Briefing for Thursday September 24: Table tennis to private golf

I need to talk about pizza for a second.

I’m pretty set in my pizza ways. Despite hailing from Chicago (home of the deep-dish pizza), I like a moderately thin, chewy crust, fairly light cheese and minimal toppings. Here in Charlotte, Pure Pizza, Zio’s and the new Pizzeria Omaggio are among my favorites. That was, of course, until my boyfriend brought Hawthorne’s enormous Sicilian-style pizza into my life this week. Now I’m questioning everything.

It throws my pizza preferences out the window with a thick, doughy crust and a heavy coating of cheese that I unexpectedly loved. It’s also square. We got it Monday and I’ve wanted it every night since. I don’t even know myself anymore.

VITALS

Today’s Weather: 74. Fall is definitely here. 40% chance of rain.
Today’s Stat: 7.35. In inches, the difference between how much rain Charlotte has gotten this year and what’s normal. Yes, we’re still in a moderate drought.
Today’s Job: Investment Banking Analyst at Bourne Partners. Apply.
Today’s Charlottean: Rep. Becky Carney, who made it back to the state legislature after a near-death experience.

ORIGINALS

My experience at the Charlotte Table Tennis Club [Piscitelli]
This is incredible. Located in Hawthorne Recreation Center, CTTC is home to serious competitive table tennis players. You can drop in for $5 or get an annual membership for $180. Whatever you do, don’t call it ping pong.

UNC-Commute? Not so fast [Dunn]
UNC Charlotte can accommodate 5,700 students in on-campus housing, which means 77 percent of students are commuters. But with a number of apartment complexes located within a mile of the university, the definition of “commuter” changes.

Shop like you mean it at Fashion & Compassion [Levans]
Fashion & Compassion sells jewelry handcrafted by women in Charlotte and around the world who have escaped domestic abuse, prostitution, trafficking and other negative experiences. The program provides the financial stability necessary to help the women artisans get back on their feet.

That weird little Enterprise on Tryon was an award-winning architectural design back in its day [Levans]
Don’t judge a building by its dilapidated exterior. That unimpressive little two-story Enterprise with the exterior staircase and balcony was the winner of the first North Carolina Institute of Architects design competition. The Modernist design was created by local architect J. Norman Pease Jr. who passed away in 2009.

A look at EY’s new Charlotte ‘workplace of the future’ [Dunn]
Executive corner offices are gone and now everyone works at rows of open desks. There are spaces for collaboration and even a treadmill desk. 

Owners of Banner Elk’s Artisanal restaurant plan to bring new concept to SouthPark within a year [Williams]
The best restaurant Ted’s ever been to in the state of North Carolina is opening a new concept in SouthPark. 

21 private golf courses within 30 miles of Uptown Charlotte [Coyle]
Here’s a quick list of nearby golf courses with specifics on distance from Charlotte, par, yardage and Golf Advisor rating. I have not one single clue what par and yardage are.

An app to build muscle: Online personal training is a real thing [Stewart]
Logan has the same trainer as famous stock car racer Kasey Kahne but I’m actually more impressed with the super convenient mobile app she uses to track her workout progress. Her trainer, Ryan von Rueden, sets up her program and then she tracks it in the TeamBuildr app. I want it.

Black Powder Coffee is educating Lake Norman about craft beans [Smith]
Black Powder is a farm-to-cup roaster selling wholesale beans and cold brew to stores, coffee shops and restaurants in the area. They’re even taking their own K-cups to market in December just in time for the holidays.

TALKING POINTS

Grand Bohemian Hotel coming to Uptown [Instagram]. The 14-story, 201-room hotel located at Church and Trade will feature an art gallery on the ground floor and a rooftop bar.

Two Bank of America execs included on list of “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” [American Banker]. Cathy Bessant, chief operations and technology officer, is #6 and Andrea Smith, chief administrative officer, is #20.

Shipt is expanding to Charlotte and hiring 300 drivers [Poe/AL.com]. The Birmingham-based grocery delivery service will launch in Charlotte on Tuesday. It’s basically like Uber for groceries. I love grocery stores and would excel at the task of buying strangers’ groceries with their money. Consider this my formal application.

Childress Klein donated $2.5 million to UNC Charlotte’s Center for Real Estate [Perlmutt, Bell/Observer]. The money will be used to endow a professorship and help fund faculty fellowships and master’s degree programs. Not surprisingly, the center is now named the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate.

Blue Blaze Brewery kicked off a $25,000 Kickstarter campaign [Thomas/CBJ]. The forthcoming West End brewery is hoping to crowdsource funds to double the number of taps at the bar and improve the sound system.

National Beer Mile is Saturday [Register]. It’s a 1-mile race where you drink a beer every quarter-mile. Sounds very healthy to me. 

If you have one of our hats, you should send us pictures of you in it but only of you look as fly as Bear.

– Katie