This just in, gentrification is alive in Charlotte. No. Duh.
Although I have my doubts about pegging a news story about neighborhood changes to a rent increase for the chronically-broke Lesbian and Gay Community Center, it is worth remembering that there is an organic process by which beatdown areas become havens for funky culture. The broader populace then finds those places, the places become hip and hot, developers pick up the buzz, come in and de-funk-a-fy everything — and the funk moves on. It is urban natural selection.
Developers and planners try to entice the funk in certain directions, but the funk cannot be tamed. It needs affordable — dirt cheap, really — rents, but also easy access to those funky places or the broad populace will not come. That makes parking and the road network important. You cannot have funk too far from major arteries like Tryon, Central, or The Plaza. The funk does not have to be centrally located, but it does have to be something you can get to easily.
NoDa has been scrubbed of funky, to some extent. Now it is Plaza-Midwood’s turn.
Where does the funk land next? Some people talk about W. Morehead-Wilkinson, but that seems both hard to get to and more developer pre-buzz than actual funk.
So any funk sightings out there? Get funky.
