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Charlotte
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION:
interesting insights
about the queen city
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organ Fogarty, a weekday morning anchor and reporter on “Fox News Rising,” always accepted she’d have to move to different markets to succeed in television.
So, transferring to Charlotte was a pleasure for the Washington, D.C. native who grew up in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
“I had been to Charlotte to visit friends and really liked it a lot, so it was one of the top choices for me,” she says.
“Everybody says it, but it’s really true – Charlotte is a big city with a small-town feel. You can go out to a sophisticated club one night and to the farmer’s market to buy locally grown vegetables the next morning. It’s a
young city with plenty to do.”
What’s the allure? Good jobs in a business-minded atmosphere, a can-do community
spirit, a mild climate with four seasons, affordable homes in areas that range from
Main Street Mayberry to metropolitan, and plenty of diversions, including professional
sports, outdoor recreation and the arts.
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s. Fogarty, 24 and single, moved from Frederick, Maryland, in February 2005 and settled in Steele Creek, a community southwest of Charlotte near Lake Wylie. The mortgage on her three-bedroom home in Yorkshire is cheaper than rent for her tiny apartment in the D.C. suburbs.
“I was so impressed that the real estate down here is still reasonable compared to where I was in the Northeast,” she says. “It’s amazing what you can get for your dollar here.”
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The largest metropolitan area in the Carolinas, roughly one in four residents
moved here in the last decade. |
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In fact, the Charlotte area’s overall average home sale price edged up just 1 percent between June 2004 and June 2005. Nationwide, the median home price shot up 13.6 percent in the same period. Analysts say the fact that Charlotte isn’t in a hyper-inflated market protects homeowners from the often-touted real estate bubble and can be attributed to abundant land and a competitive homebuilding industry.
Changes in home prices vary greatly by zip code, with the highest gains of 35 percent just north of Uptown and the biggest fall at 15 percent in the center city. Realtors say uptown’s drop is due to smaller, lower-priced condominiums driving down prices. Gains in North Davidson, or NoDa, are a result of that area’s transition from former blight to a creative, funky neighborhood lined with galleries and cool restaurants. Appreciation
rates between 2 percent and 7 percent are more common in high-demand areas.
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Charlotte’s most popular neighborhoods tend to be clustered in certain parts of the city: |
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In Uptown, revitalization and new construction are in full swing. Residents can easily walk to and from work, and choose from sleek new high-rise condominiums or century-old Fourth Ward Victorians. Down time offers Broadway shows, gallery openings, cutting edge restaurants, fun taverns and clubs, outdoor concerts, museums and professional sports.
Just outside of the Center City are Charlotte’s earliest suburbs – the grand mansions and willow-oak lined streets of Myers Park, the charming cottages of Dilworth and the funkier, younger and value-priced revitalized neighborhoods of Elizabeth, Plaza-Midwood and Cotswold.
Skip down to South Charlotte’s Ballantyne, Stonecrest and Arboretum communities and across the Union County line into Weddington and you’re in the soccer-mom suburbs. Upscale shopping centers, high performing schools, golf courses and family-friendly communities are the norm in this more conservative, transplant-heavy area.
Water views remain the top attraction. Lake Wylie, southwest of Charlotte, offers new communities such as The Palisades and The Sanctuary, as well as renovated older homes on quiet
side streets.
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Lake Norman, north of the city, is more developed with its incorporated towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Denver and Mooresville.
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Granted, it was 1799 when twelve-year-old Conrad Reed lugged an odd yellowish 17-pound rock that he found in Little Meadow Creek, northeast of Charlotte, into the house.
The family didn’t know what they had when they decided that the stone, later to be America’s first documented gold discovery, would make a fine doorstop.
Since then it has been one gold rush of opportunity after another for Charlotte and the surrounding region. The city, long a connecting point as host to one of America’s busiest airports, has also become a destination, evolving from a textile and transportation base into the nation’s second-largest financial center with $2 trillion dollars in assets, home to the nation’s second and fourth largest banks, second-largest energy company and the number one steelmaker.
None of that mattered to Casey Carter when he accepted an offer by ESPN and moved down from Boston to be a producer for ESPN Regional Television, whose satellite dishes and studios are located in the tony south Charlotte development Ballantyne. The climate that attracted Carter was both professional and meteorological.
