Old North Columbus- A quality historic community north of Ohio State University

Old North Columbus was founded in 1847 as a stand-alone city. North Columbus in its early years was a major stage coach stop between Columbus and Worthington to the north and had a history of thriving saloon and speakeasy scene. North Columbus was also the site of a large  factory and a mill along the banks of the Olentangy River. The establishment of Ohio State in 1871 brought a major boom to the neighborhood and helped fill it in by the 1920s.

Old North Columbus never saw the level of disinvestment as places like Weinland park after WWII nor wholesale take over of students as occurred in the University District to the south. While students comprise a large portion of the neighborhood, there is still a sizable homeownership community here. High Street has also held on to much of its late 19th century commercial architecture and hosts a great array of ethnic restaurants and decent amount of neighborhood serving businesses. Also a quality urban node at Summit and Hudson and a pair of attractive boulevard streets and ravines north of here. Neighborhood branding signs were installed in the early 2000s along High Street to bolster the community’s identity. The biggest area for improvement is new quality urban in-fill along High street and Lane Ave. redeveloping surface parking lots and low-rise auto centric uses. Given the development pressures nearby in OSU, I’m confident this will come soon. The neighborhood also desperately needs walkable schools within the community to attract more generational diversity and long term homeowners. 
Click here to view my Old North Columbus Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENTHS:

* Solid multi-model access with good transit and public infrastructure access.
* Good economic diversity and only decent racial diversity.
* Great array of rental options generally renting at moderate rates.
* A lot more for sale housing here than other districts surrounding OSU.
* Pretty safe district with only a little bit of blight.
* Great park amenities including the extensive Tuttle Park which includes extensive woods, a swimming pool, recreational center. Glen Echo Park follows the Glenn Echo Stream with recreational trails and bike trail along the Olentangy River.
* Good tree canopy thanks to the large amount of park space here.
* Culturally a great array of ethnic restaurants, plenty of bars & cafes, lots of live music venues, and convenient access to cultural amenities of OSU.
* Decent retail amenities, especially along High Street, a drug store, hardware store, bike shop, several record stores, and some other neighborhood retail. Supermarkets located on the edges of the neighborhood along with a Lowes Improvement Store and Target.
* Quality historic commercial along High Street with good historic residential helped with a fair amount of late 19th century architecture.
* High street and Lane Ave’s urban form is a mixed bag. Another nice urban node at Summit and Hudson.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited generational diversity but more family households than other student heavy districts around OSU.
* Modern in-fill is a mixed bag. Some nice dense mixed-use infill along High, with plenty of auto centric buildings remaining. Plenty of blah post WWII apartments throughout.
* No schools within Old North Columbus but some in surrounding neighborhoods.

Columbus’ University District- home to the City’s largest off-campus student haven

For the purposes of this evaluation I define the University District/Indianola Terrace as the area between Lane/Northwood and 11th street and between High Street and the railroad tracks. University District is actually a much broader area by most standards encompassing North Old Columbus and South Campus. Indianola Terrace is east of Summit Street.

Like much of north Columbus, the University District grew on a similar track with Ohio State, which opened in 1870 but didn’t really start to expand until the early 20th century. To people’s surprise the neighborhood was a fashionable “suburb” in the first half of the 20th century with a mix of brick rowhouses and large SF homes. Several curved roads and ravines lie between 16th and Lane Ave. The influx of servicemen into the neighborhood after WWII seeking housing lead to a population boom and the construction of new apartments and conversion of many SF homes to MF.  Perceived problems of vehicular congestion, crime, and litter resulted from this quick rise in density and the University Area Commission was created in 1972 to address them.

