REIMAGINING VINTAGE OFFICE IN UPTOWN CHARLOTTE
301 SOUTH COLLEGE
An Urban Hub for the Community The Central Business District doesn’t reflect Charlotte as it is today. New development is occurring at the city’s perimeter, connected to neighborhoods, entertainment, and industry. A new model for Uptown and its vintage office towers is needed to give them continued life and value for the city.
Progressive AE formed a team of community partners to address the office vacancies holistically and identify amenities that Uptown Charlotte could benefit from. The team’s design featureds small business start-up spaces, flexible indoor or outdoor event spaces, housing, childcare facilities, artist studios, connections to public transportation and the existing YMCA, and more. As a part of the design solution, the team decided to remove a portion of the building in order to adjust the floor plates and allow for natural light. Additionally, they removed two levels of parking to make room for a new pedestrian street that now cuts through the site. The introduction of easily accessible retail, restaurants, art studios, and community-centered event spaces would activate the ground plane, and the street would allow for better access to the adjacent light rail station. More than 250K square feet of office and parking space are being repurposed into a mix of uses, creating a vibrant, 24-hour environment, along with interior interventions to the tower. To further incentivize the proposed project, the team developed the following plans to contribute to the overall welfare of the uptown community:
+250K sf
of Converted Office Space for Alternative Mix of Uses
PROGRESSIVEAE.COM
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Offer free light rail passes to employees of new office tenants through the City of Charlotte.
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Incentives for office-to-residential conversion, affordable housing, uptown activation, small and emerging businesses, and arts and cultural initiatives through direct grants and TIF financing from the City of Charlotte.
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Utilize existing federal incentives such as HUD’s Community Block Grant Program and Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing Program for financing affordable housing development, and the Department of Transportation (DOT) programs focused on spurring development along public transportation nodes, such as the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program (RRIF).
“ A new model is needed to
give continued life and value for the city.
”
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Creating Community through Vertically Integrating Mixed Uses
162
New Uptown Residential Units Offering 20% at Affordable Housing Rent Levels
A Phased Approach
PHASED SOLUTION PHASED SOLUTION PHASED SOLUTION
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