Local Charlotte Printers Help Community Share Messages of Resistance

Bryant Carter
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Local Charlotte Printers Help Community Share Messages of Resistance

Charlotte residents will have the opportunity to create their own unique messages and clothing of resistance at a special print workshop held in the historic NoDaCharlotte-Print/Organize/Protest arts district.

Print|Organize|Protest, a network of independent graphic artists dedicated to social change, is holding community events at print shops across the country on March 5. Screen print artists will teach involved local community members how to design and press their own protest signs, posters and t-shirts. The Charlotte event takes place at NoDa Company Store on 3221 Yadkin Avenue from 1p.m to 4p.m.

P.O.P. Charlotte is being organized by Evan and Susan Plante of Docklands Design in NoDa, and is free and open to the public. Bring your own clothing, fabric, paper, or cardboard and printers will show you how to make a personal symbol for change. Attendants are advised to bring blank, one-colored t-shirts, or card stock/ poster board to print on.

Docklands is selling customary resistance t-shirts to raise funds for ink, screens and other supplies. If you want to give your support, than you can order a shirt at: docklands.storenvy.com

Similar P.O.P events will be hosted in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Santa Cruz in preparation for International Women’s Day on March 8. Women’s day is a global resistance calling for gender equality and the important role of women in society.

Besides coordinating printing workshops, Print|Organize|Protest also encourages the public to be more civic-minded. They suggest people participate in local organizing events, city council meetings, town halls, protests and other demonstrations.

For more information on other P.O.P events and activities, go to: https://www.printorganizeprotest.org/

Top Golf Charlotte Now Set To Open This Coming June

Charlotte Stories
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Top Golf Charlotte Now Set To Open This Coming June

charlotte-top-golf2Topgolf‘s new Charlotte location was approved last June, and in less than a year, they’ve already finished most of the construction of the new facility, and are now planning to host a grand opening within the next few months.

Topgolf Charlotte will be a futuristic “golf entertainment complex” offering targeted games where players hit ‘microchipped’ balls as close to various targets and special zones as possible. The balls individually record their location before and after they are hit, and give individual scores for each player.

They will also feature a full food and drink menu – catering to golfers and non-golfers of all skill levels.

This past January, they erected their massive net poles, which range in height from 160 feet to 180 feet, with the taller poles equal in height to an 15-story apartment tower.

The poles and net are necessary to prevent the high-tech golf balls that will be struck from the facility’s three levels of climate-controlled hitting bays from soaring off of the 14-acre site.

According to contractor Arco Murray, all of the major structural components of the site are complete, and they’re hoping to finish the interior work and state-of-the-art landing turf within the next 2 months.

Here is what the facility currently looks like:

top-golf-charlotte-grand-opening

top-golf-almost-finished-in-charlotte

top-golf-charlotte-grand-opening2

Here’s a time lapse video of the construction on the site:

Top Golf is now planning to host a grand opening at their new location across the street from the Whitehall Corporate Center (that place with the giant spinning head fountain) sometime in late May or early June of 2017.

top-golf-charlotte-location

The company expects to bring 480 new jobs and a $30 million paycheck to Mecklenburg County in taxes over the next 20 years.

The company also stated that if the Whitehall complex proves to be a hit, they will move quickly to build a second location in the North Charlotte/Lake Norman area.

Ballantyne Was Sold For Over $1 Billion – The Largest Real Estate Transaction in Charlotte’s History

Steve
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Ballantyne Was Sold For Over $1 Billion – The Largest Real Estate Transaction in Charlotte’s History

ballantyne-corporate-parkIn the early 90s, the Ballantyne Corporate Park became one of the largest developments in Charlotte’s history – it’s now become the largest real estate sale in Charlotte’s history.

Back in January, we first reported about the rumors that New York-based Northwood Investors (parent company of Northwood Ravin, who built The Vue) was looking into buying the entire Ballantyne Corporate Park.

A total of 40 deeds were recently filed with the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds office, which confirmed the sale of the corporate park to Northwood Investors, for a total price of about $1.2 billion.

The entire 535 acre Ballantyne Coporate park includes over 4.5 million square feet of office space, 4 hotels with a total of almost 600 rooms, an award winning golf course, and over 400,000 square feet of retail space.

Northwood Investors haven’t yet stated what, if any changes they plan on making to the development, but there is certainly plenty of room to grow. Several sections of raw land that were included with the deal have zoning in place that would allow for about 1.5 million additional square feet of office space (about as much office space as is in Duke Energy’s 48-floor “handlebar” skyscraper in Uptown).