Its difficult for me to say whether I view the change of University District post WWII as necessarily an urban “negative”. On the one hand it most certainly rapidly altered the neighborhood creating a more transient less cared after place. On the other hand, it created a density level helpful in fostering vibrancy, mixed-use, and significant retail on Hight Street. In hindsight it probably would have been wise to rezone parts of the neighborhood closest to campus for high density apartments, and try to preserve homeownership heavy pockets east of Summit Street. Fortunately the University District feels more invested in than before, less gritty, attracting more homeownership, and hosts a dense mixed-use corridor along High Street. Hopefully the neighborhood can continue to attract a more diverse demographic (non-students) and become the vibrant and diverse place it could always become. I see many parallels to the University District with Pittsburgh’s Oakland or Cincinnati’s CUF and Corryville.
Click here to view my University District album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good but not great transit access. Overall convenient access to lots of jobs with OSU and Dwtn.
* Great bike infrastructure with several dedicated bike lanes and good bike station coverage. 
* Quality historic architecture, but would be even better if the bldgs didn’t take a beating as student housing.
* Great ADA and sidewalks infrastructure.
* Not much modern in-fill within the neighborhood but lots of quality urban mixed-use infill along High Street.
* Decent racial diversity thanks to OSU diverse student body.
* A high level of density thanks to students being packed into rental housing.
* Not surprisingly tons of rents here and generally at pretty modest prices.
* High Street has very good urban massing and streetscape especially with its recent extensive urban in fill.  
* Cultural amenities include a great array of ethnic restaurants, lots of college bars & cafes, several live music venues, and the OSU cultural activities.
* The University District hosts a full service target,  2 CVS, several chain retailers, lots of banks, a handful of boutiques, and a cineplex and Barnes & Nobles on its southern border. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Lots of students living here which greatly reduces the University district’s economic and generational diversity.
* For sale housing is mostly limited to student rental. But some SF and duplexes in good shape selling in the 200Ks & 300Ks. You certainly get a lot of house for your money here.
* Park space is limited here to the nice but modest Luka Ravine park and the ballfields behind the Indianola Middle School. But park asset is probably OSU quads and green space.
* The neighborhood is a bit rough in spots (especially in Indianola Terrace and has a fair amount of grid but by no means a dangerous place.
* The neighborhood only hosts a small privet grade-middle schools. A couple others in adjacent districts. 

Weinland Park- A Revitalizing Neighborhood in between Columbus’ Short North and Ohio State

Weinland Park mainly developed in the early 20th century as a street car suburb fueled by jobs in several factories, such as Columbus Coated Fabrics and the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company (now a large redevelopment site). Like many  inner city American neighborhoods, Weinland Park experienced decline starting in the 60s and was plagued by drug problems in the 1980s. Fortunately with its location between the Short North and OSU, reinvestment and development eventually came starting in the mid-2000s with the Gateway South Development and affordable single family construction. Now quality homes easily sell in the 300Ks and new construction is fetching prices around 1/2 Million. High street has also seen many quality urban in-fill projects replacing auto centric uses and 1 story commercial. Pretty soon the entire High Street corridor will be filled in. The once rough 5th Ave is also seeing significant mixed-use renovations and new construction.

Main urban deficiencies in Weinland Park include limited economic and generation diversity thanks to its large student population, limited park amenities, a lack of quality walkable schools, and lingering blight issues. But many other these deficiencies will be alleviated as the neighborhood continues to improve. What will become more of a lasting issue is the district’s high home sales prices.
Click here to view my Weinland Park Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good Density at around 12K residents per square mile.
* Very convenient access to Downtown via all modes of transportation.
* Great racial diversity.
* Large supply of rental housing priced modestly. Much of it is geared towards students.
* For sale market has increased drastically in the past 5 years. Right now its a healthy mix of modest homes selling in the 200s, and larger new or updated homes selling btwn 300K-500K. I can see the neighborhood gentrifying rapidly however.
* Solid but not spectacular architecture. The highlights being the historic rowhouse courts and quality SF in-fill throughout the neighborhood and mixed-use in-fill along High St, especially at South Gateway.
* Excellent current ADA infrastructure and good sidewalk infrastructure throughout.
* Much of High Streets recent parking lots and auto centric uses have been developed into quality urban infill. The Streetscape on High also received an infrastructure overhaul.
* Solid cultural amenities including a good array of restaurants, bars, breweries & cafes. Also some art galleries, a community theater, cineplex, and convenient access to OSU’s and the Short North’s cultural amenities.
* Neighborhood retail amenities include a supermarket, several drug stores, public library, post office, a Barnes & Nobles, and some retail & boutiques.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Lots of students living here which greatly reduces Weinland Park’s economic and generational diversity.
* Weinland Park is nice providing good amenities, but limited park space outside of this. South Gateway has some nice plaza space.
* Crime and blight were major issues for Weinland Park for many years, but both have dropped precipitously in the past decade.
* Schools are pretty limited but the neighborhood does hosts Weinland Elementary, along with a private middle school and a couple small specialty schools nearby.