Well known for companies like Bank of America, Wachovia and Duke Energy, Charlotte has quietly been a major national media center as well, attracting many newcomers like Carter. Along with ESPN Regional TV, much of the country’s sports programming - college football and basketball, golf, auto racing, even ice skating - comes through Charlotte-based Jefferson-Pilot Sports and Raycom. American City Business Journals publish business magazines in 41 U.S. metropolitan markets as well as the Sports Business Journal and Winston Cup Scene.
“I was told during the interview that it was a great location for families and that has been absolutely the case,” says Mr. Carter, who has three children. “The kids can be outdoors twelve months a year.”
Alan Becker also extols the weather and family-friendly aspects. Born in San Francisco but raised in Mexico City, he moved to Charlotte to work in textile sales but found a decidedly better opportunity as an account executive for La Noticia, a Spanish language newspaper serving one of the major growth areas in the increasingly diverse cultural makeup of Charlotte.
When he first arrived in 2000, Mr. Becker says, “I didn’t see any trace of a Latino community. I thought there was nobody here but that has all changed.”
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"Being a small-town girl from the Midwest, I can appreciate the rural feeling here."
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Rick Spath came to Charlotte single and stayed to marry and raise four children. A cruise director on the luxurious Crystal Serenity, who has spent more than 25 years at sea, Mr. Spath, 49, has sailed around the world several times and visited more than 130 countries. Even though he could live anywhere in the world, the New Jersey native settled in Weddington.
“I love it here for several reasons,” he says. “You have four seasons with no drastic winter. I don’t think there’s a better family-oriented community than the Weddington area. Charlotte is growing in a positive way. And I can’t see a better location – halfway between New York and Florida, a couple of hours from the mountains and a couple of hours from the beaches on the Atlantic. It’s absolutely fantastic.”
Fellow Weddington residents Bob and Karen Gourlay recently moved to the Charlotte area from Atlanta. The Gourlays, who are in their early 50s and newly retired, built an 8,000-square-foot custom home at The Club at Longview, overlooking a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course. Longview is being produced by Mel Graham, the nephew of famed evangelist and Charlotte native, the Reverend Dr. Billy Graham.
“Once we saw the land and the golf course, that was it,” says Mr. Gourlay. “It’s been really nice to get out and walk the dog, to talk to our neighbors, to work out, play golf and go have dinner at the club. We see a lot of deer and even have a raccoon that visits. Trees, fairways and the silo appear unobstructed. To us, Longview is the place we’ve come home
to. It just feels like home.”
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No matter which part of Charlotte folks call home, weekend excursions
seem to take residents everywhere.
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Ms. Fogarty, for example, enjoys shopping chic stores at SouthPark Mall, watching boat traffic from the deck of T-Bones on Lake Wylie, dancing with friends at Menage, sipping Irish imports at Ri-Ra’s, listening to jazz at Blue, and tailgating at Carolina Panthers NFL games.
Critics who claim Charlotte has no character or charm haven’t taken the time to discover its culture, history and, in growing pockets, funky vibe. More importantly, says Ms. Fogarty, the people in Charlotte are the jewels in the Queen City’s crown.
“You don’t have an
identity based on the
number of old buildings
or museums you have,”
she says. “Your identity
is wrapped up in who
lives here. Charlotte is
really a cross-section
of America, with people
moving here from all
over the country and
making it their own.
Part of the attraction
is that it’s new and
clean. It’s just waiting
for people to make their
imprint on it.”
New companies are attracted to Charlotte, at least in part, because so many components of successful business are present. It’s one of the top U.S. cities headquartering Fortune 500 companies. In the past 10 years, 8,076 new firms have opened in Charlotte, creating 74,898 new jobs and investing $9.9 billion in new facilities.
So, more than 200 years since gold was first discovered near Charlotte, the rush is still on.
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Charlotteans love to tout the city’s accomplishments.
This hang-up probably dates back
hundreds of years when George Washington called us a “trifling place.”
Some kudos you’re likely to hear:
Charlotte is the second-largest banking center in the U.S. behind New York City. The 60-story skyscraper with the crown of white lights on top is the Bank of America Corporate Center and soars higher than any other building from Philadelphia to Atlanta. Fortune magazine named Charlotte the nation’s #1 pro-business attitude. The city’s CROP Walk fund-raiser is the most lucrative in the nation, and the local Habitat for Humanity branch has built more homes for the poor than any other affiliate. Lowe’s Motor Speedway hosts NASCAR races in May and October that have become one of the largest sporting events in the country. The Carolina Panthers, also known as the Cardiac Cats, battled to the Super Bowl (but lost) in 2004. The Charlotte Bobcats NBA team begins playing in the new uptown arena in 2005.