The Ballantyne Corporate Park was originally announced in 1991, before 485 was built, and while the land was nothing more than “a 2,000-plus acre plot of hardwoods littered with pine scrub and North Carolina underbrush,” according to Ballantyne’s historical records.

The developer, Smoky Bissell decided to undertake the ambitious project after successfully building much of modern day South Park. He partnered with the Harris family (who had owned the South Charlotte farm land for generations) to build the sprawling new speculative office project. Bissell purchased the initial 414 acres from Harris for just over $20 million.

It seems Charlotte is quickly evolving from a small city, built by local investors and developers, into a global powerhouse, with an increasing number of outside investors, developers, and influences.

How do you feel about the continued transformation of our city? 

Last Night’s Storm Knocked Down Trees And Left Thousands Without Power

Steve
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Last Night’s Storm Knocked Down Trees And Left Thousands Without Power

Last night, the Charlotte area witnessed a rare and sudden hail storm that brought lightning, strong winds, and driving rain.

The storm caused thousands of dollars in damage and left over 2,600 homes without power this morning.

At the height of the storm, over 32,000 Duke Energy customers were affected, according to the “Duke Energy Outage Map“:

duke-energy-power-outages

The storm also knocked down dozens of trees and set a home on fire in the Dilworth neighborhood:

How were you affected by last night’s storm?

Please send any pictures, videos, or stories of last night’s storm to Scott@CLTStories.com

cover image via Chris Austin

Charlotte Convention Center’s $100 Million Renovation Plans Receive Approval From City Council

Charlotte Stories
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Charlotte Convention Center’s $100 Million Renovation Plans Receive Approval From City Council

new-charlotte-convention-centerCharlotte’s 21 year-old convention center might soon receive a $100 million overhaul.

The Charlotte City Counsel recently approved a $1.6 million final design plan to be drawn up by the architectural firm TVS North Carolina. The new plan will include adding over 34,000 square feet to the convention center, modernizing its facade, and several technological upgrades.

The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority started working on renovation plans and concepts back in 2014 in an attempt to compete with similar-sized cities like Nashville, Tenn., and Austin, Texas.

The Charlotte Convention Center originally opened over 20 years ago in 1995, costing just over $150 million to build.

charlotte-convention-center-renderingIf final approval is given to the plans, the upgrades to the Convention Center will include:

▪ A new glass front facade and more substantial entry-way on Stonewall Street, as well a new 26,000 new square foot meeting space.

▪ A new pedestrian bridge over Stonewall Street that would allow Westin guests to enter the Convention Center without crossing the road.

▪ A new terrace and facade on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., allowing for an outdoor meeting area.

▪ New technological upgrades including new actuators to lower and raise ceilings, walls, and move room dividers much more quickly, as well as major WiFi upgrades throughout the facility.

Viva Chicken Is About To Open Their 6th Location

Steve
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Viva Chicken Is About To Open Their 6th Location

One of Charlotte’s favorite new restaurants, Viva Chicken, has just announced that they’re about to open a 6th location in Concord.

They’ll be opening in the new Christenbury Corners development, at the corner of Derita Road and Christenbury Parkway, near the Concord Mills mall.

They recently made the announcement on their Facebook page – “Viva #6, Concord, NC! Coming soon”:

Since opening their first location in the Elizabeth neighborhood back in 2013, Viva Chicken has become a Charlotte institution;

They’ve even been ranked as having the best french fries in the city!

Their new location in Concord’s Christenbury Parkway will be in the same building as Kohl’s, EarthFare, Pet Supplies Plus, and Bad Daddy’s newest location – with a grand opening now scheduled for this coming Summer.

The Peruvian restaurant’s other locations now include Elizabeth Avenue, Park Road, Ballantyne, Huntersville, and their first non-North Carolinian location – St. George, Utah.

In Case You Missed It – Watch JJ’s Red Hots on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Here (Video)

Steve
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In Case You Missed It – Watch JJ’s Red Hots on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Here (Video)

We first reported on the filming of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives when they were spotted at Charlotte’s Papi Queso and JJ’s Red Hots back in December.

The full episode aired on the Food Network on February 10th.