Daytona Beach FL, supposed home to the World’s “Most Famous” Beach

East Daytona is the historic beach portion of the City along the barrier island. This and Downtown Dayton, which runs along Beach Ave on the west side of the Halifax River, are probably the oldest parts of the City developed mainly in the early 20th century. I view the core of Historic East Daytona lying in between University Blvd to the north and the E International Speedway to the South.

The City was named in honor of  Mathias Day Jr. of Mansfield, Ohio, who purchased the former Orange Grove Plantation in 1871 on the westside of the Halifax River. He built a hotel spurring the creation of the town. By 1886 the St. Johns & Halifax River Railway arrived in Daytona but it wasn’t until the 1920s that development took off. By 1930s Daytona Beach had a population of 16K.  Daytona’s wide beachs of smooth, compacted sand attracted automobile and motorcycle races in the early 20th century. This led to many land record attempts and the first stock car races in 1936.  In 1958, William France Sr. and NASCAR created the Daytona International Speedway to replace the beach course and the rest is history! Population steadily continued to grow in Daytona Beach. The City reached 30K residents in 1950 and 64 K in 2000. Population dipped a bit in the 2000s but they seem to have rebounded.

East Daytona’s grid and general walkability make it by far the best urban area in Daytona Beach. But there are many areas for improvement including better neighborhood amenities, quality urban in-fill to replace auto centric strips and surface parking lots, and much more density. 
Click here to view my Daytona Beach album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Quality transit service. Probably some of the best in the Daytona Beach region.
* Convenient access to many tourist jobs at Daytona Beach and only 2 miles to Dwtn Daytona. Convenient bike and bus access to Dwtn.
* Great economic diversity here.
* Decent array of rental product at moderate prices. 1-bedrooms rent in the low $1,000s. 2-bedrooms in the low to mid $1,000s.
* Nice variety of for sale options including 1-2 bedrooms condos selling around 100K, modest SF homes selling in the $100Ks, and larger homes selling in the 200Ks & 300ks.
* Park and recreational spaces are concentrated along the shoreline. This includes the beach, pier, Breakers, Ocean Park, and the amphitheater plaza. Really no parks within the neighborhood of East Daytona.
* Plenty of attractive early 20th century Florida homes. Much of commercial district is modern.
* Nice array of schools in East Ormond Beach.
* Pretty good urban form along Seabreeze Blvd and Main Street but pretty autocentric along Atlantic Ave. Unfortunately there are many surface parking lots west of Atlantic Ave.
* Culturally a good array of restaurants, bars, & cafes,  lots of live music venues, a cineplex. and a handful of historic museums. The cultural amenities of Dwtn Daytona are also only 2 miles away.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited racial and especially generational diversity due to East Daytona’s concentration of retirees. Very few families living here.
* ADA and sidewalk infrastructure is a mixed bag. Generally consistent sidewalks throughout but update to date ADA curbs are 50-50.
* East Daytona generally feels pretty safe but still some abandonded lots and gritty areas. Much of the touristy waterfront has seen better days and needs some reinvestment.
* Modern infill in Daytona is hit or miss.
* Pretty low density in East Daytona.
* Good vibrancy on the beach and in the commercial districts but pretty dead in the rest of East Daytona.
* Much of East Daytona’s Beach’ infill has decent urban form, but the architecture styles can be very tacky.
* Its generally pretty safe in East Daytona but there are quite a few vacant lots and some vacant bldgs.
* East Daytona’ night life can be a liability sometimes with all the rowdy tourists that roll into town.
* Some neighborhood services amenities including a post office, a drug store, tons of touristy gift shops, a handful of boutiques, and the Ocean  Walks Shoppes (mostly just restaurants and gift shops).
* No walkable supermarket or library, 

Downtown Columbia, SC

I kept the Dwtn evaluation area pretty tight to include the Statehouse but not any part of South Carolina University. Using this criteria the borders were Gervais St. to the south (with the exception of the statehouse complex), the railroad/Assembly/Park St. to the west, Elmwood to the north, and Bull St to the east.

