The 3-mile SouthPark Loop trail is being built piece by piece
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Rendering: Courtesy of SouthPark Community Partners
It will be years before the full Loop is complete, but SouthPark Community Partners is finding ways for people to envision the 3-mile urban trail until then.
Why it matters: As of now, the SouthPark Loop is mostly a plan on paper. Only about 8% is real concrete.
- It's hard to convince people of The Loop's value when it doesn't fully exist yet. That adds another challenge to securing public funding.
Yes, but: SouthPark Community Partners, the planning organization for the neighborhood's municipal service district, is hosting events and adding amenities along the alignment to make it feel more like a route and less like just a concept.
- In 2025, expect more signage and branded furniture along The Loop — even in spots where the sidewalk hasn't been poured yet. SCP's also identifying ideal places to put crosswalks.
- "We're going to go ahead and start making those advancements now to kind of show people that it's coming," says Adam Rhew, president and CEO of SCP.
- SCP is prioritizing the first contiguous mile of The Loop to connect the two completed segments: the 800 feet by Apex SouthPark and 400 feet near The Colony apartments.
Driving the news: This April, an inaugural 5K is planned on the 3.1-mile route. The race is a partnership between SCP, MOTION Fitness, Sisu Events, Terrascope PR and the City of Charlotte.
- In the fall, SCP hosted a fitness series on The Loop route by The Colony.
The latest: The pieces of The Loop built so far were part of redevelopments.
- A stretch at Modera South Park, a new apartment community on Liberty Row Drive, should be completed sometime in early 2025.
- Another roughly 8% is in various planning stages, Rhew tells Axios.
- A finish date for construction isn't yet available, though.
The big picture: This is just one of many SouthPark projects intended to make the neighborhood more walkable and bikeable. The Loop will intersect with projects such as the Symphony Park makeover, new plazas and pocket parks, and public art installations.
- "Building a sidewalk is really important" for physical connectivity, Rhew says. "But what drives that emotional connectivity is the ability to pair hard infrastructure with things that create community."
What's next: Construction has slowed because of economic uncertainty. But as development ramps back up, Rhew expects a "spurt of momentum" for The Loop's build-out.
McKenzie Rankin contributed to this reporting.