Charlotte’s 4th Ward has great location sitting basically within Charlotte’s CBD. The neighborhood also hosts a good array of turn of the century Victorian architecture mixed in with some pretty good in-fill. Downtown’s two main arteries (Tyron and Trade Street) form the edge of two sides of the district providing the district some quality mixed-use district with good urban form. Also some great neighborhood parks weave recreational space into residential areas.
The biggest areas to improve from an urban perspective is more density and better urban form along Graham and the northern and eastern edges of the district.
URBAN STRENTHS:
| * Generally good sidewalk and ADA infrastructure. ADA compliant curbs are often missing however. * Excellent Tree Canopy. * Probably Charlotte’s best collection of turn of the 19th century arch. But much of the neighborhood is mixed in with new urban in-fill of a general good quality. * Dedicated bike lanes are limited within 4th Ward but good coverage nearby in Dwtn and lots of bike sharing stations. * Good racial and economic diversity. * For sale housing is generally expensive but some good diversity. 1-bedroom generally sells in the 100sK and 200Ks. Fair amount of 2-bedrooms condos and townhomes selling in the 200Ks & 300Ks. But plenty of 2 & 3 bedrooms selling between 400K-800K. * Several nice smaller parks well integrated into the neighborhood fabric along with convenient access to other great Dwtn parks. * Great cultural amenities including many restaurants, bars & cafes, several live music venues, several performing art theaters, a cineplex, Imax theater, and a good array of museums. * Good neighborhood amenities as well with a full-service supermarket, a couple drug stores, banks, some locally owned creative stores, a good amount of higher end clothing stores, a Dwtn library and post office, and several small shopping malls. * Generally a very safe neighborhood. Being so close to Dwtn, certainly some homeless here. * Several grade and middle schools within the Dwtn area. No high schools. |
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
| * Very poor generational diversity with only 10% family households and most adults are below 40. * 4 bedrooms are very limited * Good amount of rental product but pretty expensive. 1-bedrooms lease in the low $1,000s. 2-bedrooms around $2,000s. 3-bedrooms in the 2Ks and 3Ks. *Art galleries are pretty limited. * Density is very low, especially for an urban are so close to Dwtn. There in affect leads to just okay vibrancy. |
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 