Downtown Columbia has two focal points… Main Street which runs north to south and terminates at the State house and Congaree Vista along west Gervais St, home to many of the City’s oldest buildings (a mix of warehouses and storefronts). Modern high rises are focused along Main Street and surround the statehouse.  These two commercial nodes have seen significant reinvestment since the 1990s but are not well connected. Outside of these two nodes Downtown Columbia is generally an uninspiring mix of modernist buildings, large surface parking lots and parking garages, suburban low rise retail, and disconnected historic housing.

Hopefully there is enough momentum dwtn to continue attracting new mixed-use housing, office jobs, and retail to expand quality urban fabric throughout Downtown Columbia and to eliminate dead spots. 
Click here to view my Downtown Columbia Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Sold ADA and sidewalk infrastructure, but not always comfortable to be a pedestrian due to the fast traffic.
* Transit access is good Dwtn and decent in the surrounding inner ring neighborhood. The rest of Columbia is pretty so and so and limited transit access to the suburbs. Convenient transit access to the airport, but it’s only a regional airport.
* Great street grid and connectivity, but more streets have high cars traffic and aren’t comfortable for pedestrians.
* Great economic diversity and solid racial diversity among Dwtn residents.
* Decent set of parks including Finlay Park, Memorial Park, the statehouse grounds, and Boyd Plaza. Boyd Plaza is the closest space I’d associated with a Civic Plaza. Its run by the Art Museum and has some events.
* Culturally a nice array of restaurants, cafes, breweries, & bars, art galleries, museums, and a handful of theaters, live music venues, and an independent cinema. Regional amenities include a convention center, and dwtn library.
* Dwtn has a business improvement district.
* Most retail amenities concentrated along Main Street and western Gervais St. (aka Congaree Vista). Along with lots of food & beverage amenities these nodes include a lot of boutiques, clothing stores, banks, and creative stores. Limited retail amenities in the dead spots of Dwtn. A public supermarket/drug store sits on the western edge of Dwtn. Main St also hosts weekly outdoor markets every Sat on the street.
* Great college present within and around Dwtn including around 30K students at USC and a Clemson Law School campus.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Density isn’t great in Dwtn. Still need for a lot more residential options.
* decent dedicated bike share system dwtn and surrounding districts but dedicated bike lanes is pretty limited in Dwtn and across the Columbia Region.
* Generational Diversity is pretty limited Dwtn, but fair amount of attractions (mainly museums) for families.
* For sale housing is pretty limited Dwtn but affordable. 1-bedroom condos sell in the 100K-200Ks and 2-bedrooms in the 200K&300Ks. Some 3-bedroom product selling in the 300Ks & 400Ks.
* Rentals are pretty limited too and moderately priced. 2-bedrooms lease in the $1,000s and 1-bedrooms around $1,000s.
* Sports stadiums limited to the Colonial Life Arena, primarily used by South Carolina University.
* Dwtn employment is only about 20,000. Jobs seem to be growing, but this is a pretty low amount of Dwtn employment for a region population just over 800K.
* Decent K-12 school options include a handful of elementary schools.
* Skyline is so .

Charlotte’s Uptown- the largest CBD of the Carolinas

Uptown Charlotte is split into four wards intersected by the crossroads of Trade and Tryon Streets. I used the borders of Interstate 277 and the railroad (to the north). Traditionally Dwtn extends all the way north to 277 but this area feels like a separate district to me. The term “Uptown” referring to the geographic location of Tryon and Trade Street, sitting at a higher elevation than the rest of the city. Much deliberation went into whether to use Uptown or Downtown or even City Center. Uptown eventually won out with City Center meaning Uptown and surrounding inner city neighborhoods.

The 1st Ward , once considered one of the most dangerous areas in Charlotte, has been redeveloped thanks to a HUD Hope VI grant into a mixed income district. Urban form here is ok as all housing is new. Not really mixed-use, but some good urbanism near Tyron and First Ward Park is attractive. The 2nd Ward  was formerly the location of the predominantly black neighborhood, Brooklyn, before urban renewal took over. Probably one of the biggest tragedies in Charlotte resulting in a uninspiring modernist environment.  Uptown’s third ward hosts the bulk of “Dwtn fabric” surrounding a streetcar line and Tyron Street. Lots of good mixed-use development, skyscrapers, cultural assets, sport stadiums, and the attractive Romare Bearden Park. The 4th Ward   can be considered a stand alone neighborhood as well but is integrated seamlessly with Dwtn. It contains Charlotte’s best Victorian turn of the century architecture with sensible modern in-fill and many great mixed-use amenities.

