Northeast Charlotte

Everything in northeast Charlotte is done on a grand scale. The area is home to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the largest sports facility in the Southeast and the “Mecca of Motorsports,” as NASCAR enthusiasts call it.

The area’s largest higher-education institution, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is located here in the cradle of highways 49 and 29. At 17,000 students and counting, it’s the fastest-growing university in the state system.
 

Highland Creek, one of Charlotte’s hottest-selling neighborhoods, grows by the day on Ridge Road. Skybrook, the area’s newest golf course neighborhood, offers newcomers the opportunity to build their new home with golf course views. And some of the area’s largest employers make University Research Park their corporate campus.

University City, as the northeast portion of Mecklenburg County is also called, has seen phenomenal growth in the last 15 years. The area is decorated with new neighborhoods, new shopping centers, and new office buildings. The area is bisected by North Tryon Street and sprawls north to I-77, south past UNCC to The Plaza, and northeast into Cabarrus County.

University City is home to more than 100,000 people, almost one-sixth of the population of Mecklenburg County. And its popularity continues to fuel population growth. By 2015, it’s expected to have a population of 114,883, a 74 percent increase from 1995.
 

The University area takes its name from UNCC, the fourth largest of the state’s public universities. Enrollment is expected to grow by 7,000 students in the next 10 years, taking enrollment to 24,000. With enrollment on the rise, so are admission standards. The average freshman entering UNCC has a high school grade-point average of 3.6.

UNCC tailors its programs to meet the cultural and economic needs of the 15-county Charlotte region and the state of North Carolina. It offers a broad array of programs leading to bachelor’s degrees, about 50 leading to master’s degrees, and 6 leading to doctoral degrees. It is organized into six colleges: architecture, arts and sciences, business administration, engineering, education, and nursing and health professions. It also offers a Graduate School of Information Technology, which offers a Ph.D. degree.

To accommodate adult students working in downtown Charlotte, the university teaches selected undergraduate and graduate courses in the evenings in uptown Charlotte at 220 N. Tryon St. in the same building as the Mint Museum of Craft + Design.

To make room for expansive growth back on campus, the university is completing a five-year project to renovate and expand the J. Murrey Atkins Library. The library now offers students access to the latest research technology and a comfortable place to study. New residence halls and classroom buildings are also under construction.


After graduation, many students find careers right in University City, where numerous companies have offices in University Research Park off W.T. Harris Boulevard north of I-85. The park was created in the late 1950s to attract research and development companies. Today, the park has followed the lead of Charlotte as a whole and is home to many back-office and support operations. Wachovia, headquartered in Charlotte, operates its Customer Information Center here. The 2.1-million-square-foot facility is the nation’s second-largest single-tenant office building, second only to the Pentagon. With more than 10,000 employees here, the CIC has more parking spaces than Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Another major employer that recently moved its headquarters to University Research Park is TIAA-CREF, a national provider of retirement fund services. The $270-billion pension fund company expects to employ more than 3,000 by the end of 2005. Other major employers in the area include IBM, EDS, and Duke Energy.

Small businesses get a boost in University City, too. The Ben Craig Center is a small-business incubator operated by UNCC on Mallard Creek Road. The center supports new businesses, many of them spawned by university students, by providing office space, administrative services, and expert advice.

With so many companies locating in the area, homes have readily followed. The University City area, which encompasses real estate areas 1 and 2, includes numerous developments that dot what was once farmland along Eastfield Road, Mallard Creek Road, and Prosperity Church Road. More new neighborhoods are appearing around the exits along I-85 headed toward Concord and Cabarrus County. The area has seen an explosion in retail development, and it’s expected to continue. Concord Mills, off I-85, opened in September 1999 to great fanfare. The state’s second-largest shopping center with 1.4 million square feet, Concord Mills is certain to be one of the state’s top tourist attractions, drawing some 3,000 tour buses annually. Shopping destinations include an outdoor store that includes indoor trout streams and a 20-foot rock-climbing wall.

Nearby is Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, an outdoor arena on U.S. 29 that hosts summer performances by rock, pop, and country artists.

Developers continue to make plans for another regional mall in the area to be located at I-77 and Reames Road. The mall’s developers say the project will have 1 million square feet and include Belk and Hecht’s department stores as anchors.

 

Another popular shopping draw is University Place, a great spot near the university to catch a movie, enjoy dinner at one of several restaurants that encircle a manmade lake, or do some power shopping at one of the big-box retailers nearby. On warm summer weekend evenings, it’s often possible to catch the sounds of an outdoor band while enjoying the ducks on the lake.

Businesses and apartments, many offering housing to students, are clustered around the intersection of N.C. 49, called University City Boulevard, and W.T. Harris Boulevard. Farther down Harris at its intersection with Hickory Grove Road is another busy intersection of apartments, restaurants and businesses. Newell, near UNCC along Newell-Hickory Grove and Old Concord roads, is a mix of rural vistas coupled with suburban developments of new homes. Harrisburg Road, once a quiet country road, is seeing growth as builders develop new subdivisions all the way to Cabarrus County.

University Hospital, on W.T. Harris Boulevard just south of Tryon Street, provides medical care to northeast Mecklenburg and Cabarrus residents. The 130-bed hospital, part of Carolinas HealthCare System, includes a maternity center, sleep center, outpatient services, and general medical-surgical services. Recreation in the area includes numerous parks and recreational facilities. A newly renovated YMCA is located at W.T. Harris Boulevard and Mallard Creek Road, and features a crowd-drawing waterpark. The Mallard Creek Greenway is a paved walking trail along the creek off Mallard Creek Road.

The area also is home to one of the country’s largest indoor athletic facilities. Charlotte Sports Center Ð located just off Harris Boulevard on Hankins Road, near I-77 Ð is a 75,000-square-foot athletic center that offers indoor basketball, volleyball, roller hockey, soccer, flag football, and lacrosse. No membership is necessary; it’s all pay as you play.

Despite all the growth, University City still has a hometown feel. A juicy hamburger at Herlocker’s drive-in on North Tryon Street is still a favorite meal. And Reedy Creek Park, a county-operated recreation facility between Rocky River Road and The Plaza, is a picturesque 699-acre nature preserve.

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