How much of an impact will the Lynx line from Uptown to UNCC have on North Tryon Street area? (Charlotte: low income, apartments)

[Jowel]

I'm posing this question out of personal curiosity to see what you all think about the Lynx light rail line from Uptown to UNCC and how this will change the North Tryon Street area, which hasn't gotten a lot of love with people wanting to move to the area, crime issues (especially certain areas like Hidden Valley), etc.

Will this entire area start attracting lots of new development? Or seeing revitalization of what's already there?

Is there a part of this area that will see more growth, or a part that will have a harder time?

[Charlotte485]

Originally Posted by Jowel

I'm posing this question out of personal curiosity to see what you all think about the Lynx light rail line from Uptown to UNCC and how this will change the North Tryon Street area, which hasn't gotten a lot of love with people wanting to move to the area, crime issues (especially certain areas like Hidden Valley), etc.

Will this entire area start attracting lots of new development? Or seeing revitalization of what's already there?

Is there a part of this area that will see more growth, or a part that will have a harder time?

I don’t think anytime soon. In the future. Optimist Park, Belmont, NoDa, Plaza, Plaza Shamrock will be revitalized first.


Sugar Creek and 36th Streets heading towards Tryon will probably get some love and revitalization though

[Pfalz]

I think it will be very impactful for development inside of Sugar Creek. This area will have a similar demographic as Southend. I think there will also be quite a bit of development near UNCC. Over many years development will spread from the two ends and meet in the middle.

The low land values for at least a few more years provides an opportunity for transit-linked affordable housing. If Charlotte partnered to build several 5-6 story complexes with very small units and no frills (pools, dog spas, gyms, etc.), they could put a real dent in the affordable housing shortage. They could make them even more affordable by reducing the parking space requirements.

[Trademarked]

Like every single commercial parcel along all the major corridors near the rail have either had offers, are under contract, are already under a rezoning petition, or are in some form of negotiation with developers. The entire area is already in the process of transformation. It's not an IF at all. It's a done deal.

[Jowel]

Thanks for the responses so far! One development that had me thinking about this is these apartments between Tom Hunter Rd. and the I-85 connector:

https://goo.gl/maps/fPXPP6q5DJJ2

I really don't see these going here if it weren't for the Lynx line and that has not really been a hot area of Charlotte from what I'm aware of. But as Pfalz said, there is a lack of affordable housing and these are marketed as luxury apartments in a location that's not typically associated with luxury apartments.

[Trademarked]

Originally Posted by Jowel

Thanks for the responses so far! One development that had me thinking about this is these apartments between Tom Hunter Rd. and the I-85 connector:

https://goo.gl/maps/fPXPP6q5DJJ2

I really don't see these going here if it weren't for the Lynx line and that has not really been a hot area of Charlotte from what I'm aware of. But as Pfalz said, there is a lack of affordable housing and these are marketed as luxury apartments in a location that's not typically associated with luxury apartments.

The area is gentrifying. I would never pay those prices to live in that area, but I suppose people will. I'd much rather see cookie cutter "luxury" apartments than hear about another shooting near Hidden Valley. I look forward to the transformation. Of course after it's done, and the crime ridden area is gone, people will complain about how it's not affordable anymore and how it lost it's historic charm. (Wesley Heights, Cherry, etc)

There is no building of "affordable housing" anymore because it was determined that the concentration of low income residents creates high crime, and so the new model is to incentivize developers to incorporate a small percentage of low income units into new housing complexes which will help spread affordable housing around different areas of the city, thus cutting down on unnecessary commutes causing traffic and pollution. However, I don't know if those projects are happening anymore either. In my opinion, there is never an affordable housing problem, but rather an income and economic problem. The city should focus its efforts on diverse job creation and the affordable housing problem goes away. If it wastes its time on affordable housing then it still doesn't have the jobs and residents have to pay higher taxes towards subsidized housing.

[Jowel]

Originally Posted by Trademarked

The area is gentrifying. I would never pay those prices to live in that area, but I suppose people will. I'd much rather see cookie cutter "luxury" apartments than hear about another shooting near Hidden Valley. I look forward to the transformation. Of course after it's done, and the crime ridden area is gone, people will complain about how it's not affordable anymore and how it lost it's historic charm. (Wesley Heights, Cherry, etc)

There is no building of "affordable housing" anymore because it was determined that the concentration of low income residents creates high crime, and so the new model is to incentivize developers to incorporate a small percentage of low income units into new housing complexes which will help spread affordable housing around different areas of the city, thus cutting down on unnecessary commutes causing traffic and pollution. However, I don't know if those projects are happening anymore either. In my opinion, there is never an affordable housing problem, but rather an income and economic problem. The city should focus its efforts on diverse job creation and the affordable housing problem goes away. If it wastes its time on affordable housing then it still doesn't have the jobs and residents have to pay higher taxes towards subsidized housing.

The entire post is well stated. The only thing I would add in reference to the bolded section is that gentrification tends to shift people who act undesirably around to a different new spot. And then it becomes someone else's problem.

[Trademarked]

Originally Posted by Jowel

The entire post is well stated. The only thing I would add in reference to the bolded section is that gentrification tends to shift people who act undesirably around to a different new spot. And then it becomes someone else's problem.

That's exactly right. What I've seen is that the shifting around has pushed a lot of the crime out of the charlotte city limits to the outlying towns like Shelby, Hickory, etc.

[kynight]

It will logistically help spread crime. Or at least make crime less concentrated in one area.

[Hollywood]

Originally Posted by Trademarked

That's exactly right. What I've seen is that the shifting around has pushed a lot of the crime out of the charlotte city limits to the outlying towns like Shelby, Hickory, etc.

I don't think people that were committing crime in uptown Charlotte have moved their efforts to Shelby (45-50 minutes away) and Hickory (over an hour away).