In case you missed it, or if you’ve “cut the cord” and now only watch stuff online, they just released the JJ’s Red Hots portion of the episode on Facebook and Youtube:

The popular show, which highlights local restaurant favorites around the country, has already been to Charlotte numerous other times, including stops at; BarBQ King on Wilkinson Boulevard, Cabo Fish Taco in NoDa, Dish in Plaza-Midwood, Jake’s Good Eats on Albemarle Road, Landmark Diner on Central Avenue, Dilworth’s 300 East, and South 21 Drive-in on Independence Boulevard.

No wonder Charlotte was just ranked as the #9 food city in America by Zagat Restaurant.

Charlotte Man Won $1 Million Lottery Jackpot – Plans On Buying Home W/ Room For Goats

Steve
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Charlotte Man Won $1 Million Lottery Jackpot – Plans On Buying Home W/ Room For Goats

charlotte-man-wins-lotteryThis past weekend, local Charlotte resident Bobby Murphy stopped by the 7-Eleven on Eastway Drive and purchased 5 “50X The Cash” tickets (@ $10 each).

His $50 investment quickly turned into a million dollar prize (well, $417,009 after tax, to be exact) when he began scratching, according to press release from the NC Education Lottery.

“It wasn’t until I scratched the very last number on the last ticket that I realized I won,” Bobby remarked. “I beat the odds. It’s wild.”

The next day, he drove up to Raleigh to claim his prize Monday at the NC Education Lottery headquarters. They gave him a choice between a $1 million annuity w/ yearly payments of $50,000 for 20 years, or a lump sum of $600,000 – he decided to go with the lump sum, and received a total of $417,009 after federal and state taxes were taken out.

“It feels nice to have this. We’ll be able to get a house where my fiancé’s son will have space to play, and she can have her goats,” Bobby commented while at the lottery headquarters.

The new scratch-off game “50X The Cash” launched across North Carolina earlier this month – Bobby is now the first person to win the big prize. The combined odds of winning anything on “50X The Cash” is 1 in 3.23 with the following payout schedule:

charlotte-man-wins-1-million-lottery

What are your thoughts on the NC Education Lottery? 

Immigration Protesters Shut Down City Council Meeting

Steve
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Immigration Protesters Shut Down City Council Meeting

After immigration protesters marched through Marshall park yesterday, they headed up the street to fill the lobby and chambers where the Charlotte City Council was having one of their regularly scheduled meetings.

Here is a clip of protesters in the lobby of the government building, shouting, “No More ICE”:

As more and more protesters began chanting “Do Your Job”, the Charlotte City Council couldn’t hear the speakers over the chants, and decided to walk out of the meeting for the night:

Many of the council members then moved into the lobby of the government center to talk to activists one-on-one.

The protests and council meeting shut-down was organized by the local immigrant rights activist group “Comunidad Colectiva“.

Their primary demands included:

▪ Fighting North Carolina’s House Bill 318, that requires local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration officials, as well as local police partnerships with immigration agencies.

▪ Requiring the CMPD to “use discretion” when they arrest, detain, or deport undocumented immigrants.

▪ Provide city-funded legal services for any undocumented immigrants who may be facing deportation.

Here is a full video of the entire protest:

What do you think about the protest and their demands?

Do you think the City of Charlotte should support federally mandated deportations?

Charlotte Douglas International Airport Adding $16.2 Billion To Our Region

Steve
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Charlotte Douglas International Airport Adding $16.2 Billion To Our Region

Yesterday the Charlotte Douglas International Airport held a special unveiling for their new economic impact study.

They paid UNC Charlotte $79,000 to tear apart mountains of data to determine exactly what kind of benefit the airport was having on our region.

According to the study, the airport adds approximately $16.2 billion to the Charlotte region, from both direct spending and indirect spending – including factors that were consistent with standard Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidance.

Direct Impacts
(Airport tenants, contractors, American Airlines, general aviation)		 Jobs

29,185

 Payroll

$1.45 billion

 Output

$4.31 billion
Indirect Impacts

(Regional employers, hotels, visiting passengers)

 Jobs

195,225

 Payroll

$10.07 billion

 Output

$11.9 billion
Total 224, 410 $11.52 billion $16.21 billion

 

The airport’s total impact on the region’s economic output has increased by a staggering 67% since the study was last performed – up from $9.7 billion in 2005.

The Charlotte Douglas International Airport is currently undergoing a massive $2.5 billion makeover, adding more passenger and flight capacity, and making drop-offs and pickups quicker and easier. This should also drastically increase the economic impact on our region for years to come.

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