The Official Charlotte, NC Discussion Thread

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Charlotte’s first car-free apartments are well underway in Optimist Park


Charlotte’s first car-free apartments are well underway in Optimist Park

By Katie Peralta Soloff | June 15, 2021

As the city debated over a car-free development in west Charlotte last year, another developer was quietly building a similar project in Optimist Park.
Flashback: After hours of public comments last fall, City Council approved a rezoning for a carless apartment complex in west Charlotte. The plan caused a stir, as many neighbors worried residents without parking spots would wind up parking on side streets.

• Eliminating parking, developer Grubb Properties said, would be a cost-saver, making rents lower for tenants.
• Residents have to agree in their leases not to have cars. Grubb has said they’ll evict them if they break that contract.

Grubb and other proponents touted the 104-unit Seversville complex as the first car-free residential development in town.

Except, it wasn’t the first.
Over in Optimist Park, construction has been underway for months on a six-story apartment building across from the light rail. Called The Joinery, the property will have 83 units, 2,000 square feet of retail space and no structured parking.

This is the first Charlotte project for the firm Space Craft, formerly called Cohab, which is co-developing it along with the construction company Swinerton. The architect on the project is Shook Kelley. Its exact address is 1824 N. Brevard, near 22nd Street.

Why it matters: Charlotte is a sprawling, traditionally car-centric city. Efforts to wean residents away from cars underscore how the city is becoming denser, especially in walkable neighborhoods with nearby transit like the light rail.

Driving the news: The Joinery is just the latest in a deliberate push to make Charlotte more walkable.

• Grubb is also developing a mixed-use complex in NoDa (the former Herrin Ice site) that’ll have a scaled-down parking setup. Apartment renters and the daytime office work crowd will share parking spaces.
• And last year, Charlotte marked off 2.5 miles of city streets to encourage more pedestrian use as part of its Shared Streets pilot program.

Construction at The Joinery in Optimist Park. Photo: Katie Peralta Soloff/Axios

Elsewhere in the U.S., residential developments with minimal or no onsite parking are popping up in cities like Minneapolis, Austin and Tempe, Arizona, as the New York Times reported last fall.

About The Joinery: The area was already zoned for transit-oriented development as part of a sweeping policy change the city adopted in 2019 to encourage density in transit corridors. That’s why the developer didn’t have to go through the rezoning process like Grubb did in Seversville.

• “Optimist Park, because of TOD, has seen so much multi-family investment that we thought the area made sense for a more urban product,” Mohit Shewaramani, director of operations for Space Craft, tells me.

“Charlotte does a nice job of looking out for neighbors’ interests as well as working with developers,” Shewaramani adds.
Space Craft is calling the development “Charlotte’s first multi-modal building.” That means it will offer residents a range of transportation options, including electric bikes and scooters to rent, walkability, access to the light rail (the Parkwood light-rail station is a 3-minute walk), and electric cars including Teslas available to rent.

• City planning director Taiwo Jaiyeoba has said that Charlotte is never going to eliminate the automobile. “But if we can reduce the use of it substantially, it frees people up in terms of the economic advantages.”

Details: The Joinery will offer studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.

• Amenities include an outdoor courtyard with grills and green space.
• It’ll also have an agreement with an off-site parking garage to provide “competitive rates” for residents who want to keep their car nearby.
• Leasing will begin in late fall, and it’ll open early 2022.

Sustainability: Space Craft aims to make the development Charlotte’s “most sustainable building,” Shewaramani says. For instance, the plan is to offer residents the option to compost their organic waste and to eventually install solar panels onsite.

Cost: Like the Grubb property, Space Craft plans to pass down the cost-savings from not having a parking garage to residents. Shewaramani wouldn’t give an exact figure, but one-bedroom apartments in Optimist Park typically rent for $1,100 to $1,400 a month.

Here’s what The Joinery will look like. Renderings are by Shook Kelley and courtesy of Space Craft:

Car-free in Charlotte? Y’all see that becoming a thing?

 

[Mindfield333]

Quick who's the best BBQ in the city. Got a late flight out on Monday gonna get some lunch.
Black owned only please

I don’t know about BBQ but I’ve had food from LaWans & LuLu’s…

I’ve heard ppl talk about Cuzzo cuisine and The Nappy Chef a lot

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

@Bryan Danielson recently in ya state b, I have questions. Lots of questions - Let’s just say it was an interesting experience, fun BUT I have questions

70 mph is the speed limit huh?? That would be nice if I didn’t see 70 near accidents in less than 70 minutes- wtf is really good with the drivers out here??

Tailgaters anonymous -riding tf outta my bumper imma just assume it was my outta state plates bc

Do yall really need Bojangles and Cook Out every 2.5 miles.

