Uptown is one of the city’s fastest growing areas with over 10,000 residents and possibly double that in the next five years. Uptown’s roofs represent the gamut from high-rise penthouses, high and mid-rise condominiums and apartments, and low-rise single family homes. There is so much housing growth that the Multiple Listing Service has given Uptown its own designation: Area 99.

Uptown’s southwest border begins with Bank of America Stadium whose snarling panther statues set the tone for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and their fans. This energy stretches down to Uptown’s Time Warner Arena , home to the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats and features top-notch concerts. To navigate this corridor, the restored Charlotte Trolley can be heard clanging from Atherton Mill in South End up to Ninth Street in Uptown. The #85 car, built in 1927 at the Dilworth Trolley Barn, is the only original electric trolley car still in operation. Three new cars added in 2004 provide rides seven days a week. The trolley corridor also accommodates the current light rail system known as LYNX. The blue line currently links from South Blvd near Pineville up to Seventh Street in Uptown allowing commuters the option of avoiding uptown parking prices. Other rail lines are currently under review for future expansion. Property values have skyrocketed along the proposed routes.

This energy draws many urbanites and provides opportunities for eating, drinking, and entertainment. One can choose from fine dining, Southern cooking, many ethnic cuisines, or dine at home with delectables from Reid’s Fine Foods at Seventh Street Station and the summer only Center City Green Market in the station’s plaza. As the population grows, so do the amenities. Many Uptown residents park their cars on Friday and don’t move them the entire weekend because they are in walking distance of much of the city’s cultural and entertainment venues.

The city’s cultural district, dubbed North End, extends from the arena to the center of town at Independence Square at Trade and Tryon Streets. The district includes Discovery Place science museum, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Spirit Square, the Mint Museum of Craft+Design, the McColl Center for Visual Art, and a handful of private art galleries. Other venues include the new Epicenter, the Levine Museum of the New South, and ImaginON, the joint project of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Children’s Theatre. This space includes a youth library, classrooms, technology center, performance stages, and a craft shop.

Charlotte’s Uptown is divided into four wards. The growing First Ward neighborhood, no longer a sea of parking lots, has seen a large number of changes due to the new arena. The 17 story condominium high-rise Courtside, at the corner of Sixth and Caldwell, contains 7,500 square feet of retail and restaurants at street level. Across from the arena, Millennium Square contains a movie theater, restaurants, and shops. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s urban village features classroom space as well as residential units, retail, and entertainment spaces.

Fourth Ward’s disheveled turn-of-the-century homes were the only residential pocket for decades until determined homeowners and Bank of America restored the quadrant between North Tryon and West Trade Streets to their former glory. Fourth Ward is now one of the city’s most charming spots with its street lamps, sidewalks, and Fourth Ward Park. Even historic Elmwood/Pinewood Cemetery, which separates Fourth and Third Ward, received a revitalization and welcomes strollers and joggers. Fifth and Poplar, a 305 mixed use of condominiums, town homes, and penthouses, includes a state-of-the-art fitness center, concierge service, and Harris Teeter grocery store. Fourth Ward Square, an very affordable uptown condo conversion project, is built at Eighth and Ninth streets on North Graham.

Third Ward makes up the southwest quadrant combining small, renovated homes with new apartments and condominiums. The southern side is flanked by Bank of America Stadium and by West Trade Gateway Village on its northern side. Gateway

Village stretches five blocks along West Trade and houses a YMCA, Johnson & Wales University (and its students), as well as homes, retail, and office space. Gateway Lofts and Post Gateway Place nearby adds hundreds of apartments Uptown.

Second Ward, the southeast quadrant, is home to The Charlotte Convention Center, the Westin, and Ratcliffe on the Green, an upscale condominium complex complete with 60,000 square feet of retail and office space. The surrounding landscape of the Green, a 1.5 acre park built over an underground parking deck, is a popular gathering spot during the warm months and is converted to an ice skating rink during winter, making full use of this outdoor green space.

Uptown Charlotte has seen a boom in housing, retail, and entertainment in the past decade, making this area one of the most exciting areas for people to grow roots.

Sherri Lynne Smith