Check out these aerial pictures of the First Ward park construction

Developer Daniel Levine's taken some interesting aerial pictures of the construction under way at the new First Ward county park near the UNC Charlotte Center City building. Check it out:

When I first got these from his PR person, Colleen Brannan, my first thought was, 'Boy, that helicopter sure was flying low over the site.' Silly me. In today's Age of Gadgets, I should have realized it was an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Attention FAA: I didn't use the D-R-O-N-E word).

Levine, answering my questions via email through Brannan, said he shot the photos in about 9 minutes with his DJI Phantom, which cost about $1,500. "Before, it would have cost me about $1,000 and two weeks to get those images," he said.

He's had it for about five weeks. Ben Wilhelm with Shiel Sexton Construction turned him on to the idea by giving him a live demo with a UAV. Levine thought they were some of the best aerial shots of the city he's seen in three decades. Levine said he's always been a photo enthusiast; his mom was one of the founding members of The Light Factory and had a darkroom at their house.


The photos show the park and related infrastructure work is well under way. The asphalt demolition is complete, Brannan says, and grading and utility work is in progress.

New Hilton hotel planned for First Ward district

Hilton hotels announced today that it is launching a new hotel brand called Canopy by Hilton, and a representative for Levine Properties says one of the first of the new hotels will land in the First Ward district the real estate firm is developing in uptown Charlotte.

Canopy San Diego

Levine Properties broke ground last month for the public park that marks the start of a 12- to 15-year development plan that hopes to bring as much as $1 billion in new offices, shops, residences and hotels to a nine-block area around UNC Charlotte's Center City building. Levine Properties has several possible hotel sites in the area; one sketch of its plan for the district shows a 175- to 200-room hotel going in at Caldwell and Seventh streets, near the new park. Levine spokeswoman Colleen Brannan said it's too early to say where exactly the new hotel would go.

Construction could start in 2016, she said, and would take two to three years to complete. Hilton says it hopes to open the first of the new Canopy hotels in 2015. It has signed letters of intent in Charlotte and 10 other cities, from London to Portland.

Levine Properties President Daniel Levine said the Canopy brand's emphasis on building in attractive neighborhoods and showcasing local food, art and design makes it a good fit for the First Ward project, which he has said he envisions as Charlotte's answer to New York's Greenwich Village. "Hilton's selection of Charlotte as one of only 11 markets for its new lifestyle brand ... is further evidence that the Queen City is a national draw," he said in a statement. "Levine Properties is looking forward to delivering more hotel rooms to the center city."