Around Town

Dowd YMCA is getting a new neighbor

By Jen Rothacker

The Story

Morehead Street is hot these days. Two sets of developers this week unveiled plans for new office space, including one right next to the Dowd YMCA.

Morehead Part 1

– Seven-stories coming to 500 E. Morehead

– 180K square feet; will replace 3-story building on site

//><!--– 15K square feet of retail to include coffee shop, lunch spot and fine dining//--><!

– Outdoor pedestrian plaza, rooftop terrace with views of uptown and conference center

– Developer: Beacon Partners, purchased property for $5.25 million

– Opening: Fall 2016

Morehead Part 2

– Further down east, at West Morehead and I-77, a 70K-square foot building  

– 5K-15K square feet of retail space

– Parcel purchased for $1.5 million

– Developers: CitiSculpt and the Knox Group.

– Demo on current building to start within 6 months

Why is Morehead cool?

It’s nestled in-between uptown and South and is far cheaper to build on and rent than uptown. If more retail figures into the developments, Morehead could start to feel like more than an elongated office park. And, it’s gaining a bunch of apartments, evidence:


And in other development news …
– If you want to buy a Bentley, you’ll have to drive to High Point. Felix Sabates has closed his dealership on Independence. No worries – if you have one and need to get it serviced, you can head over to Sabates’ Pineville location, which doesn’t sell the luxury car but can fix them.



– Pres. Obama has recommended a $75 million grant for Charlotte’s streetcar line. The money would extend the line 2.5 more miles, from Elizabeth to Johnson C Smith University and east along Hawthorne to Sunnyside Ave. Of course, this being a proposed budget, there are no certainties.

Photos: Bert Fox / Charlotte Observer, rederings from Beacon Partners & Knox Group & Google Maps

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 1:43 AM with the headline "Dowd YMCA is getting a new neighbor."

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