Turning Over A NEW LEAF
Greenway Project to Reshape Areas Along Its Path

BY SUSAN SHACKELFORD

Anyone traveling through midtown Charlotte lately has gotten an eyeful: condos, offi ces and restaurant sites going up, a Home Depot and Target soon to open and heavy equipment removing concrete that covers Little Sugar Creek, which runs through the area.

At the creek de-capping ceremony in June, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Director Jim Garges peered at the emerging stream and exclaimed to no one in particular, "Let it breathe!"

It's been stifled too long. Little Sugar Creek (a longtime, foul-smelling destination for city sewage) is being recast as a sweet attraction for locals and tourists alike. "We want to turn this scar into a star," says Tony Zeiss, president of Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) and a greenway leader.

They are well on their way. What people are seeing in midtown is a small part of a stream restoration and greenway construction project that spans about 15 miles of Little Sugar Creek. The length will grow to more than 16 miles if the greenway is extended north, as anticipated by Mecklenburg County staff, from Cordelia Park in NoDa (the North Davidson Street area) to the Hidden Valley neighborhood.

"The possible extension of Little Sugar Creek Greenway to its headwaters in Hidden Valley ... will be considered, along with other creeks and tributaries, in a greenway master plan update soon to be under way," says Gwen Cook, greenway planner for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation. "The citizens of Hidden Valley have been very supportive of the concept of a greenway connection to their ecological garden, which is a stream restoration project by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services." If the extension is approved, it will likely play out over many years because of the industrial nature of much of the area between Hidden Valley and NoDa.

"Charlotte's Central Park"
Midtown occupies the spotlight because it's in the "signature section" of the greenway that's quickly coming to fruition. Expected to open in 2008 and 2009, the 1.2-mile stretch extends from Seventh Street to Morehead Street on the west side of Kings Drive. Most of the $43 million cost for stream restoration and greenway construction from Belmont Avenue, just north of Seventh Street, to Morehead Street will be for the signature section, says Don Morgan, director of greenway planning and development for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation.

"This will become Charlotte's Central Park," Zeiss says. "It will connect people environmentally, educationally, recreationally, historically and socially." Along the stretch will be CPCC's new culinary arts building, projected to open in 2009 near the corner of Seventh Street and Kings Drive; the John M. Belk Plaza near the culinary building; statues of Mecklenburg historical figures; public amenities such as fountains, benches and a clock; landscaping with native plants and trees, wetlands and; of course, the greenway trail. The trail will follow the creek and serve as a thoroughfare for walkers, runners and bicyclists (no horses or motorized vehicles, please) and as a site for events.

Because the signature stretch is near the center city, it's expected to draw more people and activities than other greenway locations, most of them suburban. Creation of the section has involved a wide range of public and private partners: from the city, county and state to CPCC, The Belk Foundation, Duke Energy, Pappas Properties and other
developers. Another key player has been the Little Sugar Creek Action Committee, led by Zeiss and made up of government and community representatives eager to see the development of this segment of Little Sugar Creek Greenway (see sidebar).

Developer Tommy Norman sits on the committee and played a key role with the county in negotiating the buyouts of landowners from Baxter Street to Morehead Street, a stretch that included such notable businesses as a Bank of America branch, an Exxon gas station and Taco Bell restaurant. "We wanted to accomplish the acquisitions along Kings Drive and avoid condemnation - that's the county's MO (modus operandi)," he says. "The evaluation was the hard part. You had to evaluate the property and the ongoing business." For the Baxter to Morehead stretch, the county spent more than $20 million out of the $28.6 million it has spent over the entire 15-mile greenway for land. Most of the greenway is in floodplains and has been donated by developers or purchased with federal funds.

Clean (Once Again) and Green
Development of the greenway requires not only land and trail construction but cleaning up the creek, which for decades had sewage dumped directly in it from homes and businesses. "When I was growing up ... you could smell it when you drove over it and you didn't walk over it," Jennifer Roberts, chair of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, told the crowd at the decapping ceremony.  Added City Council Member Patsy Kinsey, also a native Charlottean, "You didn't go anywhere near it."

The creek was such a nuisance that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, businesses in midtown were allowed to cap it with concrete for parking lots or buildings. Now that the caps are coming off, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services is tackling the job of creek cleanup, which will cost about $5 million for the signature section. So far, funds have come from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services and the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund.  The county is also requesting money from the N.C. Division of Water Quality.

After the decapping ceremony, Project Manager Crystal Taylor peered into the muddy creek, dotted with trash and chunks of concrete from long-ago construction projects. Stream restoration involves a variety of tasks. "There's concrete on some of the banks, which we'll be removing," says Taylor, an engineer who works for storm-water services. "While the concrete allowed the water to move faster with less flooding, it sacrificed the habitat of the creek. Now we're re-establishing it. We'd like to put in some meanders (curves) as we did in other places, but there's not enough room (from Seventh to Morehead). We will grade the banks back to their natural slope, plant native vegetation and put in stream structures, such as riffles and rock veins, which help with fish habitat and water quality."