With the under development of the 1st & 2nd Wards, Uptown Charlotte has plenty of areas that need further urban development and infill to have the complete Dwtn package of vibrancy and walkability. Given the furious pace of new construction, I’m hopeful this will eventually occur. 
Click here to view my Uptown Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great ADA infrastructure and generally good sidewalks, but street can be very wide and auto centric making it uncomfortable to be a pedestrian.
* Good population density in Charlotte but often pretty spreadout. 4th Ward has excellent density.
* With all most all the building being new its fortunately that much of it is quality design and good form. Generally the best architecture is concentrated in the core (Tyron & Trade) and in the 4th Ward. The 2nd Ward is spread out with unattractive buildings and the first ward is a mix of decent residential bldgs.
* Public transit is better is Charlotte than one would expect providing excellent service to Dwtn and to surrounding inner city neighborhoods. A couple miles out transit service is so , but limited outside of the City (keep in mind that Charlotte includes lots of suburban areas.)
* Great connectivity but lots of high traffic one way streets.
* Great dedicated bike lanes Dwtn and to inner ring districts. Decent connect out to the post WW II districts. Bike sharing system is limited to Dwtn and a handful of inner city neighborhoods.
* While almost exclusively modern, Charlotte has a great skyline lots of concentrated high rise towers.
* Great array of for sale housing Dwtn with a fair amount of moderately priced options. 1-bedrooms generally sell in the 200Ks, 2-bedrooms are generally 300K-400K but more expensively luxury product, good amount of 3 bedrooms but generally very expensive. Nice array of rentals priced similarly to most Dwtns… 1-bedrooms in the $1,000s. 2 bedrooms btwn 1.5K & 3K,  and a good array of 3 bedrooms.
* Culturally a good amount of restaurants & bars but pretty average for American Dwtns, lots of theaters (only one is historic), an Imax, several live music clubs, a handful of art galleries, and a great array of museums. Regional amenities include the convention center, a wonderful dwtn library, several stadiums hosts a professional football, basketball, hockey, and minor league baseball.
* Several high quality recreational spaces & parks along with many small corporate plazas. But no definitive civic gather spot.
* Schools include a couple elementary schools, a high school, and school for children w/ cognitive disabilities. Pretty good college presence with several dwtn only campus enrolling 6-7K students and Piedmont Community College located just outside of Dwtn.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Next to Las Vegas, Dwtn Charlotte has the least amount of historic architecture. Certainly a feeling of sterileness with all of its newness and lack of character.
* Uptown has a very strong office market with high rents and low vacancies. Total jobs is 70K, still much lower than comparable cities like Cleveland or Cincy, but trends are certainly good.
* Dwtn retail amenities is still lackluster. While there is a  supermarket, several drug stores, plenty of banks, only a handful of boutiques and creative stores. No bookstore.
* Solid urban form along the main streets of Tyron and Trade but pretty poor in the southern half of Dwtn (1st & 2nd Wards)

South End/Wilmore- Charlotte’s hottest mixed-use neighborhood

Wilmore is the larger district, which technically includes the South End District. South End really wasn’t a “neighborhood” until recently. The Wilmore district is mostly attractive 1920s-1940s bungalow and arts & crafts housing. The South End is the portion of Wilmore running along the Lynx Blue line (built in 2007). Historically the South End area hosted Charlotte’s first railroad line, connecting the City to Columbia and Charleston in 1850s. As time passed, a thriving manufacturing community sprang up along the tracks, centered on the booming textile industry. Industry decline by the 1980s, and the South End became notorious for abandoned buildings. The new Blue Line and the general “return to the city” movement sparked an explosion of renovations and new mixed-use construction in the South End. In 2018 the South End was named one of the fastest-growing submarket in the United States for apartments.

