Quote:
Originally Posted by ncsubaby
all that is great and all but can we get to the orginal question haha  |
Yes yes...to the original point...
Here's my take/opinion on the North Charlotte vs. South Charlotte...
First, to set a boundary...this is the
rough area shape that pops into my mind when I think about North and South Charlotte (and what I'm about to describe):
CLICK HERE I know it's not based on any true north and south direction or even road boundaries for that matter. It's not as easy as that. You could argue that I-85 does a good north/south chop of Charlotte based oddly enough on weather (watch the weather forecasts for the winter...snow will be predicted north of 85, nothing south of 85 at times)...but for the purposes of this discussion, I feel like it's more a sense of more specific areas--even more specifically, areas that the typical person would want to live and/or buy a home. That's GREATLY different than an assumed Charlotte Mason-Dixon line!
I've lived in both general areas and had plenty of dealings throughout both areas, so I have a little bit of experience with the two regions...not just an interweb-formed opinion! Please note that I'm doing my absolutel best to keep biased-ness down and certainly mean no disrespect to anyone that might think they're described in the following! All names have been changed to protect the guilty!
Here goes nothing:
South Charlotte:
In a word or two: a mix of old and new, ritzy/pricey, the "wine drinkers part of town," a bit cramped...
When I tell out of towners about "south Charlotte," I typically describe it as the more affluent/ritzy/pricey part of town. This is due to the heavy weight of the South Park mall and surrounding neighborhoods, the Quail Hollow area, and of course the Ballantyne area. I know there are plenty of non-ritzy places woven all through the south Charlotte region, but again, I said "typically." The closer you get to Uptown in the southern wedge, the older and more prestigious you get. Queens Rd. area for example. The further away you get, the more new and "McMansion-y" you get. Of course, one obvious thing the southern part has is the Lynx Blue Line (Light Rail) heading down South Blvd from 485 inward to Uptown.
In my opinion, the southern part has some growing pains: streets that can't be widened due to large historic trees or just a general lack of conceivable road right-of-way, road improvements that are needed but are monumental in scale which inherently puts their construction far out into the future (I-485 from I-77 to Providence, for example). And if we include the Berewick/York Rd. area in the southern region, all of the undersized roads of that area now become part of the southern regions constraints...however, expansions are under design and under construction in that area.
The South Park Mall offers some shopping that is very unique (and of course expensive) to the Charlotte Metro region: Apple Store, upscale jewelry, and others--I don't go there much, so that's the limit of my specific names!
Real estate-wise, expect to find average home prices (in a normal market) relatively expensive compared to the rest of the city. You're paying for the zip code in some cases, but in nearly all cases, you're getting a McMansion too. The far extreme edge of Berewick is $180-$400k, Quail Hollow is $350k-a couple million, Ballantyne is $300k-$500k. Overall, the $275k-$600k is the range I associate with the region...obviously depending HIGHLY on the exact location.
The types of cars I
generally expect to see on the road in the southern region are BMW's, Mercedes, Lexus, even a Bentley or two. If it's an SUV, it's the high end versions like Cadillac's and BMW's. Why talk about the cars? To me, it says a lot about an area.
The types of people I
VERY generally expect to encounter in the southern region (let me tread extremely lightly on this one since there are a number of posters from down there!): South Park Mall will have generally high maintenance and snooty people (please don't smack me too hard all you South Park-ers); Ballantyne is the newer, relatively younger, wine "enthusiasts" crowd. Now mixed all throughout this area are many natives who were lucky enough to get a piece of real estate long before it became very expensive. Of course personalities vary across all of these spectrums of people, but generally speaking, the natives are more laid back and just amazed at how fast things are flying by them--and they can tell you all about how Charlotte was a sleepy town up through the mid 80's "when none of this was here!" Good times!
Overall, a very face-paced and busy feeling all over in the south Charlotte region. Nothing bad about that...just is what it is.
North Charlotte:
In a word or two: newer, very diverse, more laid out, room to grow...
I'll start right off and draw your attention to teh upper-right corner of this post to my "location." I currently live and own in the University City area...kind of right on the melting edge of north and northeast Charlotte. But as I stated far above, I'll try to keep biased-ness to a minimum!
North Charlotte is for whatever reason typically thought of as the "second choice" for some folks to live. It baffles me why some would turn their nose up at it when it offers a lot of bang for the relative buck. When you maybe can't afford the zip codes of south Charlotte, north Charlotte can be your good friend. That's not to say that it's a dumping ground for poor people, moreso that it is a true middle class suburbia with all the middle class bells and whistles convenicnes. There's pretty much every typical retail store and restaurant somewhere within the region (Best Buy, WalMart, Target, and everything else, Chilis, Olive Garden, Mim's Cafe, and a slew of others). There's a mall (Northlake Mall--one of the newest and arguable well kept in Charlotte) and there's back road access to Concord Mills (shopping mecca just inside the next county to the east). Since the area is relatively new to come online int eh development rage fo the last couple decades, the roads are generally wider and have more room to grow. There are still certainly some traffic snarls in areas. To get from the furthest point out in what could be called "north Charlotte" to the center of Uptown is most certainly quicker than it's counter location in South Charlotte...even smack dab in the middle of rush hour, I can make it to UpTown in under 20 minutes via back roads).
North Charlotte real estate is, as I've said, notably cheaper in cost than south Charlotte. Typical house prices are $125k-$300k. If you found something for over $400k, it would be on a huge lot, be a huge house, or something very unique (again:
generally speaking--realtors please put the knives away!). The typical house age is from brand new to 20 years in most developments with teh random old farm houses sprinkled throughout (the houses that used to own the farm land that is now "north Charlotte") dating back 50+ years.
Types of cars I expect to see in north Charlotte: typical SUV's, family sedans, pickup trucks (the kind for work and the kind for show)...of course there are the few BMW's and Mercedes, but nowhere near the per capita of south Charlotte!
The typical north Charlotte person I'd expect to see is any one of the wild cards for race (black, white, indian, asian, hispanic, etc.)--this scares/worries some folks. I expect to see middle class types of people...families...the occassional college student trying to live in a quieter place for their stint at UNCC (the area immediately surrounding UNCC is, as expected, very college like).
Overall, certainly a busy suburbia, but a little bit more laid back than south Charlotte.
I'm not going to get into the topic of schools. Of course if you surround a school with "rich people," it's going to get far more support than if you surround it with normal "middle class" people...at least that's what Charlotte's statics tend to favor. You'll read on these forums to "check the free and reduced lunch percentages" to determine if a school is "bad" or not. Way not fair in my book.
My comments about north Charlotte may seem somewhat slanted toward living up there as opposed to south Charlotte. I don't mean to be a biased reporter. Both sides have much to offer to a certain group of people. Both sides come with drawbacks for those conveniences.
I'm sure I missed a boat load of info...but I hope this helps so far!
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But the entire length of N. Davidson is not the NoDa neighborhood (especially as the beginning of N. Davidson is uptown 
). NoDa does not extend all the way to Sugar Creek even though the street North Davidson does.