Glancing to the side of the creek, Taylor eyed a ubiquitous plant in North Carolina - the invasive kudzu vine. "We'll eliminate a lot with the grading," she says, "but we'll still have to maintain the area to keep it under control. You can't get entirely rid of it, and it can kill the new plants."

In the early 2000s, Little Sugar Creek owned the dismal distinction of being the dirtiest creek in North Carolina. It's still in the top 10, says Dave Canaan, director for Mecklenburg County Water and Land Resources. But a new day is dawning. While a study in the 1960s found no fi sh in the creek, today they're coming back. "We're seeing an abundance of limited species and have identifi ed two darter species that, I'm told, are to water quality what a canary is to air quality in a mine. You don't see them if the conditions are poor. Little Sugar Creek still has a ways to go, but it's improving."

First Section's Completion in '08
The first part of the signature section to open will be from Charlottetown Avenue (formerly South Independence Boulevard) to Morehead Street, which is about six-tenths of a mile. As of mid-June, construction on the section was to begin in fall 2007, with completion in 2008. The others sections (Seventh Street to Elizabeth Avenue and Elizabeth Avenue to Charlottetown Avenue) are expected to open by the end of 2009.

This first section will run by the Metropolitan, a $200 million project of condos, restaurants, other retail and offices by Pappas Properties, Collett & Associates and Colonial Properties Trust. 

The housing within the complex consists of 60 Met Lofts, 41 Met Terraces and a future 21-story tower, all of which have retail planned for the fi rst fl oor. Fifty-eight of the lofts were under contract in mid-June, and marketing on the Met Terraces is to ramp up in mid-August, says Pappas Properties Vice President of Residential Marketing Brian Roth.

Half of the project's Met Terraces will face the greenway and have a wide-angle view of the uptown skyline, thanks to floor-to-ceiling glass in each unit. The view and greenway access spurred Peter A. Pappas to include residential in the mixed-use project. "Otherwise, I would have just done more retail," says the president of Pappas Properties.  "The integration of the restaurants, outdoor seating and the greenway were a win-win."

The Metropolitan has a contemporary feel. "The design is intended to be a transition between uptown and Myers Park and very urban with respect to residents
who want to live in the middle of things," says Fritz Rehkopf, director of design and construction for Pappas Properties.  Initially, "designs were traditional - something you'd see in Myers Park," Rehkopf says, but the company decided that most potential buyers would prefer a more urban look. Furthermore, the floor plans "aren't cookie-cutter," he says. "It's challenging from a construction standpoint that there are so many kinds of units, which is partly driven by having restaurants below."

Negotiations are under way with Harper's Restaurant Group, other restaurants and a specialty grocer slated for the lower level of the Met Lofts building, says Stephen Pharr with Collett & Associates. Best Buy, Marshall's and Staples are among the retailers that have committed.  They will be located near the corner of Kings Drive and Charlottetown Avenue, across from The Home Depot and Target. Target has been a big attraction for tenants and buyers, say Pharr and Rehkopf. Expected to open in October, Target will sit atop The Home Depot, which will be the chain's "design center" concept. 

In connection with development of the Metropolitan and the greenway, the Baxter Street Bridge will be torn down by the end of the summer and rebuilt about 100 yards south. The current Baxter Street connection from the Cherry neighborhood will link with a new road that will go through the center of the project, called Metropolitan Avenue.

South from the Metropolitan, the greenway will feature a large fountain about halfway to Morehead Street. The fountain will be across from the new, dark-glass Watermark building by Tuscan Development on the west side of the greenway. Near the creek will be wetlands for viewing and monitoring water quality. Nearby, there will be benches and bocce ball courts.

Further south on the greenway, plans are for a clock to be donated by the Rotary Club of Charlotte, an effort led by 1992 CRRA President Catherine Browning, who was Rotary president in 2004-2005. Tentative plans are for it to be placed at the corner of Morehead Street and Kings Drive (see sidebar below).

Culinary Building, History Trail
In the section to be finished in 2009 (from Seventh Street to Charlottetown Avenue) CPCC is building a 30,000-square-foot culinary arts building near the corner of Seventh and Kings. The culinary program has more than 300 students and has outgrown its site on the central campus, says CPCC's president, Zeiss. The new building will overlook the greenway and is projected to open in 2009.

Zeiss secured a half-million dollar contribution from The Belk Foundation to build a plaza near the culinary building. It will be named in honor of former Charlotte Mayor John Belk, who advocated restoring Little Sugar Creek in the early 1970s.