Wilmore/South End’s success is creating gentrification issues for this historically African American neighborhood. It is hard to purchase a nice home here for less than 400K. I also observed the South End demographic was mostly young profession and white, not the kind of diversity desirable in a dense urban area. Other deficiencies in the district include a lack of walkable schools, limited pedestrian infrastructure in Wilmore, and the density is still low for an urban neighborhood.
Click here to view my South End and Wilmore Districts on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great public transit and very convenient access to dwtn among all modes of transportation.
* Great racial and economic diversity in Wilmore. I fear though, that is historically African American district is being displaced with the rapid increase in real estate prices here.
* Excellent urban infill (prob the best in Charlotte) with larger mixed-use structures near the light rail and plenty of attractive historic looking infill homes within Wilmore.
* Good supply of rentals but generally expensive… 1-bedrooms lease btwn $1,000-$2,000, 2-bedrooms in the high $1,000s and $2,000s, and 3-bedrooms in the 2K and 3Ks. 
* Several nice parks (i.e. Wilmore & Revolution Park) site on the north edge of the district. Nice bike/recreational trail along the light rail line.
* Solid tree canopy.
* Great array of restaurants, bars, cafes, and live music venues concentrated in the South End areas.
* Solid urban form in the south end and with good streetscaping. The other biz district along Tyron still feels very auto centric.
* Good array neighborhood amenities especially in the South End including lots of small retailers, boutiques, furniture/design stores, post office, several banks, an office depot, Lowes, a couple drug stores, and several super markets

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* The south end portion of the district near the light rail has excellent walkability. More mixed in the residential portions of Wilmore where sidewalks are sometimes missing and its very unpleasant to cross Tryon St. as a pedestrian.
* For Sale housing is generally expensive. Modest SF cottages and bungalows generally sell in the high 200Ks to 500K. Renovated SF and new construction sell btwn 500-700K. Some large condo product selling in the 400Ks & 500Ks.
* Really no museums, art galleries, or theaters, although one is along about 1.5 miles to dwtn.
* No schools in Wilmore and few nearby. 

Plaza Midwood- another Comfortable pre-WW II Charlotte Neighborhood

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.
Click here to view my Plaza-Midwood album on Flickr

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.

NoDa- Charlotte’s successful arts based revitalization story

I didn’t include the portion of NoDa between the railroad tracks and route 29 as it contains limited urban fabric.

NoDa is short for “North Davidson”. The area began as a self contained industrial village and development began in the early 1900s leapfrogging over undeveloped parts of the City. The main industry was mill and textile manufacturing. Worker’s housing was provided by the companies in small by sturdy bungalows and arts and craft homes. Things begin to deteriorate after WWII with the closing the mills and textile industries.  By the 1970s housing were deteriorating and many storefronts were vacant. Fortunately revitalization began in the 1990s fueled by an arts based renovation strategy. Investment continued over the past decades and its now safe to say that NoDa has been stabilized with most homes selling between 300-600K. This also brought back the historic commercial district at Davidson and 36th Street. NoDa now hosts Charlotte’s largest historic business district.

But there are plenty of areas that NoDa can improve. For one, there is only one school in the entire neighborhood, sidewalks are missing on many streets, and the Plaza Ave business district along NoDa eastern edge is pretty blighted and auto centric. There is also need for more density which could help provide more neighborhood amenities and vibrancy. 
Click here to view my NoDa album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent public transit access including a light rail line running thorough and convenience access to Dwtn .
* Sidewalks are spotty as many residential streets don’t have them but where they do existing ADA infrastructure is current.
* Nice dedicated bike lane cutting down 36th thru the heart of Noda but no bike sharing stations.
* Excellent economic diversity and good racial and generational diversity.
* Large supply of rental housing generally skewing expensive. 1-bedrooms lease btwn $1,000-$1,500, 2-bedrooms in the $1,000s, and 3-bedrooms in the low $2,000s.
* Good tree canopy.
* Attractive historic archiecture and great urban infill.
* Great array of restaurants, bars, cafes, and breweries. Also lots of live music venues including a converted historic theater, and a few art galleries. Theneighborhood hosts regular gallery crawls.
* Retail amenities include  two supermarkets, a drugstore, many boutiques and creative stores.
* Generally a pretty safe district but certain still blight esp. along the eastern edge.
* Noda hosts the best historic neighborhood business districts in the city at 36th and Davidson St. extending several blocks. The Plaza Ave biz district along the eastern edge of the neighborhood is very auto centric and pretty blighted.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Street grid is good in the core of Noda but its great along edges of the neighborhood.
* For Sale housing is pretty expensive. Some for sale product reasonably priced in the 200K and low 300Ks. This include modest SF homes and 1-2 bedroom townhomes/condos. Most homes selling btwn 300K-500K. High end product selling btwn 600K-800K.
* decent recreation amenities including two neighborhood parks and the larger North Charlotte Park.
*  No museums, or historic sites.
* Missing a bookstore, public library, post office, and the nearest hospital is 10 minute drive. No major retailers here either.
* Schools limited to a Montessori an a couple of pre schools.
* Nice amount of pedestria activity at 36th and Davidson, but pretty quite otherwise. 

