The bg idea factory: a look inside and out.

Ten years later, Uptown Charlotte finally catches up
with birdsong gregory.

When you’re a small Charlotte branding agency, it’s usually more convenient to travel to clients for meetings and collaborative working sessions. Unfortunately, that means our sleek, modern, architecturally designed space gets taken for granted by everyone who works here. So we thought it would be a good way to kick off the new year with a glimpse inside – and an update on the transformation of the North Tryon corridor we’ve called home for 10 years.

a view of our Charlotte branding agency

A decade ago, when we moved in to the first floor of a brand new 8-story building at 715 N. Church our only neighbors were the artists-in-residence over at the McColl Center. But we liked the location (easy access to I-277, five blocks from the intersection of Trade and Tryon, and all the benefits of Uptown without the parking headache). Plus, the great thing about a big, light-filled, high-ceilinged raw space were the endless possibilities.

So we turned to our good friends over at Dialect Design in the nearby NODA neighborhood to help us transform our raw square footage into a multi-functional branding and marketing studio with an inspired aesthetic.

Lots of common space flooded with natural light, clusters of “pods” with contemporary cubicle screens made from reclaimed industrial steel panels, and an organic flow of curved walls and sliding interior panels that dispensed with the rigid, rectilinear floor plan of a traditional office.

the exterior of our Charlotte branding agency

condos going up near our Charlotte branding agency

Fast-forward to today, and our once lonely side of Charlotte’s uptown has become arguably the hottest urban corridor in the Queen City. Due to the area’s prime location, the availability of underutilized land, the LYNX Blue Line light rail extension, and the presence of major cultural institutions (the McColl Center, The NC School of Dance, McGlohon Theater, etc.), large construction cranes are sprouting up like mushrooms after a hard spring rain. Check out the Charlotte Center 2020 Vision plan, in which the stretch of North Tryon we occupy is listed as a key “Focus Area” for the city.

Some members of our Charlotte branding agency live close to the proposed route of the new Blue Line extension, and are excited about the chance to hop a train to work in the not too distant future.

Design work for the $1.6 billion Blue Line extension is more than 95% complete, and, when finished, the line will run from Uptown to the UNC Charlotte campus, covering 9.3 miles. Combined with the south line, it will give commuters nearly 19 connected miles of light-rail service from Pineville to the University area. The current schedule calls for the line to be test-started in December 2016 and open to the public in spring 2017.

So, if you haven’t been to our side of Uptown recently, come check it out. It feels as though Charlotte has finally caught up with birdsong gregory.

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715 North Church Street – Suite 101, Charlotte, NC 28202•704.332.2299•[email protected]