate and the eternally clogged South Boulevard. I doubt it will capture even 10% of daily commuters, so it probably won't have a perceptible effect even on traffic.

This line will be crowded inbound in the morning and outbound at quitting time, and will run empty at other times, like rail lines in other southern cities. It will be taken by those who work downtown and never leave their offices, since you can't reliably get anywhere in Charlotte without a car. Downtown itself is small enough that no one will use the rail line to get from one part of downtown to another.

A pork barrel boondoggle; the money should have been sent to New York or Boston.

It has had one positive effect: using the imminent line as a justification, they rezoned the land along the line for much higher density. The higher density construction has already materialized, is mostly very nice, and is now occupied --in the complete absence of the line itself. They could have done that at any time without even building the line. And they could do it elsewhere if they chose to --without even proposing a line.

.

[pianoman11686]

The higher density construction has already materialized, is mostly very nice...

Any particular reason for this, like special design guidelines?

[ablarc]

Any particular reason for this, like special design guidelines?
In a suburban place like Charlotte any higher-density project registers as nice, I guess.

Though they presently drive everywhere, many of the yuppies that bought into these condos will end up taking the light rail to work some days if they work downtown --and they'll even take it from time to time to go out for a meal, an evening of drinking, or a concert or basketball game.

Mostly, they'll continue to drive most places --a condition facilitated by the fact that many of these condos are single-orientation veneers placed over one face of a parking structure. You step out your back door directly into the parking deck or you step out your front door towards the light rail, which is bordered by proliferating hipster retail.

None of this actually requires the presence of the light rail, which won't be running for months. In fact, they could bag the light rail entirely and it would still have had a positive effect.

It all looks good because it's rendered in Arts-and-Crafts Revival, the currently-fashionable style that --because it's unfamiliar hereabouts-- seems fresh and modern.

Stripes in the brickwork, Art Nouveau and Deco accents, some industrial imagery. Tatlin meets Otto Wagner.

.