Hard to keep up with Charlotte's changes
A short drive is all it takes to see how much Charlotte is changing.
This week, I took one with Bobby Sisk of WCNC, the Observer’s news partner, to tape a report that will air Monday on the 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. newscasts (UPDATE: To see the video, click here.).
We started by the construction site of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a pile of red dirt at College and Stonewall streets uptown that will be a major tourist attraction with national draw when it opens, as planned, in 2010.
A few blocks away, we drove past the construction site of the Metropolitan condo tower, Target store and Home Depot rising at the site of the former Midtown Square. It’s bringing a pedestrian-friendly, greenway-oriented development to the spot that once held Charlotte’s first enclosed shopping center.
We turned south and drove for a while along the light-rail line, set to open along South Boulevard this November. It’ll give commuters a new option for getting to work, and it’s sparking major new development along the corridor.
Then we swung a little to the west, to the site where the former Charlotte Coliseum was imploded in June to make way for a development of townhomes, retail and more called City Park. It’s part of the revitalization of westside Charlotte, formerly a mostly-abandoned side of town. But given its easy proximity to uptown, major highways and Lake Wylie, developers have definitely discovered it.
We then returned to the WCNC station off Billy Graham Parkway, beside the new home of the Billy Graham Library, which opened this spring. It’s home to the definitive history of the nation’s most famous evangelist, who’s also a Charlotte native.
And that was just one small circuit. We didn’t even venture out to the new developments taking place at Lake Norman, Cabarrus and Union counties, Ballantyne and further south. All of the area’s changes can be hard to keep up with sometimes, which is why the Observer annually publishes the Living Here magazine – a complete guide to the region.
You may have seen that the magazine will publish soon – next Sunday, Sept. 30 – in most home-delivered Observers, newspaper racks in Mecklenburg and Union counties and on Charlotte.com. I’ll be posting updates here and you can see more information next week in the Observer and on WCNC.
What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen taking place around Charlotte, and what are their best or worst aspects?
This week, I took one with Bobby Sisk of WCNC, the Observer’s news partner, to tape a report that will air Monday on the 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. newscasts (UPDATE: To see the video, click here.).
We started by the construction site of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a pile of red dirt at College and Stonewall streets uptown that will be a major tourist attraction with national draw when it opens, as planned, in 2010.
A few blocks away, we drove past the construction site of the Metropolitan condo tower, Target store and Home Depot rising at the site of the former Midtown Square. It’s bringing a pedestrian-friendly, greenway-oriented development to the spot that once held Charlotte’s first enclosed shopping center.
We turned south and drove for a while along the light-rail line, set to open along South Boulevard this November. It’ll give commuters a new option for getting to work, and it’s sparking major new development along the corridor.
Then we swung a little to the west, to the site where the former Charlotte Coliseum was imploded in June to make way for a development of townhomes, retail and more called City Park. It’s part of the revitalization of westside Charlotte, formerly a mostly-abandoned side of town. But given its easy proximity to uptown, major highways and Lake Wylie, developers have definitely discovered it.
We then returned to the WCNC station off Billy Graham Parkway, beside the new home of the Billy Graham Library, which opened this spring. It’s home to the definitive history of the nation’s most famous evangelist, who’s also a Charlotte native.
And that was just one small circuit. We didn’t even venture out to the new developments taking place at Lake Norman, Cabarrus and Union counties, Ballantyne and further south. All of the area’s changes can be hard to keep up with sometimes, which is why the Observer annually publishes the Living Here magazine – a complete guide to the region.
You may have seen that the magazine will publish soon – next Sunday, Sept. 30 – in most home-delivered Observers, newspaper racks in Mecklenburg and Union counties and on Charlotte.com. I’ll be posting updates here and you can see more information next week in the Observer and on WCNC.
What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen taking place around Charlotte, and what are their best or worst aspects?
posted by Leigh at
11:08 AM
25 Comments:
It has become more diverse and cosmopolitan and I think that is great.
I think the people that rave about Charlotte becoming "cosmopolitan" have never been to a cosmopolitan city. Well I guess it is if you are from Gastonia or Kannapolis, or maybe even Buffalo, NY.
Hi, I am the first poster of this thread, and I am from New York City...
I have lived here since the early 1990's and trust me, it has changed A LOT.
You're absolutely right in saying that changes happen so fast around here that you pretty much need a scorecard to keep up. Someone who hasn't been downtown in a few years would barely recognize the place. I think most of the changes are good, although I somewhat miss the grunginess of the old NoDa art district. I think it's wonderful that we're finally having some tourist attractions being built, and it's exciting to see what new restaurant is going to open up downtown or at SouthPark.
To anon 12:06 and other similarly minded people: What exactly is lacking in this city that prevents you from leading a fulfilling life? I find it hard to believe that someone can go through the Observer's arts section or the Creative Loafing and decide, "Nope, nothing for me to do here this weekend!" Do we have the exhaustive arts and restaurant scene that places like NYC or San Francisco has? Of course, not! But it's not as big a city, either. So what specifically are we lacking in our comfortably mid-sized city that places like Baltimore, Kansas City or Sacremento have? Any what's stopping us from having things like that?
Why such antagonism towards Charlotte? I know its not perfect, but I have lived in some of the cities that are often referred to in this blog as having more culture or whatever, and I seriously don't think that is what Charlotte is all about. So what? Everything in life is a trade-off. Of course its not NYC, but you also have some wonderful things here that you would never be able to afford or enjoy there. As a native I'm having a hard time understanding how there are so many people who respond to this blog who absolutely seem to hate Charlotte. It may not be home, but it seems that many transplants are not here of there own free will. I know this isn't the topic of the current column, but I'm seriously wondering, why are you here if you hate it so much?
If you ever thought Charlotte lacked culture....get yourself over to The Milestone at 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd.
All hail Neil MF Harper!!!!
Agreed. There are positives & negatives about every city. I'm a native too and I get so sick of people hating on this city. If you don't like it, I say pack your bags. You won't be missed. All my friends that are transplants are quite happy here.
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Charlotte has not changed since I have been coming through here twenty years ago; Ill give Charlotte a hates off for the housing they are bringing in and shopping but How about the OUTERBELT thats taking 30 years to build? How about the Dowtown that was a big as it was ten years ago; How about the crime thats growing by the day. All this should be getting predictable by now but light rail and no plan for the rest of it; Im shocked at the lack of ten year planning that goes on. Tjhis town needs roads and is splitting apart at the seams.
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8:52 AM
Charlotte has not changed since I have been coming through here twenty years ago;
please keep on going or take some other way
Tjhis town needs roads and is splitting apart at the seams.
Please go to Raleigh and complain to the NCDOT. They are in charge of providing funds to state roads.
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How about the Dowtown that was a big as it was ten years ago
Um... no.
WOW !!! We need better schools here. You people can't spell to save your life.
how about a dixie land jazz band downtown all the time on the week ends ?
how about african choir downtown ; Choir members would dress in long robes and sway back and forth singing old time slavery hymns
how about a Mexican band with cuban style Piano playing like they have in MIAMI
How about a KKK and Black panther Museum but in seperata areas so we can see the History of the South and how they all got started.
How about me shutting up
It takes leaving Charlotte to go to college in the Midwest to appreciate all it had to offer! I love my home town, and very glad to see it changing.
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