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Will uptown rebound post-pandemic? Leaders are hopeful

CHARLOTTE — Uptown Charlotte is showing signs of life.

Before the pandemic, the Queen City was full of people, restaurants and events. But just like many other places, it turned into a ghost town.

Now, there’s some promising signs that things are turning around.

New businesses like Golden Cow Creamery have opened, and others like the JW Marriot hotel will open soon. But leaders said the return of booming uptown won’t happen right away, and a lot of it hinges on workers returning to the city’s towers.

From scooters to sneakers, Golden Hour in uptown Charlotte once again features people out and about. Lockdowns, restrictions and virtual-work settings temporarily turned uptown into a ghost town.

The Charlotte City Council discussed uptown’s resurgence with Michael Smith of Center City Partners at Monday night’s meeting. It’s a slow rebound, and Smith said a lot of it will be determined by when companies bring workers back into the office.

“As that daily population returns Monday through Friday in uptown, it is the recipe,” Smith said.

Smith said most employers are eyeing Labor Day for a return. He said he isn’t sold on hybrid being the dominant way of work in the future.

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“There is no substitute for human beings being together,” he said. “Young people that want to advance their career. You got to be in the office. You got to be around people.”

He acknowledged to city council that many employers are choosing to downsize their footprint. Uptown will face many changes over the next few years, including a new tenant for the Duke Energy building as the company moves to a new tower next door.

There’s also the EpiCentre, which is anything but epic right now. Multiple city council members inquired about the status of the one-time nightlife hub. Smith told the council he would talk to them “offline,” meaning not in public.

“That is so critical for us to figure out,” Councilman Tariq Bokhari said. “That is literally the heart of us restarting our uptown.”

In an interview following his presentation, Smith said he doesn’t know what’s going on with the site but agrees it is incredibly important.

“It’s called the EpiCentre because it is the EpiCentre of so much more in Center City,” he said. “It is a super important part of our community.”

The EpiCentre may take a little longer to figure out, but Smith is happy with Center City’s progress. He said as workers come back that so too will uptown. He said hotels and businesses are doing well now on the weekends. Weekday traffic is still slow due to the lack of business travel.

(WATCH BELOW: ‘It’s kind of losing its glow’: Will Charlotte’s Epicentre survive?)