Rebirth of South Boulevard
Projects make corridor enticing

DOUG SMITH

The Charlotte Apartment Association met for breakfast last week at Byron's South End -- in a cluster of buildings that once housed the Nebel Knitting Mill.

I was invited to speak to the gathering of about 100 members, but as I crossed Worthington Avenue from the parking lot, I felt like I had returned to my old stomping ground.

The mill was still operating in the 1950s, when my neighborhood pals and I would hike from Wilmore to Griffith Park on Magnolia Avenue to see the original Charlotte Hornets play baseball.

The hum of the knitting machines and the glow of the lights gave us a beacon to follow on the way home after nighttime games.

Today, the 200,000-square-foot complex of restored industrial buildings -- now known as The Design Center of the Carolinas -- is a symbol of how far South End has come in fewer than 15 years.

I wrote my first column about "the South Boulevard corridor's" revitalization in 1991 -- three years before leaders adopted the name South End.

MECA Properties President Tony Pressley was leading a tour of Olmsted Park, a residential development his company spearheaded on 12.5 acres that was home to Griffith Park and later Crockett Park.

Houses replaced the bleachers and grandstand. And apartments occupy what had been the infield for the Hornets and later the Charlotte O's.

In the early 1990s, skeptics were not optimistic that people would live so close to a rugged South Boulevard industrial strip.

In my day, a lot of the Dilworth residences closest to South Boulevard had been chopped up into boardinghouses and our parents advised us to steer clear of them.

But as homeowners and renters moved into Olmsted Park, heads began to turn and attitudes began to change.

Today, people are living on South Boulevard, and the promise of a light-rail transit line that will parallel it in 2006 is fueling more residential development.

After breakfast, I started walking toward South Boulevard for a closer look at what's happening, but the roar of traffic convinced me otherwise. You don't stroll on South Boulevard. I returned to the office.

A few days later I activated Plan B and drove to Belle Acres Golf & Country Club, a private dining club at 3033 South Blvd. across from 3030 South, Heath Partners' residential/commercial project under construction along the planned light-rail line.

Belle Acres (pronounced bellyachers) owner Bud Nachman is a Charlotte native who has watched new development along the strip validate his decision to locate there 15 years ago.

Nachman said he always had faith that it would happen because of the connection the nearby railroad tracks would someday provide between South End and uptown.

Charlotte Area Transit System has bought most of the property it needs for parking lots and other uses along the 9.6-mile route from near Pineville to uptown.

Charlotte Trolley, which runs from the Atherton Mill complex near Tremont Avenue in South End to uptown, has begun regular daily service.

After a quick trip through the Friday buffet line at Belle Acres, I headed outside with my camera and notebook to see 3030 South. Oops. You don't cross South Boulevard on foot at midday.

Back in the office, I learned by phone that 31 people have moved in and 42 units have been sold in the initial phase of the city's first residential project designed specifically to embrace light rail.

Condo owners will be able to walk about 50 yards to the New Bern Street Station -- behind the Pepsi-Cola Bottling plant -- for a six-minute ride uptown.

The project will include 96 residential units and two small office-retail buildings. Rooftop terraces, balconies and large windows will provide views of the rail line and skyline.

About a mile north of 3030 South on the opposite side of South Boulevard, the Village of Southend is a stone's throw from the light-rail and trolley lines.

Boulevard Centro has sold 97 of the 113 condos in the 175,000-square-foot complex, bounded by South Boulevard, Magnolia Avenue, McDonald Avenue and Euclid Avenue.

Residents are expected to move in starting in late fall.

Boulevard Centro's David Furman said he liked the location because it has one foot planted in the Dilworth neighborhood and one in the South End commercial strip. "The trolley-light-rail corridor was more of a bonus," he said.

The 3-acre project also includes retail condos plus space for lease or sale in a 1940s industrial building renovated by Crosland Inc.'s commercial division.

South End real estate watchers say they're hearing rumors of more residential projects in the works along South Boulevard.

Maybe light rail will take some of that traffic off South Boulevard, which has been a nightmare for as long as I can remember.

I'm always nervous when I step off that curb. A motorist ran the light and injured my dad and baby brother in the early 1960s as they crossed South Boulevard at Kingston Avenue.

Hmmm. Maybe South Boulevard hasn't come that far after all. It definitely has a ways to go on pedestrian friendliness.