The end of uptown hamster tunnels?

Some folks are aghast that Charlotte Center City Partners President Michael Smith would cast aspersions on the Overstreet Mall system uptown of sidewalks and hidden shops. In an Observer article published Thursday, Smith said the overstreet system “is dilutive to creating a vibrant center city.”

One of those aghast is Bill Little, who owned the BB&T Center -- home to many interior retail spaces -- until selling to an REIT a couple of years back. He consistently defends it. Here's a portion of a letter he wrote to the Observer:

"Mr. [Michael] Smith fails to see the big picture. Overstreet Mall is more than a series of pedestrian bridges connecting coffee shops and newsstands. Think of it, rather, as effectively bringing millions of square feet of office space under one roof. I know of no other U.S. city east of the Mississippi where more office space -- not to mention hotels, parking, retail, performing arts centers, and residential buildings -- can be accessed under cover."

I'm on Michael Smith's side. People who say they want more stores downtown aren't going to get them until at least three things happen.

First, better designed retail space has to be available -- the kind where you can walk past the store windows, see inside and go right in. You know, like old storefront buildings (example: inside the Latta Arcade) and like stores in shopping malls. Those mall folks understand window shopping. Architects who design office towers and grudgingly throw in required ground-floor retail space do not.

Second, uptown needs a retail cluster. People like to shop where other shops are. Again, the shopping center developers understand this. Uptown not only doesn't have this cluster, there's little hope it will get one. The retail spaces built in recent years (required by the uptown zoning) are too scattered. The older retail spaces that might have served to link them together have almost all been demolished for the new towers. The only solution would be building a sort of outdoor-air shopping mall uptown. That's expensive.

Finally -- you knew I'd get here -- Overstreet Mall should transition to business support tenants: Printing companies, shoe repairs, cleaners, etc. I'd say it has to go, but the city in its infinite wisdom granted what amounts to perpetual rights-of-way over the streets. So the tunnels will be with us for years to come.

Why do you think shopping malls locate at interstate interchanges? Traffic. Uptown, the traffic is feet. In Charlotte too many feet are diverted into the overstreet system. Or conversely, too many feet are people on the sidewalks with no clue the overstreet system exists or how to get there. In either case, potential retailers suffer.

Yes, I confess I use the overstreet system when it's pouring rain or I need to get into one of the buildings. I understand some symphony-goers were shocked and appalled that they were expected to -- gasp! -- set foot on the sidewalks and walk when the overstreet passage between the Blumenthal and its deck was taken down. But it's perfectly possible to have an excellent shopping district without those tunnels.

If you want strong retail uptown, not the half-hearted retail we now have, eventually Overstreet will have to change.