Amid office vacancies, Uptown Charlotte is seeing new signs of life with new businesses in the area.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Uptown Charlotte was thriving before the COVID-19 pandemic and some wonder if it will ever be the same. Office vacancies are still high but new restaurants are opening on a regular basis.
One of the oldest buildings in Uptown is called the Latta Arcade. It’s been around since 1914. Its current developers bought it at the start of the pandemic and renovations just finished.
Jerry McCarthy owns two restaurants in Charlotte’s Latta Arcade and has been there for a decade.
“We lost a little bit with the pandemic, but it’s coming back and getting busier all the time and we’ve added a lot of new tenants which has helped traffic,” McCarthy said.
Located across the street from Romare Bearden Park and a quick walk from Bank of America Stadium is a collection of eateries that have been a staple for more than a century. But with so many people working remotely over the last few years, the area has struggled until recently.
“It feels like there’s real tailwinds here between increased events and return to office — seems like it’s happening more and more as time goes on,” Jeff Merriam, the developer of the project, said.
WCNC Charlotte checked in with Charlotte Center City Partners and learned the number of people in Uptown is down, and nowhere near where it could be or should be.
Office vacancy rates in Uptown are at 22%. That’s up from last year when it was 17% but before the pandemic, that number was as low as 7%.
Real estate experts say a healthy vacancy rate is 13%.
The weekday traffic is vital but business owners say weekend traffic has become even more important.
Larry Suggs is a native Charlottean and a bartender. He’s about to open his first brick-and-mortar place at Latta Arcade.
“It’s been amazing to see over the last year. Every day it seems to get busier, not just here in the alley, but everywhere in Uptown,” Suggs said. “A lot of the shows are impacting our business at Bank of America Stadium.”
Suggs loves being in such a historic part of the city.
“This space was the decision maker — being a born and raised Charlottean there’s not many opportunities to be in a place with so much history,” Suggs said.
He said he loves that most of his neighbors in the newly renovated alley are locally-owned as well.
“I’ve always been a big part of the local Charlotte community and I wanted to be surrounded by people of the same mindset,” Suggs said.
Most of the businesses are already open with a few slated to open in the coming weeks.
Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
