Charlotte Uptown, projects under construction in Fourth Ward

500 West Trade Located at West Trade Street at North Graham Street and adjacent to the Gateway Multimodal Station and Johnson & Wales University, this project will include 600 residential units, retail space and a 980-space parking garage. Construction is set to begin this
year on the 27-floor building and should be completed by 2010.

701 North Church Completed in July 2007, this nine-unit residential project is at West 10th Street at North Church Street. Only a few units are for sale in the $500,000's - $600,000's price range.

Avenue Completed in November 2007, this 386-unit, 36-floor high-rise is at West Sixth St. at North Church St. Condos range from the mid-$200,000s to more than $500,000 and are 668
to 1,271 square feet. Retail space is also available. Currently aproximately 92% units are sold.

Citadin This yet-to-begin project is at West Eighth Street at North Graham Street. In January, the city approved 550 units and 30,000 square feet of commercial space for the mixed-use development. Plans are for an eight story building with condos from 570 to more than 3,000
square feet that range from the $170,000s to more than $1 million.

Garrison at Graham Construction began in summer 2007 and should be completed by spring 2009 on this 11-story, 41-unit property. Currently, the remaining 20 units are listed between $425,500 and the mid-$800,000s.

Uptown Village Located at Hamilton Street and Seaboard Street, this new entertainment and
retail center will consist of the North Carolina Music Factory and a residential area. Plans are to restore some of the historic buildings for housing, galleries, nightclubs and restaurants. Deco One will be a six-story, 139-unit building for residents. In total, more than 1,000 condominiums are planned. Pre-sale units are expected to run $195,000 to more than $600,000 for 558 to 1,835 square feet. The project is slated for completion in 2010, but currently units are not yet for sale.

The VUE Charlotte This 51-floor, 410-unit condominium high-rise will be at West Fifth Street and Pine Street. Units are 570 to 3,000 square feet and range from the low-$300,000s to more than $2 million. On February 6, the VUE received underground-easement approval and was scheduled to proceed with clearing and construction. The project is due for completion in 2010, and as of press time, the units were more than 60 percent sold.

Charlotte is the best place to live in America according to Relocate-America.com

I feel that all of us in the real estate business have been drenched by fear that the negative media spreads like wildfire. I want to point out that there is positive news that isn't getting as much press.

For example, take worker productivity in the U.S. It jumped by 2.2 percent in the latest quarter - and that was on top of a 1.8 percent gain the quarter before. Why is that significant for real estate? Because rising productivity generally points to lower inflation, and lower inflation fears help keep interest rates low helping buyers!

In addition, Charlotte, N.C., leads Relocate-America.com's annual ranking of the top 100 cities. Apparently, there's just something about North Carolina. For the second year in a row, America's best city in which to live lies within its borders, according to Relocate-America.com's" annual list.

This year, Charlotte, NC is in the top spot, the site announced late last week. Last year's winner was Asheville, which slipped to No. 7 on this year's list.

"North Carolina is very active on our radar," said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO of HomeRoute. "It continues to get a flood of interest from all over."

HomeRoute is the real-estate firm that operates Relocate-America.com, a source of community information and real-estate resources for people who are relocating. Each year, the site ranks the top 100 places to live in the country.

Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said.

Thinking about relocating to Charlotte? Facing a job transfer, a quality of life move, or just want to come for a nice weather - visit us at http://MyCharlotteHomepages.com/ or http://LakeWylieHomepages.com/ or http://123charlottehomes.com/, call us directly (704)405-0634 or email us.

Jewish community prepares for growth in Charlotte

Over the past 10 years, the Jewish population of the Charlotte region has grown by at least a one-third to an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 individuals.

To help agencies serving the Jewish community cope with that growth, three key organizations have stepped up their fund raising.

The Foundation of Shalom Park has just completed an eight-year campaign that raised $40 million to nearly triple the facility space on its 54-acre campus.

Butch Rosen, executive director of the Foundation of Shalom Park, says facilities on the campus have grown to 225,000 square feet from 85,000 over the past six years. The campus has two synagogues and their religious schools; a day school, pre-school and high school; community center; library and resource center; athletics facilities and meeting space; and other Jewish agencies.

And Foundation for the Charlotte Jewish Community, a supporting organization of Foundation for the Carolinas that has 84 funds totaling nearly $39 million, has launched an effort to spur Jewish donors to create endowments and planned gifts.

Phil Warshauer, director for planned giving at the Foundation for the Charlotte Jewish Community, provides planned-giving advice to the nine agencies on the organization's board and represents them to prospective donors.

The foundation also has formed a "legacy" group to recognize donors who have made deferred gifts.

In the wake of an annual drive that raised a record $3.03 million this year, the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte is allocating more dollars to Jewish agencies in the region and abroad.

Sue Worrel, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, says this year's campaign aims to broaden and expand the organization's donor base. This year, the federation is distributing 70% of its funds to roughly 20 local agencies, with the rest going to groups overseas. Developing leaders within the Jewish community and serving as a voice on Jewish issues are the focus of two of its initiatives.

For example, the Bernstein Leadership Group, formed 10 years ago, offers an 18-month program to cultivate emerging leaders for the Jewish community. And in August, the federation launched its Community Relations Council to represent the Jewish community and develop relationships with the news media, government, nonprofits, interfaith community, schools and academia.

QUICKINFO
Agencies serving the local Jewish community include:

• The Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center
• Temple Beth El
• Temple Israel
• Congregation Ohr Ha Torah (Lubatvitch of North Carolina)
• The Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte
• Hebrew Cemetery Association of Charlotte
• Charlotte Jewish Day School
• Jewish Family Services of Greater Charlotte

Need additional info on Jewish Agencies in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas call real estate RELOCATION specialists Yuriy & Luda Vaynshteyn @ 704-543-4590 or visit our web site http://123CharlotteHomes.com/ or http://CarolinasMetro.com/.

Charlotte alone in housing-price gains

Charlotte was the sole U.S. metropolitan area to record a gain in housing prices in January among the 20 markets tracked by Standard & Poor's and Case-Shiller.

The year-over-year price of existing single-family homes grew 1.8 percent in the Queen City in January, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Nationally, January prices declined 10.7 percent from a year earlier.

Statewide, existing-home sales fell nearly 18 percent to 7,421 closing last month. That was down from 9,004 in the year-ago period.

The average price statewide dipped more than 3 percent last month to $206,964.

Real Estate in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas

Charlotte's real estate market differs from the rest of the country. I will publish my thoughts on residential and commercial sales and property rental and management issues in this blog. Please visit our web site http://carolinasmetro.com/ to search for properties (homes, condo, townhomes, rentals and land) in Charlotte, Lake Wylie and Lake Norman and surrounding areas and feel free ask your questions on real estate issues in this blog.