By Scott Baughman
Published: November 29,2011
Chiquita Brands International ended months of speculation today when it announced that it will relocate its worldwide headquarters to Charlotte from Cincinnati. It’s new home: NASCAR Plaza, built in 1999 and, according to a March Mecklenburg Times story, featuring a 61 percent vacancy rate. A 19-story office complex at 550 South Caldwell St. that connects [...]
By Mecklenburg Times staff reports
Published: October 21,2011
Jim Schumacher, an assistant Charlotte city manager who played a role in integrating the expansion of the Convention Center with the NASCAR Hall of Fame and a 19-story office tower, is retiring Jan. 1. Schumacher has worked for the city’s Engineering and Property Management Department. But during the last four years, he’s worked on city land-use issues, among [...]
By Tara Ramsey, staff writer
Published: June 21,2011
Darrell Boyette’s cigar shop, Tinderbox, is in Overstreet Mall, a collection of stores inside some of uptown’s high-rise buildings. It’s Tinderbox’s smallest location, and Boyette, the general manager, sees 80 to 100 customers every day at the store, which he says operates during “bankers’ hours” — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. “We chose this [...]
By Sam Boykin, staff writer
Published: May 3,2011
Already falling well short of attendance and revenue projections, the NASCAR Hall of Fame was dealt a blow in January when the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority sliced the hall’s budget by $4.7 million. Part of the cuts included an $826,292 reduction in the hall’s advertising budget. For the struggling $195 million uptown attraction, which celebrates [...]
By Sam Boykin, staff writer
Published: April 29,2011
Bruce Stewart was expecting more. When the NASCAR Hall of Fame opened nearly a year ago, he thought business at his diner, Lola’s, would hit the gas pedal. After all, Lola’s, on South Brevard Street, is across the street from the hall, so if anyone’s business should have benefited from the attraction over the past [...]
By Sam Boykin, staff writer
Published: April 22,2011
Charlotte is just weeks away from celebrating the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s first birthday May 11. But it remains to be seen whether the more than $190 million project is being hamstrung by the recession or is one of the city’s biggest boondoggles. What’s not up for debate: The hall has fallen short of expectations [...]
By Mecklenburg Times staff reports
Published: April 20,2011
The NASCAR Hall of Fame’s security system will be in the spotlight when the Electronic Security Expo comes to Charlotte this summer. ESE attendees will learn about the system’s design and life-safety systems. The tour is scheduled for June 7.
By Sam Boykin, staff writer
Published: February 23,2011
The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries took a crucial turn May 6 when North Carolina voters chose then-Sen. Barack Obama over then-Sen. Hillary Clinton by almost 15 percentage points, giving him an edge in a tightly contested campaign. Obama would go on to win the election, edging out John McCain in North Carolina by a razor-thin [...]
By Caitlin Coakley, staff writer
Published: December 21,2010
When the NASCAR Hall of Fame opened in May, David Montgomery, sales manager at the Westin Charlotte Hotel, thought the museum would generate travelers taking weekend trips to see the new attraction. But so far, NASCAR-driven hotel guests are more frequently checking in wearing business suits than Dale Earnhardt Jr. hats. “We expected it to [...]
By Mecklenburg Times staff reports
Published: November 6,2010
According to estimates released Wednesday, first-year attendance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame is expected to fall to as much as half of original projections. For fiscal 2011, between 250,000 to 400,000 people are expected to visit the hall of fame. In the years leading to the hall’s May 11 grand opening, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority projected [...]
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