Elizabeth- Charlotte’s main urban Institutional District

* Great access to Dwtn and high quality transit service including a light rail line that runs through the district.
* Dedicated bike lanes and bike sharing stations are concentrated in the north section of the district.
* ADA and sidewalk infrastructure is generally good but can be uncomfortable for pedestrians to cross several busy streets.
* Lots of attractive historic Pre WWII Single family homes in the residential areas of Elizabeth.
* Quality tree canopy, especially in the residential portion of the district.
* Large supply of rental housing generally skewing expensive. 1-bedrooms lease btwn $1,000-$1,500, 2-bedrooms in the $1,000s to the low $2,000s, and 3-bedrooms in the high $1,000s and $2,000s.
* Independence Park is an expansive, centrally located park with lots of recreational amenities. Other parks in Elizabeth include: Chantilly Park, Colonial Park, Elizabeth Park (more of an urban plaza), and convenient access to Little Sugar Creek bike & recreational path.
* Culturally a nice array of restaurants, bars, & cafes, several live music venues, live performances at Central Piedmont Community College, and a couple art galleries.
* Good retail amenities including convenient access to several supermarkets, a target, drug stores, a handful of boutiques & creative stores, a public library, lots of bank branches, and several hospitals- some of the best in the regional are located here. The Midtown shopping district is adjacent to Elizabeth and includes a Target, Marshall’s, BestBuy, West Elm, and much more.
Click here to view my Elizabeth Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Decent racial diversity but limited economic and generational diversity. Large student population here and only 1/4 of households have children.
* For Sale housing is almost as expensive as Dilworth. Some for sale product reasonably priced. 1-bedroom condos sell in the high 100s & 300Ks. Modest SF homes sell btwn 400L-800K,  larger homes 800K to 1.25 Million.
*  No museums, Historic theaters or historic sites, but good access to museums located Dwtn.
* Schools are limited to an elementary. Some schools nearby in adjacent districts.
* Urban infill is a mixed bag. More recent in-fill has decent design and good urban form but lots of ugly auto friendly institutional bldgs from the 60s-90s.
* Urban massing of commercial districts and mixed-use bldgs is also a mixed bag. Lots of surface parking and vacant lots here around the institutions (esp. hospitals).
* Decent vibrant at commercial nodes (10th Street, 7th & Pecan/Hawthorne, and Elizabeth Ave) but lots of dead zones.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Some overlap btwn my evaluation areas of Elizabeth and Commonwealth along 10th Street.

Elizabeth began to rapidly developed after 1902, when a trolley line was completed. The neighborhood was annexed into Charlotte in 1907. The district is home to the City’s first public park (Independence Park) and home to many large early 20th century single family homes which sale generally close to 1 Million. Elizabeth can be divided into two halves: the primarily institutional north (home to Central Piedmont Community College,  Novant Health Presbyterian, Atrium Health Mercy, and many churches); and the primarily residential southern half. Several quality urban pockets stand out in this semi-autocentric neighborhood (i.e. 10th Street, 7th St & Pecan, & Elizabeth Ave).

The most important area for Elizabeth to improve is filling in with dense mixed-use development the many surface parking lots and vacant lot surrounding the large institutions. This could help create a wonderful urban district connecting seamlessly to Downtown and other inner ring neighborhoods. Improved urban massing is also needed along the major commercial corridors mentioned above. All this would help boast density, making Elizabeth more walkable and amenity rich.