I got up at 6am this past Saturday and went out for a downtown walk with my camera. The morning started out pretty gray and cloudy so most of the photos didnt turn out that well...but towards the end of my walk the sun came out.

Lets start with Garden District Row on 8th St. This will most likely be the last new single family development for Center City. Only 3 houses remain unsold.
This is what it looked like on Saturday:
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/firstwardrow.jpg

And this is what it will look like when finished
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/gardenrow.jpg

Walking on down I came to M Street condos. Almost all of these are sold but I did notice some for sale signs in the windows of the completed units...probably from investors aka flippers.
The part still under construction
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/mst1.jpg

And this is what some of the completed units look like:
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/mst2.jpg
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/mst3.jpg

Moving on down McDowell St I took this pic from what is now First Ward Park but will soon become Blvd Centro's Quarterside development. Pretty nice view:
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/1stwardview.jpg

Continuing down McDowell St I came to the new Meck County Parking Deck that they built for the new Courthouse. This plaza in front of the parking deck has already signed leases for Quiznos and a Dry Cleaners.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/plaza.jpg

Notice the public artwork: a cool looking hand.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/hand.jpg

And across the street is the new Mecklenburg County Courthouse STILL under construction. It is not very good looking and you can thank the Republicans for that.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/meckcourthouse.jpg

And the back side of the Courthouse.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/meckcourthouse2.jpg

Crossing the street behind the Courthouse I snagged this pic of the 2 Wachovia tower which you can see is still being painted light gray.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/2wachovia.jpg

Walking through Marshall Park I snagged this pic of The Tower condos under construction.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/tower1.jpg

And what it looks like from the street
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/tower2.jpg

In case you ever wanted to know where the Charlotte City Council meets...this is where it all goes down at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/charmeckgovtcenter.jpg

After that I walked over to check on the Wachovia 4 complex...this is where the Afro American Cultural Center is going up. It will also serve as the service entrance for the tower via a tunnel under Tryon St.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/aacc.jpg

And at the actual tower site they are still digging. They are about 20 ft below street level now. Only 80 ft more to go.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/wachovia4.jpg
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/wachovia4-2.jpg

Walking on down Church St you can clearly see the Trademark condo tower rising up.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/trademarkperspective.jpg

And looking off to the right you can see the progress on 230 S Tryon condos.

http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/230stryon.jpg

And they are putting the finishing touches on Wachovia Main

http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/wachoviamain.jpg

Walking up to Tryon St they were setting up for the 3on3 Hoops Tourney.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/tryonhoops.jpg

And look Charlotte even has tourists at 7am on a Saturday :)
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/centercourt.jpg

Well I was really about to die of thirst and hunger so I stopped in at the Starbucks and got a Chai Tea Latte and muffin. They I went on towards Trademark. This tower is really going up fast and is that blue glass looks hot.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/trademark.jpg

I walked over to Settler's Cemetray and sat down for a minute to finish up my Latte and muffin. Caught this nice pic showing off some of Charlotte's architectural diversity.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/settlersview.jpg

Here is an update on Avenue...they are still working on the parking deck...couple more levels to go before they get to the actual condos.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/avenue.jpg

This is from 6th St looking down towards Courtside.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/courtsideview.jpg

And they are hard at work on the Lynx Blue Line. This is the crossing at 6th St.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/lynxblue.jpg

Well this is when the sun finally came out and the lighting became perfect for pic taking.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/levineskyline.jpg

And here is downtown's monument to grit.
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/morningskyline.jpg

Well by this time I was exhausted so I went home and crashed.

:applause:
uptownliving, I ALWAYS look forward to your update threads. Not only because you show us the progress all over Uptown Charlotte - which is impressive, anyway - but because you discover and present some cool angles. The photo with the Courtside in the background is awesome. One suggestion: Maybe you should rethink that signature you put in your photos... It looks like "CL Turban" instead of "CLT urban" :lol: Just kidding... Great photos!!!

Nice work, it's really helpful to have all this info in one place.

Nice pics and excellent tour. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

Great pics!

If that old sign were moved to a more prominent location it could actually be a pretty cool peice of public art itself.

^ Hopefully that's how it will end up eventually. The location's actually pretty good, in proximity to the arena and ImaginOn, and soon to be surrounded by more residential development. I can definitely imagine it becoming part of a plaza, if they were to put shops there.

Sweet pics.

^^
^^
^^
Leave it to Charlotte to take grit out of its original habitat and turn it into an artsy sculpture for a shiny new plaza. Heartless yuppies....

:D

I love the use of materials and glass in the building behind the church:
http://www.clturban.com/images/downtownsatjune/wachovia4.jpg

^ One of the only downsides to the Wachovia project is that it will take away that view. I love how you can see the "layers" of the city so clearly from that angle: the pedestrian-level park, the historic church, the newer condos, all the way up to the massive corporate towers.

Yep; the new towers going up will propose a challenge to find even more and better views of the skyline.

excellent thread!

Charlotte is looking good :cheers:

Yep; the new towers going up will propose a challenge to find even more and better views of the skyline.

One nice thing about the new towers is that only one of them (Wachovia) is on Tryon St., so the rest will add "depth" to the skyline. That means it'll be easier to get good pano shots from the north and south, where currently it makes the skyline look tiny.

This was an excellent update. I missed seeing this when it was first posted. Great pictures. Trademark is indeed going up awfully fast. I had no idea it was that far along. I'll have to go by and take a first hand look.

One nice thing about the new towers is that only one of them (Wachovia) is on Tryon St., so the rest will add "depth" to the skyline. That means it'll be easier to get good pano shots from the north and south, where currently it makes the skyline look tiny.

I'm imagining how the skyline will look from W. Morehead, where you can already get a fantastic view.

Thanks for the photo tour. It's been years since I've been to Charlotte and its great to see how much the downtown has grown and improved in the past 15 years or so!