| Plaza-Midwood was first established in 1910 as a streetcar suburb of Charlotte along Central and likely Plaza Avenue. Developed filled in by WWII creating a pleasant leafy bedroom community. The neighborhood experienced a couple of decades of disinvestment, especially Centre Ave. But things started to turn around by the 1990s and the neighborhood is one of the most expensive in Charlotte with a pretty vibrant mixed-use biz district. Yet many parts of the Plaza-Midwood feel pretty suburban with large lot homes, disconnected streets without sidewalks and auto centric stretches along Center Avenue. Access to walkable schools and recreational amenities is also lacking here. More dense in-fill development will go a long way to improving Plaza-Midwood from an urban perspective. |
URBAN STRENGTHS:
| * Convenient access to Dwtn with decent transit (better close the Plaza Blvd). * Several dedicated bike lanes run throughout the neighborhood and a couple bike stations in the SW corner. * Great tree canopy. * This is a very safe neighborhood. * Very attractive historic housing and some good commercial infill along Central although so of it is pretty auto centric. * Good access to a lot of cultural and retail amenities along Central Ave including many restaurants, bars, & cafes, live music venues, small breweries, a supermarket, drug store, public library, post office, a book store, many boutiques, several antiques, and several hospitals in the adjacent district. * Plaza Blvd is very comfortable to pedestrians helped by its medium crossing. |
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
| * Very low density. * Connectivity, sidewalk and ADA infrastructure are so . Plenty of unconnected streets and missing sidewalks. * For Sale housing is generally very expensive. Some for sale product reasonably priced. 1-bedroom condos and most, unrenovated bungalows sell in the high 100s & 300Ks. Modest SF but well maintained homes sell btwn 300K-700K, larger homes 700K to 2 Million. * Some rentals but generally expensive… 1-bedrooms lease btwn $1,000-$1,500, 2-bedrooms in the $1,000s, and 3-bedrooms in the low 2K and 3Ks. * Recreational amenities a bit limited. They include a medium sized park and a golf course. * Schools are limited to a couple pre-schools and middle-high transitional school. * Quality urban massing in the urban biz districts (i.e. Central & Pecan Ave) is a mixed bag of auto centric strip malls & parking lots and quality form. Form falls apart further east along Centre. |
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 