Beautiful Charlotte skyline. Nice scenery. Nice loft space - Charlotte downtown is nice

prepare for a New York infiltration; my people are talking about setting up shop

Queens NYC in the Queen City creating a Mecca of black royalty from the East.


I must say that the people who I met were very friendly, everyone that I met- they hooked the group that I was with something serious.
Side note- y’all dudes are not shy AT ALL down there, most creative and polite pick up lines or conversation starter cold approaches coming at me that I’ve heard in a minute - impressive

NC and SC drivers are like night and day I stg. It be a lotta Carolina plates here in the DMV, most especially NC and those MFers be keeping up with the best and worst of us As a Marylander, NC drivers earn my respect lmao, they asses be on the GO with the gas pedal. My speed demon ass loves it

SC drivers usually take their time and whenever I pass through their home state, they definitely drive on the slow side (too slow for me tbh).

Georgia drivers whenever I see them around here, they usually take their time but they’ll match our speed in an instant if need be. Makes me wonder how ATL drivers are lol

 

[The M.I.C.]

Brehs/Brehettes of the queen city, the farm has fresh:

Corn
Kale
Collards
Cabbage
Rape Greens
Cucumbers
Squash
Zucchini
Bell Peppers (Green to Orange)
Tomatoes
Green Beans
Okra (Show up early)
Cantaloupe
Watermelon (coming soon)

2901 Romare Bearden Dr 28208 , Right across the street from the library on West Blvd. M-T 9-12 Saturday 9-1ish. I'm there every saturday

I’m definitely going by there on Monday since this is close to my home on the West side.

 

[Jimmy from Linkedin]

I’m definitely going by there on Monday since this is close to my home on the West side.

the hours have switched up to 10a-1pm.

This week:

Kale, collards, rape greens, cucumbers, banana and bell peppers, green and red tomatoes, okra, some watermelon, eggplant, zuchinni and squash.

Coming up we'll have sweet potatoes towards the fall.

We are transistioning to fall planting soon, going to planting carrots, more collards/tender/rape/mustard/turnips/cabbage greens, onions, garlic, and some other crops to come up by the new year.

Really appreciate you giving it the chance breh. We'd love to see a younger demographic up there. As you are familiar with, a lot of the folks in the reid park area are elderly and they are the core demographic for who is supporting us. Eventually we will get a larger co-op grocery store at that plot of land. Anyways, should you ever come up there on saturdays, we'll talk about the larger potential for that land.

 

[Bryan Danielson]

This shorty got a cheesesteak spot here in the city. Looks like it’s in University

 

[Bryan Danielson]

Car-free in Charlotte? Y’all see that becoming a thing?

I’m not even sure how this works

 

[Bryan Danielson]

NC and SC drivers are like night and day I stg. It be a lotta Carolina plates here in the DMV, most especially NC and those MFers be keeping up with the best and worst of us As a Marylander, NC drivers earn my respect lmao, they asses be on the GO with the gas pedal. My speed demon ass loves it

SC drivers usually take their time and whenever I pass through their home state, they definitely drive on the slow side (too slow for me tbh).

Georgia drivers whenever I see them around here, they usually take their time but they’ll match our speed in an instant if need be. Makes me wonder how ATL drivers are lol

Another road that be lit at night is WT Harris “After Dark”

That shyt is a speedway

 

[The M.I.C.]

Car-free in Charlotte? Y’all see that becoming a thing?

You’ve been around Uptown recently? They’re taking out a lot of the parking spots and replacing them with bike lanes..they need to upgrade the Lynx to get the fukk out to West and East Charlotte if they’re serious about this shyt..get tired of dealing with fukking traffic on Independence trying to get to Matthews.

 

[Bryan Danielson]

You’ve been around Uptown recently? They’re taking out a lot of the parking spots and replacing them with bike lanes..they need to upgrade the Lynx to get the fukk out to West and East Charlotte if they’re serious about this shyt..get tired of dealing with fukking traffic on Independence trying to get to Matthews.

That Independence/74 traffic is FOREVER breh


I remembered back in 2005 when I lived off Independence in them APT beside Carmax. And had to get to work at the Sprint called center south Charlotte. I had to options and both was bad.

taking 485 or Independence to 77S


That traffic was fukkery at its worst

 

[The M.I.C.]

That Independence/74 traffic is FOREVER breh


I remembered back in 2005 when I lived off Independence in them APT beside Carmax. And had to get to work at the Sprint called center south Charlotte. I had to options and both was bad.

taking 485 or Independence to 77S


That traffic was fukkery at its worst

Bruh

Not the Sprint call center over there near Whitehall, coming off Tryon.

