Shopping in uptown Charlotte? New retail recruiter aims to draw stores

Charlotte Center City Partners, hoping to attract more retailers to uptown Charlotte, has created a new retail recruiter position and filled it with one of its existing staffers. Chris Hemans, the uptown development organization's director of business recruitment, will fill the new role effective immediately. Center City Partners CEO Michael Smith called Hemans "an exciting choice for this new vital role."

Hemans, who once handled retail duties as an assistant commissioner with the city of Chicago, will lead Center City Partners' effort to execute strategies laid out in its 2013 retail studies of uptown and the South End. The uptown study said that uptown Charlotte, with its growing workforce and residential population, can support a thriving retail presence of specialty retailers and clothing stores, as well as electronic, grocers and other shops.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/27/4644543/can-an-asheville-style-shopping.html#storylink=cpy

What's the No. 1 day for pedestrian traffic at Trade and Tryon?

As this new graphic below from Charlotte Center City Partners shows, last year it was the Friday of the Food Lion Speed Street festival along Tryon Street. More than 91,000 people walked across Trade and Tryon streets that day, far above the 2013 daily average of 22,300 walkers. The uptown festival kicks off each year in conjunction with the weekend's Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race. (This year, it's the Coca-Cola Speed Street). Other interesting findings in the graphic: Fridays are generally the Square's most heavily walked days, and lunchtime, not surprisingly, is when traffic spikes each day.

New restaurant, street-level retail coming to the Square?

A redesign is in the works for the base of  the  Bank of America Plaza tower, which sits at Trade and Tryon streets. Charlotte architectural firm Redline Design Group is seeking city approval for a redesign of the 40-story tower's base to bring in a restaurant and retail tenants. According to city records, the scope of work includes a possible new facade to the building's base, a new lobby, as well as new restaurant and retail entries and seating areas.

Photo courtesy of Trinity Partners

It also involves a redesign of the plaza, which includes city-owned property and the large, coin-shaped bronze sculpture "II Grande Disco" by Arnaldo Pomodoro. The existing fountain in the plaza could be converted to restaurant space. A project description on file with the city also suggests questions about cafe/sidewalk seating and valet parking will need to be addressed by the city's transportation department.

The tower, built in 1974 and renovated in 1992, already offers access to the Overstreet Mall and 20 on-site shops and restaurants. Charlotte Center City Partners and other groups have been calling in recent years for more street-level retail and restaurants in uptown Charlotte.