Float to feature Charlotte mini-skyline

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Scale models of 13 Uptown buildings have been donated to Charlotte Center City Partners for use in the construction of a parade float.

The Charlotte City Council on Monday adopted a resolution authorizing the donation of the models, which had been built in 2005 to embellish the scoreboard in Time Warner Cable Arena. In January, the council approved the purchase and installation of a new scoreboard, sans Queen City buildings.

The buildings are the Westin Hotel, Hilton Hotel, Cameron Brown, Odell Plaza, Charlotte Plaza, Carillon Tower, Three Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bank, 121 West Trade, Bank of America, Hearst Tower, One Wells Fargo and Bank of America Tower. They are between 5 and 20 feet tall, and weigh from 75-150 pounds each. The estimated value is $10,000.

Center City Partners plans to construct a float for use in any city parade, and it will also feature a crown.

There are duplicates of each of the models, which the city will keep and make available for loan to cultural groups such as the Charlotte Museum of History, which plans to exhibit them along with its current exhibition, “Charlotte Neighborhoods.”

Or they could be used, a la “Blazing Saddles,” to create a faux Charlotte should a big bad railroad company threaten to take our land. Maybe they’ll be stopped at the I-77 toll lanes.