Information Items:
Sale of the Charlotte Coliseum Property
Staff Resource: Curt Walton, 704-336-5019 - cwalton@ci.charlotte.nc.us
As you know, on November 28th we received a bid of $20 million from Comstock Partners for the Charlotte Coliseum property. In subsequent conversations with Comstock, they have requested that we close the property transaction by late December or early January if they are the successful bidder.
To do so requires us to publish Comstock's bid on December 1st (rather than December 2nd as indicated earlier) and end the upset bid period at 9:00 am on December 12th (rather than the 13th). To close within that time frame also requires Council to take action on the bid at its December 12th business meeting.
Staff recommends that we work with Comstock to the degree possible; therefore, the bid will be advertised tomorrow, with the bid period ending at 9:00 am on Monday, December 12. An item will be placed on Council's December 12 agenda recommending we sell the property to Comstock Partners for $20,000,000. Should additional qualified upset bids be received by the deadline, then the item will be removed from the agenda.
Transit Pays Tribute to Rosa Paarks - December 1
Staff Resource: Olaf Kinard, 704-336-2275 okinard@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks' act of defiance on a Montgomery, Alabama bus changed the course of history. Four days later, in response to Ms. Parks' arrest, a year-long bus boycott began and propelled Parks to prominence as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement."
On Thursday, December 1, 2005, Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), the American Public Transportation Association, and Conference Of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) will join transit systems across the nation in paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' courageous act. A front seat on each CATS bus will be reserved with a ribbon in honor of Ms. Parks, each bus will operate with their headlights on and a special message displayed on each bus' headway sign. Special artwork commemorating this event will be displayed inside of buses and on billboards across the Charlotte area.
Marathon and Pioneer Bown - December 3
Staff Resource: Dave Christopher, 704-336-3889
dchristopher@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Thunder Road Marathon will begin its inaugural event on North Tryon Street between 5th and 6th streets on December 3 at 8:00 am. The new 26.2 mile course involves Dilworth, Myers Park, Third Ward, Gateway, NODA, Plaza Midwood, Elizabeth and First Ward neighborhoods with the last runner anticipated to arrive at 2nd and McDowell Streets shortly after 2 pm. There is also a 10K Run and a one mile Fun Run beginning at 8:30 am and 8:40 am respectively. Complete course descriptions and a timeline and schedule for the marathon are attached below. The event holder is Run For Your Life at 704-358-0717 or www.runforyourlife.com
The 8th Annual Pioneer Bowl will begin at 2:00 pm this Saturday, December 3. The bowl game announced its relocation to Memorial Stadium on October 11 from Mobile, AL due to logistical concerns from Hurricane Katrina. The two CIAA Teams are Bowie State University and Tuskegee University. A sellout crowd of 24,000 is expected. The marathon route will brush Memorial Stadium but is anticipated to be 85% clear more than an hour before kickoff. One lane on Central Avenue and westbound lanes on 7th street will be affected.
Events that will impact traffic in and around the Center City and major road closures citywide are highlighted every Wednesday in the Street Use Notice (SUN) and monthly in the SUN Calendar. The events are entered usually about a month before the event date and moved to the front page in the preceding two weeks.
The SUN Calendar is a single sheet guide that informs the public of events at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Convention Center, Imaginon, Panthers, Bobcats and other Arena events and all city sponsored events. It is produced the last week of the month for the following month. The SUN is distributed to several hundred stakeholders in and outside of the central business district. They include Uptown businesses, print and broadcast media, building management firms, parking companies, arts and cultural facilities, city and county government, several prominent homeowners associations, private individuals and many others.
10th Anniversary of the Charlotte Transportation Center, - December 12
Staff Resource: Kim Taylor, 704-336-7309 - khtaylor@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Charlotte Area Transit System will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Charlotte Transportation Center on Monday, December 12, at 10:00 am. The event will take place at the Transportation Center, located at 310 E. Trade Street. Festivities will include remarks by elected officials and community leaders, a historical display of public transportation service from 1995 -2005 and a cake created by students of Johnson and Wales University's Culinary Arts Department.
The Charlotte Transportation Center is the result of a public-private partnership between the City of Charlotte and Bank of America. The facility is privately owned by Charlotte Transit Center,Inc. and managed by Lincoln Property Company. When it opened on December 11, 1995, it became a premier facility for riders of the City's public transportation system. The Charlotte Transportation Center is now widely recognized as one the best downtown area transit centers in the country. CATS routinely receives requests for information on the Center and its unique design and organizational structure.
The building serves as the central hub and main transfer point for CATS' services. An estimated 4.5 million passengers used the facility in its first year. When the Charlotte Transportation Center opened, the City's public transportation system consisted of 153 buses operating 42 routes with ridership of approximately 11.6 million. Over the last decade, much progress has been made improving mobility and access of the public transportation system. Investments in new buses, service expansions, and passenger amenities resulted in a 49.6 percent increase in ridership since 2001.
With the expansion of service and the increase in ridership, the Charlotte Transportation Center is now operating well beyond its design capacity. Buses must now be staged on-street along East Trade, Brevard and Fourth Streets adding to congestion in the area and causing inconvenience to transit customers. This situation is one of the reasons why CATS' plans for the future include the development of a second Uptown transit center on West Trade Street at the current site of the Greyhound Bus Terminal (the Charlotte Gateway Station Project).
