For people who like being in the center of things, uptown Charlotte is increasingly becoming a coveted address. The pulse of city life seems to be felt most strongly in the blocks radiating outward from Independence Square and bounded by I-277 and I-77. That's where over 7,500 Charlotteans now live as well as work - some in midrise condos, some in penthouses, some in the quaint Victorian single-family homes that make Fourth Ward so charming. Their numbers may double in another five years. 

Nearby Fourth Ward is Third Ward, flanked by Ericsson Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers NFL team, and Bank of America's new Gateway Village with its eventual five blocks of offices, stores, apartments and condominiums. In Second Ward, The Park condominiums, the city's tallest residential structure at 19 stories, will be topped by a rooftop park featuring trees, ponds and a walking trail. The remaining quadrant of the center city, First Ward, is booming with a mix of new housing that appeals to a variety of incomes. Tying First and Second Wards together will be the Charlotte trolley, a reminder of the city's past that's set to run an uptown route again within the near future. 

People who live uptown are tied by common interests already. Uptown is the acknowledged center of the city's cultural life. It's the home of the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, the Tryon Center for Visual Art, Discovery Place science museum, the Museum of the New South, Spirit Square arts education center, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library and private galleries. It's where the Mint Museum of Art, now in the posh Eastover neighborhood, intends to move. It's also the planned site of a new $27.5 million Children's Learning Center, an ambitious joint project of Children's Theatre of Charlotte and the library. 

Some Center City residents just park their cars for the weekend, walking to restaurants, clubs, even the supermarket. The groceries at Reid's Fine Foods in the Seventh Street Station, a colorful parking garage, are augmented in summer by an outdoor farmers market. Just as the Charlotte trolley is being resurrected as both a convenience and a historic reminder, some of the city's venerable buildings are being put to 21st-century use. The 94-year-old N.C. Medical College building in Fourth Ward is being incorporated into a condominium complex called Settlers Place. The 1928 Frederick Apartments on North Church are being turned into condominiums. First Union Corp., in building new, 32-story Three First Union office tower on South Tryon, also saved a 1929 landmark on South Tryon, former home of Ratcliffe's Florist. 

You can get your exercise just walking around gawking at all the new construction - for example, the 46-story Hearst Tower being built by Bank of America on Tryon Street, or the new fellowship hall at historic First Presbyterian Church on West Trade, a tree-shaded oasis in uptown's heart. For those craving more vigorous exercise, Gateway Village will contain a new YMCA. Or you can join the joggers who set out regularly for early-morning runs. The Center City's broad array of activities has something for nearly any taste. And its mix of housing - old, new, spacious, compact - suits nearly any lifestyle. If you want to experience city life to the fullest, uptown may be the place for you.