Soon, a site at Tryon and Morehead in Uptown Charlotte will be a hive of construction when ground is broken on the Queensbridge Collective project. We told you a little bit about this project when it was first announced, but permits came through in early March and construction is now underway.
Queensbridge Collective is a $750 million project with two towers of contemporary architecture that will eventually encompass over 400 luxury rental residences, over 30,000 square feet of retail space, and an outdoor amenity space on the 10th floor connecting the two towers. One of the towers is expected to be an office tower, with the other tower as residential providing the “ideal combination of enterprise and recreation” per the website for the project.
This project is located just outside of the I-277 loop kitty-corner to the Charlotte Business Journal. The site originally housed Uptown Cabaret, The Ascott Inn, and the Midnight Diner. The Midnight Diner has been moved to a new location at 420 E. Trade Street. At this time it has not been announced what will happen to The Uptown Cabaret, but it is assumed that they are looking for another building. It will remain in operation for now, but is scheduled for demolition to make way for the development. The Ascot Inn has been closed, no word on what happened to the heart shaped jacuzzi tubs.
The next step in the construction at Queensbridge Collective is reshaping the traffic around the site. This will take the form of road improvements including widening Morehead Square Drive, South Tryon Street, East Morehead Street, and East Carson Boulevard. New bike lanes and pedestrian crossings are part of the plan as is a connection to the Carson Boulevard light rail stop. The existing College Street Connector will go away, and a possible new connector will be built.
After the traffic is dealt with, or possibly concurrently, the utilities will have to be upgraded to service the two new towers. The office tower will offer contemporary architecture, open and column-free working spaces, landlord-provided privacy bathrooms, wellness rooms and many more amenities. Over 400 luxury residences will have all of the bells and whistles in addition to fabulous amenity spaces. Retail spaces will be on the ground floor as well as on level 10 adjacent to the amenity spaces. There will be meeting halls and banquet facilities as part of the project as well.
Queensbridge Collective has a great location close to over 35 restaurants. It is just across the I-277 bridge from the rest of Uptown Charlotte including museums, sports venues, concert halls, and shopping. I-77 is just a minute away as is the Carson Station light rail. Getting to the airport is a breeze from the light rail, or by highway. This is sure to be a sought after address.
Ground should be broken for both towers in the coming months, with a completion timeline of at least a year, but possibly two or three for all of the high-end finishing.
