|
SouthPark
Boundaries: From
Runnymede Drive/Wendover Road south to the Harris YMCA, and from Park Road
east to Carmel Road.
Homeruns: Tons of
shopping areas (SouthPark mall, Phillips Place, Morrocroft, Sharon
Corners); restaurants galore; several hotels; Charlotte Pops Park
orchestra shell; Sharon Towers retirement community; Morrocroft Regional
Library; Harris YMCA.
Residential profile:
“Older” homes of 1970s and 1980s vintage, many with spacious lots.
Also plenty of pricey new development, including single-family homes,
gated communities and townhomes.
Just over 30 years ago, the SouthPark area was a wild spread of forest and
grass. Then descendants of Gov. Cameron Morrison, who originally owned the
property and had a stately mansion nearby, began to develop the area into
a new suburban neighborhood.
Today, SouthPark is one of Charlotte’s
leading commercial and residential areas. It’s no longer the top dog
when it comes to population growth or business employment, having been
passed in recent years by faster-growing submarkets farther out in the
suburbs. But it’s still a beautiful, comfortable and popular
neighborhood and well worth getting to know.
SouthPark the neighborhood takes its name from
SouthPark the mall, which sparked the area’s growth. The center was an
oasis in the middle of the undeveloped land when it first opened in 1970.
Today, SouthPark mall, which encompasses some 1.3 million square feet, is
a prime attraction, with a wide selection of today’s hottest upscale
stores (Tiffany’s, Pottery Barn, Coach, Gap, Banana Republic and more)
and popular department stores, including Dillard’s, Belk, Hecht’s and
Sears.
SouthPark helped spur additional retail development,
making the area a terrific destination for shopping (the area racks up
more than $1 billion in sales annually). But SouthPark encompasses more
than retail. The area is home to several corporate headquarters, including
Nucor, National Gypsum, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Piedmont Natural Gas and
J.A. Jones Construction Co.
The area also has more than 3.5 million square feet
of office space, making it the third-largest office submarket in
Mecklenburg County, after only uptown and University. Some 40,000
employees work at jobs in SouthPark.
SouthPark is also a popular leisure-time
destination, with everything from fast food to haute cuisine on restaurant
menus. The neighborhood also attracts moviegoers to the Cinemas at
Phillips Place and during the summer draws folks to outdoor concerts by
the Charlotte Pops.
For pure convenience, you could do quite well to
make SouthPark your neighborhood. The area has plenty of shopping and
restaurants, physicians’ offices and banks, excellent public and private
schools, and lovely neighborhoods with a settled, suburban feeling. The
area is only 10 minutes’ drive from uptown Charlotte and about 20
minutes from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
All that convenience comes with a price, though. One
is traffic. SouthPark roads are extremely busy all year round and
especially so during the holiday shopping season. The expansion of
SouthPark mall may add to that traffic load. Targeted for completion in
2004, the expansion will add two new anchors — Nordstrom and Saks Fifth
Avenue — as well as dozens of specialty stores.
Another drawback for some homebuyers is the price of
admission. Home prices in this area can be steep, even for the oldest
homes in the neighborhood, which date back to the 1970s. Newer, infill
developments — luxury townhomes, condos and gated single-home
communities — are driving prices up even more.
Old-timers may complain about the increased density
and the loss of beloved green space around SouthPark mall, but newcomers
may revel in all the amenities that change has brought. Either way, this
much is certain: SouthPark is continuing its transition from a suburban
community to a more urban neighborhood — all the while, keeping its
reputation as a highly desirable neighborhood in which to hang your hat. |
