New Midtown tower fight foreshadows battles between neighborhoods and cranes

The Charlotte City Council is slated to decide Monday on a rezoning plan that would allow a 20-story office tower with ground-level retail and a 240-room hotel in Midtown.

Developer NAI Southern Real Estate is also promising “urban open space” — likely outdoor dining — along Baldwin Avenue.

This area is currently a strip center with a Papa John’s and a paint store next to a small Novant Health office. The project is along the Gold Line streetcar route.

This tower would be the second-tallest outside of Uptown.

And by far the tallest building in the area near the Cherry, Elizabeth and Myers Park neighborhoods. The tallest would continue to be the Arlington, the 24-story pink condo building in South End.

The rezoning is expected to pass easily. But the decision could end up being more far-reaching.

In effect, it will help shape the next phase of Charlotte development as taller buildings spread outside of Uptown. The City Council is endorsing a vision for the city that includes more urban design.

But fierce opposition to this tower from nearby neighborhood groups also foreshadows upcoming battles between neighborhoods and developers.

Too close to neighborhoods?

The tower site is in a kind of no-mans-land between several residential areas. Factions of all of them are against the project, saying it’s too tall and will generate too much traffic.

This weekend, homeowners in Myers Park and Cherry launched email campaigns to try to sway City Council members against approving the development.

“AN UPTOWN-SCALED BUILDING IS COMING TOO CLOSE TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!” the Myers Park Homeowners Association emailed its members Friday.

More tall buildings outside Uptown are coming.

It appears that the neighborhoods will lose this battle. Down the line, many more are likely to come.

Charlotte’s high-rise development has so far been mostly contained inside the I-277 loop around Uptown, while neighborhoods close to the city center still feel downright suburban.

This appears ready to change.

At the moment, Dimensional Fund Advisors is constructing an office building in South End, though it’s only eight stories. The South End Vision Plan calls for taller towers particularly around light rail stops — and the city is hoping for similar development patterns around the Blue Line extension toward University City.

As transit heads west in the future, FreeMoreWest and West End would be in line for more dense development as well.

This type of development is inevitable if Charlotte is to become the big cities it’s always comparing itself to.

In Atlanta’s Buckhead area, low-rise buildings are being torn down and redeveloped into 22-story apartment buildings and 45-story office towers.

Neighborhoods will become more urban in their feel. Charlotte will have to get used to it.