Welcome To The Neighborhood

The news on the street is that Childress Klein has drawn construction permits to begin an apartment project next to The Catalyst on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.  This originally was a site that Novare, the developer of The Catalyst, had planned a 39 story condo/hotel project before the recession.

Planned Childress Klein Apartments

The Catalyst, from all information I can gather, is a rented out building.  I have worked with several rental clients recently that indicated that they could not get into the building.

This new project will be more modest, 21 stories 392 units, all apartments.  The location of this building puts it on the west end of Romare Bearden Park, and effectively sitting at the foot of Poplar Street as you walk south from the Fourth Ward.  It should be a stunning site.

It will also sit just off  the right field stands of the proposed Knights Stadium.  The importance of this is that it will underscore the growing contributions to the tax base that will be energized by the construction of the stadium.  This increase in tax revenue will encourage the Charlotte City Council to reexamine the request for assistance from the Charlotte Knights.

Considering that 5 years ago, the only activity that took place in this section of downtown was 9 to 5 parking during the week, and about 10 tailgate parties for football games at BankofAmerica Stadium.  Now there will be more than 1,000 people living there full time.

Those numbers will attract merchants, most notably restaurants and bars.  But it will also start to peak the interest of hard and soft good merchants to reconsider a downtown location.

As Pink Floyd said best, "All in all it's just another brick in The Wall".