What’s next for plan displacing Midnight Diner? See renderings of $750M South End project
Fresh renderings of a $750 million project show how a Chicago-based developer plans to build three towers at a prominent intersection leading from uptown to South End.
Riverside Investment and Development first detailed its project in November, announcing three high-rise buildings with a mix of commercial and residential uses.
The new renderings show a glass office tower with two residential buildings on each side, with ground-floor retail and an outdoor plaza in between the buildings.
The height of each of the buildings is not yet clear. Riverside’s chief operating officer Anthony Scacco declined to release the number but said the company plans to have a project unveiling next month.
The team also shared a link for a website for the project, calling it 1111 South Tryon.
Construction on the 3-acre site is expected to start in 2022.
The project would include at least 800,000 square feet of office space, Scacco has told the Observer. It also would include between 350 and 650 residential units and possibly a hotel.
The project would go up around East Morehead Street, Morehead Square Drive, South Tryon Street and East Carson Boulevard.
Most will know it as the location of the popular Midnight Diner, which appears to have found a new home after being displaced by the massive development. The diner is apparently headed to a nearly 1-acre site at 420 E. Trade St. in uptown, near the Spectrum Center, city permits show.
Working with Chicago architect
Riverside is working with Goettsch Partners out of Chicago on the project. The firm has designed a number of office towers around Chicago, Nashville, Tennessee, and San Francisco. This would be its first project in Charlotte.
One of its Chicago projects was the 54-story riverfront tower in the West Loop with 1.2 million square feet of leasable office space. The building, which opened in 2017, was described by the Chicago Tribune as the city’s most “eye-grabbing” skyscraper since the Aqua Tower opened in 2009.
The goal in Charlotte is to create an open and inviting plaza with retail on the ground floor. The developers also plan street level open space, Scacco said.
Road improvements coming
Riverside has been working with Charlotte’s transportation and planning departments for the past nine to 12 months to study reimagining the surrounding traffic network.
That includes widening Morehead Square Drive, South Tryon and East Morehead streets and East Carson Boulevard. Riverside also looked into replacing the College Street connector.
Additionally, Morehead Square Drive would be realigned to keep northbound moving traffic headed to College Street, north of Morehead Street.
And there would be new bike lanes and pedestrian crossings in the area, along with a pedestrian connection to the Carson Boulevard light rail stop, according to Riverside.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 3:03 PM.