One of my long time brehs worked there and the stories he would tell me working there gotdamn

But 74..they did all that construction to get rid of the stop lights, build bridges and shyt for really no reason because traffic was always really centered on them ramps coming on or off from 277 and when you have that retarded ass stretch of road on 74 where you got three lights that are about 50 feet away from each other right before you pass CarMax.

Sometimes I’ll take Monroe Rd but that’s a dice roll sometimes too with traffic.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

You’ve been around Uptown recently? They’re taking out a lot of the parking spots and replacing them with bike lanes..they need to upgrade the Lynx to get the fukk out to West and East Charlotte if they’re serious about this shyt..get tired of dealing with fukking traffic on Independence trying to get to Matthews.

I haven’t been to Charlotte yet but my stepbro has and he loved it. I’ve been curious about the city for a long while. From the sounds of it, seems like Charlotte is trying to double down on the urbanization of its core. I think ATL did something similar with their parking lots around the downtown area last decade.

 

[Bryan Danielson]

Bruh

Not the Sprint call center over there near Whitehall, coming off Tryon.

One of my long time brehs worked there and the stories he would tell me working there gotdamn

But 74..they did all that construction to get rid of the stop lights, build bridges and shyt for really no reason because traffic was always really centered on them ramps coming on or off from 277 and when you have that retarded ass stretch of road on 74 where you got three lights that are about 50 feet away from each other right before you pass CarMax.

Sometimes I’ll take Monroe Rd but that’s a dice roll sometimes too with traffic.

Yep….. near me he first Top Golf


Yea I used to work there back in 2004-05


That was my first Charlotte job and the one that helped me transition from Gboro to Charlotte.

Like I got hired there before I even lived here.

I had my apartment for like 5 month and was just staying with a friend down here for the first 3 months then the last 2 I had 2 fukking apts (was waiting for my lease to end)

But yes, that job was fun, had a lot of broads and was a lot for fukkery…… girls was thirsty. I had like 5 that trynna get at me HARD

 

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

https://qcitymetro.com/2021/07/16/o...-reader-a-black-bookstore-in-university-city/


Ohio native prepares to open Urban Reader, a Black bookstore, in University City
Sonyah Spencer says books have helped her heal during some of life's most difficult periods -- especially following the death of her oldest son in 2013.

Sonyah Spencer, owner of Urban Reader a bookstore in University City, said she wants to create a "comfort place" for those who like Black authors. Photo: QCity Metro

By Jalon Hill
July 16, 2021

Twenty years ago, Sonyah Spencer was a college student trying to make some extra money by selling her old textbooks on Amazon. Now she’s preparing for the grand opening of her own bookstore on Saturday in Charlotte’s University City.

Urban Reader Bookstore, at 440 East Mccullough Drive, is filled with more than 3,000 books, from children’s stories to autobiographies to cooking recipes — all written by Black authors.

The Fairborn, Ohio, native has been selling books online and at festivals and expositions since 2000. She moved to Charlotte in 2015, bringing with her a passion for reading.

“It’s time for us to have a comfort place,“ she said. “[You] never know what is going on with someone, but guiding them to a book is awesome.”

Spencer will open her store during a tumultuous time for independent booksellers, who face continuing pressure from the likes of Amazon, the online behemoth. But with much of the nation also focused on issues of race and social justice, her timing could prove fortuitous.

Not just a bookstore
Spencer said she wants Urban Reader to be more than just a Black bookstore; she wants to create a space where people can “embrace the culture, ask questions and heal.”

Books, she said, have helped her cope during some of the most difficult periods in her life, including after her oldest son, Brandon, was killed in what Ohio press reports described as a “domestic incident.”


“Nobody wants to lose a child…I personally feel my setbacks are my signs to keep moving forward,” Spencer said. “I have PTSD and depression, but I refuse to make it my excuse.”

Sonyah Spencer, owner of Urban Reader a bookstore in University City, said she wants to work with local authors and Black-owned businesses to offer programming and consignment items. (Photo: Jalon Hill for QCity Metro)
Spencer said her tragedy became her motivation and reason to continue pursuing her dreams of opening a bookstore while also building generational wealth for her family.

“That generational wealth is still in honor of my deceased son, but also giving wealth to my surviving child,” she said. Spencer’s surviving son, Breon, serves as the bookstore’s manager, helping his mother with the upkeep and day-to-day operations.

Aside from her family, Spencer said she wants the shop to provide opportunities for others as well, so she plans to partner with independent authors and Black-owned businesses to consign their work through her store.

Once the grand opening is complete, Spencer said she plans to host special events like Black trivia, chess, poetry, spades and wine-tasting. She also plans to start “Young, Gifted and Black,” a reading program, created in honor of Brandon, that provides books to children.

Challenges & opportunities
Spencer said she is well aware of the industry challenges her store will face, especially as readers continue flocking to Amazon, which has grown to dominate book sales.

