Google Fiber, beer, I-77 toll lanes and uptown development, all happening in Charlotte

Google Fiber, beer, uptown building sales, toll lanes and more beer. So much is happening in Charlotte right now.

(1) Google Fiber huts

Before Charlotte can get Google Fiber’s super-high-speed Internet access, the company has to build 21 “huts.”

Plans for a site submitted this week to the city’s online system show a “fiber hut” on city-owned land on Ridge Road in north Charlotte used for a Charlotte Fire Department station.

The Observer’s Ely Portillo said it best: “It’s worth remembering that behind all the wiz-bang marvel that goes into a service like Google Fiber, there will be crews digging trenches, pouring concrete and pulling miles and miles of wire. The next iteration of the Internet – which seems so immaterial – will be run, in part, from a small hut sitting quietly on a concrete pad behind a north Charlotte fire station.”

(2) New beer

CharlotteBeer’s Daniel Hartis reported that The Unknown Brewing Company will release Pre-Game Session Ale in cans.

Six-packs, with a suggested price of $8.99, could be in stores this weekend.

(Check out the text on the packaging. Nice.)

Pre-Game cans are here! With Summer just around the corner, we are ready for your next tailgate or pool party with our “Pre-game” can. This beer is a 4.7 % session ale (meaning it is light and drinkable) and is golden with little bite and a clean dry finish. 12oz cans should be hitting shelves in North and South Carolina as early as THIS WEEKEND and in most stores next week!! Keep an eye out for The Unknown’s signature question mark and bright color schemes near you soon. #livewithoutboundaries #timetopregame #unknownbrewing #cltbeer

A photo posted by UnknownBrewing (@unknownbrewing) on May 4, 2015 at 1:41pm PDT

This follows news from over the weekend that NoDa Brewing Company will be releasing cans of NoDajito the week of May 18. Four-packs should retail for $9.99.

Are you as excited as we are about NoDajito’s can release? Look for its release the week of May 18th! #CLTbeer — NoDa Brewing Company (@NoDaBrewing) May 1, 2015

Also, here’s a look at what’s been going on at NoDa Brewing’s new building.

Cheers.

(3) Building bought

has been sold

Details on 101 Independence Center:

-Bank of America is the largest tenant in the building and Northeastern University opened a satellite campus in the building in 2011.

-Preliminary plans submitted this week show that the new owners, a corporation affiliated with Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, might have plans to renovate the ground floor, including the “expansion of retail space.”

Just outside of uptown, a mixed-use and multifamily developer made a $4.1 million offer to buy a parcel of city-owned land at South Boulevard and Interstate 277.

This is just the latest in a string of sales of land in the area. The city also has agreements in place to sell larger parcels at Stonewall and Caldwell streets.

One of those agreements involves a Whole Foods.

(4) Toll lane troubles

The N.C. Department of Transportation says it will move forward with a private developer to build toll lanes on Interstate 77. This is despite the concerns of Cornelius commissioners about a noncompete clause in the contract that could hinder future expansions of the highway.

Basically, the noncompete clause means that the DOT can’t add new free lanes to I-77 unless it compensates I-77 Mobility Partners, the developer. But the state can build new express toll lanes on the highway as long as the developers have the exclusive right to manage them. (Read more here.)

Something to think about while stuck in traffic today.

Photos: Robert Lahser/Charlotte Observer; Mark Hames/Charlotte Observer; Steve Harrison/Charlotte Observer

This story was originally published May 5, 2015 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Google Fiber, beer, I-77 toll lanes and uptown development, all happening in Charlotte."