Growing cities have growing pains.
This may be a big city with a small-town feel, it’s still feeling the pinch with congested traffic, under-construction roads, crowded schools and a struggle between old-timers who want to stay small and newcomers who embrace the “new”.
Queen City residents will treat you royally.
Charlotte is still a town where people install water fountains for joggers – and their dogs;
where neighbors show up with cookies, cakes and casseroles for newcomers; and
where folks are more apt to ask where you go to church than where you work.
Uptown is hot and happening.
The Center City is the place most young professionals go out on the town. Try Menage (116 W. Fifth St., 704.377.8000, www.menageultralounge.com); Blue (Fifth and College in Hearst Tower, 704.927.2583); Ri-Ra’s (208 N. Tryon St. 704.333.5554, www.rira.com); Connolly’s on 5th (115 E. Fifth St., 704.358.9070) or Therapy Café (401 N. Tryon St., 704.333.1353, www.therapycafe.net).
Great restaurants abound.
Uptown, head to Sonoma Bistro (129 W. Trade St., 704.377.1333); Cosmos Café (300 N. College St., 704.372.3553, www.cosmoscafe.com); the McNinch House (511 N. Church St., 704.332.6159); Carpe Diem, 1535 Elizabeth Ave., 704.377.7976, www.carpediemrestaurant.com); or Aquavina (435 S. Tryon St., 704.377.9911, www.aquavina.com). Other worthy restaurants scattered around the Charlotte area are Upstream (Fairview Road at Phillips Place near SouthPark Mall, 704.556.7730, www.upstreamit.com); Bonterra (1829 Cleveland Ave. in Dilworth, 704.333.9463, www.bonterradining.com); Noble’s (6801 Morrison Blvd. near SouthPark, 704.367.9463, www.noblesrestaurants.com); and Zebra (4521 Sharon Road near SouthPark, 704.442.9525). Want ultra casual? Pick up chicken at Price’s Chicken Coop (1614 Camden Road, 704.333.9866), find a Southern feast at Simmons Fourth Ward (516 N. Graham St., 704.334.6640); or soak up local flavor at Lupie’s Café (2718 Monroe Road, 704.374.1232). For lake views, try T-Bones (NC 49 at the bridge, Lake Wylie, 803.831.0170).
We’re a banking town, but not necessarily all buttoned up.
Charlotte has a growing number of creative communities where art galleries, cool restaurants and funky shops can be found. Check out NoDa along North Davidson Street with its twice-monthly gallery crawls and restaurants like Cabo Fish Taco (3201 N. Davidson St., 704.332.8868, www.cabofishtaco.com). NoFo is another up-and-comer on Elizabeth Avenue with the new cozy Italian joint Volare and wine/martini bar Loft 1523.
Charlotteans love sports.
Carolina Panthers football, Charlotte Bobcats and Charlotte Sting basketball,
two major NASCAR races, Charlotte Checkers hockey, Charlotte Knights minor-league
baseball, Friday night high school football and Saturday morning soccer are all
big draws. We even embraced the Bassmasters’ Classic on Lake Wylie.
Get some culture.
The Mint Museum, its affiliate the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Levine Museum of the New South and the NC Blumenthal Performing Arts Center are the arts magnets in town. Have kids in tow? Don’t miss Discovery Place, a hands-on children’s museum on Tryon Street in Uptown.
Cha-ching. Shopping is king.
The top shops are at SouthPark Mall (with Nordstrom), Phillips Place and scattered through Myers Park, South End and Dilworth.
And last, but not least...
Take advantage of Charlotte’s proximity to the mountains and the beach. Two hours from the mountains and three from the coast, the Queen City is close enough for great weekend getaways. Try Blowing Rock or Asheville in the mountains, Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington on the North Carolina coast, Charleston for old Southern charm, and family friendly beaches with nearby golf at Kiawah Island, Isle of Palms, Hilton Head Island and Pawley’s Island, all in South Carolina.
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Leigh Pressley is a Charlotte-based freelance writer whose work has appeared
in Southern Living, Our State,
The Charlotte Observer, SouthPark Luxury Living, Lake Norman Magazine, Lake
Wylie Living, Charlotte Place and Creative Loafing.
Click here to purchase a copy of
Leigh Pressley's ninth edition of Insiders' Guide to Charlotte .
Or
contact leighpressley@aol.com.
more about charlotte
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