UNC Charlotte only a part of First Ward plan
Posted on 20 Mar 2009 by James Willamor
The planned uptown UNC Charlotte building (bottom right corner) will be part of a large 22-acre urban village. An important piece of the plan will be 4-acre First Ward Park, a portion of which will be built over a parking garage similar to The Green. An overview of the entire First Ward urban village is after the page break.
Infrastructure proposals include the LYNX Blue line extension and 9th Street station, closing a block of 8th Street, creating Market Street along the Blue line extension, and extending 10th Street. In addition to the park, there are plans for a farmers market just north of the Lynx tracks.
Many of the lots (shown in red) are owned by the city or Levine Properties who hopes to start mixed-up development projects late next year. “Over a 10– to 15-year period, Levine plans to build 2 million square feet of office space, 2,150 apartments and condominiums and 282,000 square feet shops and restaurants.” Below is an older rendering of what could become of this part of First Ward. There are twenty-seven pages of discussion on Urban Planet if you want to read more on the UNC Charlotte, Levine, and First Ward park developments.
This follow up piece really puts the UNC Charlotte Center City Building in context with the rest of downtown. These annotations to Google Maps are an excellent touch and were well executed