Greenway planner Gwen Cook says the Charlotte Department of Transportation is studying the possibility of extending Fifth Street from uptown to Kings Drive, which would come through the greenway.

Currently, once the greenway leaves Belk Plaza, plans are for it to continue by a power substation, to which Duke Energy has agreed to add landscaping and lighting, Cook says. The trail would then cross Elizabeth Avenue/Trade Street at the street level - the only place to do that on the signature stretch. Otherwise, the trail runs under streets  and through lighted tunnels.

In the next block, Elizabeth Avenue to Fourth Street, plans are for an environmental garden of native plants and wetlands and a  sunken, circular lawn area, Cook says.  There will also be a handful  of historical statues on a portion of the greenway called the Charlotte Trail of History. "We intend to develop a series of bronze statues along the signature section, which will be displayed chronologically, of key historical fi gures from Mecklenburg," Zeiss says. "We want to help restore a sense of history to the  community."

The first statue will be "The Spirit of Mecklenburg" and feature a life-size rendering of Capt. James Jack on his horse. In June 1775, Jack rode to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to deliver the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which had been signed on May 20, 1775 - about a year before the U.S. declaration would be signed. Locally, the nonprofi t May 20th Society is raising money for the $500,000 statue, expected to be placed across from CPCC's new Overcash Building on Kings Drive.

From there, the greenway will go under Fourth Street, behind St. Mary's Chapel and under Third Street. It will travel behind the State Employees' Credit Union and beside the new Home Depot/Target complex at Kings Drive and Charlottetown Avenue. It will go under Charlottetown Avenue and then connect with the greenway that extends from the Metropolitan to Morehead Street.

From CMC to Polk Memorial
That ends the signature section, but the greenway continues on in front of Carolinas Medical Center (CMC), through Freedom Park to behind Park Road Shopping Center - stretches that are already complete. The first part of that expanse, the Liz Hair Nature Walk, opened in 2005. It runs six-tenths of a mile from CMC to East Boulevard and honors Liz Hair, who in 1974 became the first woman to chair the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. She also had a key role in developing the county's first greenway master plan. When Dave Canaan dropped by the nature walk this spring, construction workers on break from the new Levine Children's Hospital were on the greenway. "They were sitting on the banks, feeding the ducks and walking up to Kings Drive to a shopping center ( using the greenway for enjoyment and to go places) it was great," he says.

In Freedom Park, Little Sugar Creek received a major face-lift that was completed in 2003. It returned the stream to a natural, mean dering state, with native plants and vegetation. Previously, the creek had been straightened and "concreted" along its banks.  The Charlotte Nature Museum is an attraction near the trail in Freedom Park that's slated for a makeover. "Discovery Place is working on a conceptual plan of a new vision for Charlotte Nature Museum that will reconnect urbanites with nature and showcase positive environmental actions," says Lisa Hoffman, director of the nature museum.

The greenway continues into Myers Park and currently ends behind Park Road Shopping Center, where local, state and federal funds were used to buy out 70 homes that frequently flooded and washed pollutants into the creek. Local and state resources enhanced the stream, created a wetland system and built the greenway; the work was completed in 2004.

Greenway planner Cooks says once the signature section is complete in 2009, attention will turn to lengths south of Park Road Shopping Center. Plans are for the greenway to follow Park Road to just before Selwyn Avenue, then turn to the west where Little Sugar Creek joins Briar Creek. The greenway will cross Tyvola Road, the eastern end of the Montclaire neighborhood and head toward Huntingtowne Farms.

The rest of the trail will go near Charlotte Indoor Tennis Club at Sharon Road West and Sharon Lakes Road and close to where a new library is to be built on Sharon Road West. The trail then heads to the east of Carolina Pavilion, located at I-485 and South Boulevard, and west of Carolina Place Mall and by the James K. Polk Memorial.

On to South Carolina - Eventually
In early 2007, greenway organizers fi nally obtained the necessary land agreement to take the greenway to the South Carolina line. The new owner of the former PTL property donated a 50-foot easement that covers more than two miles on both sides of the creek, says Saxby Chaplin, who along with Ruth Samuelson, has been working on this for several years. "It's a verbal commitment, but it's a matter of when they (Coulston Enterprises) are going to do it we are going to get it," says Chaplin, a member of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway Action Committee and state counsel for the Trust for Public Land. From there, Little Sugar Creek Greenway will one day connect with greenways in South Carolina.

In the meantime, the emergence of the signature section from Seventh Street to Morehead Street is eagerly awaited for 2008 and 2009. At the creek decapping ceremony in June, developer Tommy Norman, a native Charlottean, told the crowd, "Fifty years is a long, long time (to neglect a creek). This is the best of urbanism. This city gets it."  

 

Reprinted from REALTOR® Reflections with permission of the CHARLOTTE REGIONAL REALTOR® ASSOCIATION. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
 

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