By late next year, Charlotte's center city will grow
to more than 4,100 homes, double the number it had just four years ago in
a dramatic comeback for the urban core.
Lured by uptown's energy, nightlife, arts and
convenience, new arrivals snapped up urban lofts, condominiums and
apartments, boosting the center city's population to 7,390 today from
5,523 in 1995.
Charlotte Center City Partners predicts uptown will
reach 8,600 residents by late 2003, when the last of nearly two dozen
residential projects that fueled the boom are completed.
Cities across the country are reporting a similar
resurgence in urban living as suburbanites grow weary of long commutes,
strip malls and sprawl.
In the decade of the 1990s, Chicago's downtown
population doubled to 100,000. San Francisco, Boston, Denver and Seattle
also are revitalization hot spots.
Urban planners say the most successful cities invest
in restaurants, museums, entertainment and parks to create a sense of
place, as Charlotte is doing.
Uptown leaders say building a strong core is a
pressing issue. That's because by the end of this decade the outerbelt
around Mecklenburg will be finished, pulling development away from the
center.
Sustaining the center city's residential development
momentum also is a key, and the sluggish and uncertain economy makes real
estate experts nervous about that.
Only a handful of small projects have been announced
over the past year, but people most familiar with center city development
don't believe the housing boom is over.
"Maybe we're not seeing a tidal wave today, but
we're still seeing a strong current," said uptown banker and Fourth
Ward resident Jim Palermo, a Charlotte Center City Partners board member.
"The economic tightening has affected everyone,
but I'm not worried," he said. "Gobs of people still talk about
wanting to live in the center city -- they think it's a fun place to
be."
Dennis Marsoun and his wife Denise were the first
residents in 1999 to move into ChapelWatch, a Fourth Ward condo project
with units ranging from the upper $300,000s to more than $650,000.
"There really is an economic justification for
living in the center city," he said. "Going from two cars to one
or perhaps zero is a significant savings."
Marsoun said getting around is easier when you start
from the center, and, "Generally we eat better because of all the
restaurants in the immediate area."
Developer David Furman of Boulevard Centro has seven
condo projects open or under construction in the center city, which is
attracting young professionals and first-time buyers as well as empty
nesters
"I think there's still a huge movement, but
we've mellowed out over the past four years," he said. "Four
years ago, everybody wanted to live downtown. The big spurt tapped into
that pent-up demand. Now, we're seeing the regular flow."
That flow likely will continue, Furman and others
believe, as uptown fills gaps with more buildings and amenities. For
example:
• Planned parks in Third Ward and First Ward are
viewed as magnets for residential development.
• Johnson & Wales University's Gateway Village
campus will open in fall 2004, stimulating demand for student and faculty
housing.
• An urban village of shops and offices planned on
city and county land on North Tryon will probably include sites for
apartments and condominiums.
• A Harris Teeter grocery store will open next
summer in the retail portion of the Fifth and Poplar apartments complex in
Fourth Ward.
• The proposed arena site on East Trade could spur
housing around it in First Ward.
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Second Ward
revitalization plan calls for a mixed-income community of 4,000
households.
"The most important thing now is the evolution
of Second Ward," Furman said. "I see tremendous potential there
for a neighborhood with greater density than First Ward."
Second Ward is the only quadrant of the city that
hasn't been touched by the recent uptown housing surge, which traces its
inspiration to 1994.
That's when developer Jim Gross, whose latest
project is The Arlington -- the pink South End condo tower -- bought the
70-year-old Ivey's department store on North Tryon and converted it to
condominiums.
Bank of America followed with the 400 North Church
Condominiums in Fourth Ward and later ChapelWatch, both of which catered
to mostly upscale professionals and empty nesters.
Condominium sales inside the Interstate 277 loop
rose from $10.75 million in 1999 -- the year ChapelWatch opened -- to
$33.39 million through the first 10 months of this year, according to
Carolinas Multiple Listing Service.
Residential real estate analyst Emma Littlejohn of
The Littlejohn Group says the average sales price during the same period
increased about 6 percent, from $183,756 to $194,936.
"People will pay a premium to live downtown,
and generally we've seen stronger appreciation there than the marketplace
average," she said.
Federal statistics indicate that home values in the
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metropolitan area rose 4.9 percent in 2001.
"It's nearly impossible to talk about
appreciation uptown in a general sense, because it varies from one block
to the next."
She said 115 units are listed for sale uptown.
A big challenge for developers is finding affordable
land to build homes for entry-level buyers and working-class families.
Charlotte's most expensive land is in the center
city, where the city expects to pay an average $100 per square foot for
nine parcels it needs for the new arena.
In First Ward, Bank of America Community Development
helped developers keep prices down by buying land and selling it to them
at bargain prices.
Uptown backers now hope for similar opportunities in
Second Ward.
"We need family-oriented and workforce housing
that's accessible to all economic levels," said Tim Newman, president
of Charlotte Center City Partners.
The location of an uptown park will be significant,
whether it's a new one in First Ward or Third Ward or a refurbishing of
Marshall Park in Second Ward, said real estate analyst Littlejohn.
"Whoever does the park first, that's where you
are going to see the next wave," she said.
Doug Smith
