CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Another crane will soon be added to Tryon Street as the Carolina Theatre project in uptown prepares to go vertical.
The Foundation For The Carolinas said it will be installing a tower crane at the theatre site, which sits at corner of North Tryon and Sixth streets, this weekend.
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The foundation is leading a restoration of the Carolina Theatre, which opened in 1927, and has appointed Australian developer SB&G Group to build a 34-story tower adjacent to it. Five floors will be dedicated to the theater and civic space, and a 256-room InterContinental Hotel will be built on the remaining floors.
The tower's foundation work has been ongoing for about a year or so, with 123 macropiles drilled into bedrock. This fall, work includes constructing pile caps, which will tie the piles to the vertical steel, and cast-in-place concrete foundation walls.
Our cameras were at the Carolina Theatre as crews put up a tower crane.
The theatre, a piece of Charlotte's history, was first built in 1927 and it closed in 1978. It has hosted the who's who of entertainers and area.
"Elvis played here, Bob Hope played here," Charlotte resident Lee McKenzie said. "They had the sound of Music for over a year. We love it because they are re-doing something old. They're not just tearing it down."
The goal is to use this project to breathe even more life into the North Tryon corridor, where the aging theatre sat untouched for decades. It is slated to be restored from the inside out and provide a home for the latest wave of arts and culture.
"In a way, it is because I think you're keeping this really great classic theatre that's been here, that's been part of North Carolina's or Charlotte's history," resident Paul Lessard said.
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