Charlotte's Carpe Diem restaurant, in the path of arena development uptown, plans to move this summer to Elizabeth Avenue.

The location will be the third for the 13 1/2-year-old restaurant, which moved in 1999 to East Trade Street after construction of a 10-story condo building and a small park forced it from the historic Ratcliffe Florist building on South Tryon Street.

"This is as close as we can get to downtown without being downtown," said Bonnie Warford, co-owner of the restaurant with her sister, Tricia Maddrey.

Carpe Diem will lease 5,000 square feet, about 700 square feet more than it occupies now, in an 11,000-square-foot building at 1535 Elizabeth Ave.

The new 85-seat restaurant will include a private dining room, a 50-seat bar, outdoor cocktail tables and a stage for occasional live entertainment.

The location, between Independence Boulevard and Hawthorne Lane, is in the heart of a $240 million revitalization project area where Grubb Properties, Presbyterian Hospital and Central Piedmont Community College plan new shops, restaurants, offices, hotel rooms, apartments and condominiums.

"Bringing a popular and established restaurant like Carpe Diem to Elizabeth Avenue is one of the first steps toward enhancing the Elizabeth Avenue area and realizing the new vision of the district," said Clay Grubb, president of Grubb Properties.

Warford said the restaurant, aiming for a seamless transition, will continue operating at 401 E. Trade St. until the Elizabeth Avenue move in late summer.

Its current building, completed around 1911, is threatened by construction of the new NBA arena on East Trade Street.

Engineers are studying whether the city can save facades of the buildings on the site and incorporate them into the design of the arena or relocate them.

But Warford said Carpe Diem -- even if its building survives -- couldn't afford to be surrounded by construction until the arena opens in fall 2005.

Parking -- always a challenge in the center city -- will be ample at the Elizabeth Avenue location, which will be convenient to such close-in neighborhoods as Elizabeth, Plaza-Midwood, Dilworth, Eastover and Myers Park as well as uptown, she said.

Another incentive for Carpe Diem to locate in Elizabeth, she said, was the Metropolitan Transit Commission's proposal to extend a streetcar line from uptown to the neighborhood, possibly within three years.

The trendy restaurant will renovate its space to reflect an early 20th-century ambiance and continue to offer customers "a warm and charming atmosphere," Grubb Properties said.

The Elizabeth Avenue building, formerly occupied by South Eastern College of Beauty Culture, opened in 1954. It has retail space available on the first floor plus office space on the second.

Grubb Properties said the building will be the first renovated in the Elizabeth Avenue revitalization project, which will include more than 240,000 square feet of storefront pedestrian-oriented retail, 340,000 square feet of offices and more than 800 residential units.

Jonathan Nance, hired by Grubb to spearhead Elizabeth Avenue leasing, represented the landlord in the Carpe Diem lease.

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