During the worst of the pandemic, more than one independent bookstore closed each week, The New York Times reported in October 2020, citing data from the American Booksellers Association. And many of those that managed to stay open saw their sales drop significantly, some by 40% or more.

Spencer said she is unconcerned, convinced that a large segment of readers still long for the intimate spaces that independent bookstores, like Urban Reader, are famous for providing.

The Times article also noted that readers have shown a “surging interest” in specific categories, including race and antiracism — a trend that could give Urban Reader an initial boost.

“Hell, I’m not worried about (the competition),” Spencer said.

During the pandemic, Spencer said, she saw her online sales increase 30% to 40%.

She also believes that her early experience as an online bookseller will give her an edge over some other brick-and-mortar stores, some of which, she said, are still making the transition to online sales.

“It’s always been successful,” Spencer said of the industry. “Reading never goes out of style.”

 

[PortCityProphet]

Ohio native prepares to open Urban Reader, a Black bookstore, in University City - Q City Metro


Ohio native prepares to open Urban Reader, a Black bookstore, in University City
Sonyah Spencer says books have helped her heal during some of life's most difficult periods -- especially following the death of her oldest son in 2013.

Sonyah Spencer, owner of Urban Reader a bookstore in University City, said she wants to create a "comfort place" for those who like Black authors. Photo: QCity Metro

By Jalon Hill
July 16, 2021

Twenty years ago, Sonyah Spencer was a college student trying to make some extra money by selling her old textbooks on Amazon. Now she’s preparing for the grand opening of her own bookstore on Saturday in Charlotte’s University City.

Urban Reader Bookstore, at 440 East Mccullough Drive, is filled with more than 3,000 books, from children’s stories to autobiographies to cooking recipes — all written by Black authors.

The Fairborn, Ohio, native has been selling books online and at festivals and expositions since 2000. She moved to Charlotte in 2015, bringing with her a passion for reading.

“It’s time for us to have a comfort place,“ she said. “[You] never know what is going on with someone, but guiding them to a book is awesome.”

Spencer will open her store during a tumultuous time for independent booksellers, who face continuing pressure from the likes of Amazon, the online behemoth. But with much of the nation also focused on issues of race and social justice, her timing could prove fortuitous.

Not just a bookstore
Spencer said she wants Urban Reader to be more than just a Black bookstore; she wants to create a space where people can “embrace the culture, ask questions and heal.”

Books, she said, have helped her cope during some of the most difficult periods in her life, including after her oldest son, Brandon, was killed in what Ohio press reports described as a “domestic incident.”


“Nobody wants to lose a child…I personally feel my setbacks are my signs to keep moving forward,” Spencer said. “I have PTSD and depression, but I refuse to make it my excuse.”

Sonyah Spencer, owner of Urban Reader a bookstore in University City, said she wants to work with local authors and Black-owned businesses to offer programming and consignment items. (Photo: Jalon Hill for QCity Metro)
Spencer said her tragedy became her motivation and reason to continue pursuing her dreams of opening a bookstore while also building generational wealth for her family.

“That generational wealth is still in honor of my deceased son, but also giving wealth to my surviving child,” she said. Spencer’s surviving son, Breon, serves as the bookstore’s manager, helping his mother with the upkeep and day-to-day operations.

Aside from her family, Spencer said she wants the shop to provide opportunities for others as well, so she plans to partner with independent authors and Black-owned businesses to consign their work through her store.

Once the grand opening is complete, Spencer said she plans to host special events like Black trivia, chess, poetry, spades and wine-tasting. She also plans to start “Young, Gifted and Black,” a reading program, created in honor of Brandon, that provides books to children.

Challenges & opportunities
Spencer said she is well aware of the industry challenges her store will face, especially as readers continue flocking to Amazon, which has grown to dominate book sales.

During the worst of the pandemic, more than one independent bookstore closed each week, The New York Times reported in October 2020, citing data from the American Booksellers Association. And many of those that managed to stay open saw their sales drop significantly, some by 40% or more.

Spencer said she is unconcerned, convinced that a large segment of readers still long for the intimate spaces that independent bookstores, like Urban Reader, are famous for providing.

The Times article also noted that readers have shown a “surging interest” in specific categories, including race and antiracism — a trend that could give Urban Reader an initial boost.

“Hell, I’m not worried about (the competition),” Spencer said.

During the pandemic, Spencer said, she saw her online sales increase 30% to 40%.

She also believes that her early experience as an online bookseller will give her an edge over some other brick-and-mortar stores, some of which, she said, are still making the transition to online sales.

“It’s always been successful,” Spencer said of the industry. “Reading never goes out of style.”

Mayne where should a brotha go to get a rib tomorrow?