CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During the pandemic, Uptown Charlotte lost its buzz. The bankers who once filled the office towers were no longer pouring into the streets, theaters and restaurants went dark and the tourists stopped coming.
“It was scary, yeah, it was desolate,” recalls Ivey’s Hotel General Manager, Kyle Dehont.
But now, seven months into 2021, Uptown Charlotte is seeing a reemergence. The King’s Kitchen, which closed in 2020, citing a reduction in foot traffic, announced they are reopening July 9.
Queen City Rides, which operates a local tour of Uptown Charlotte via a 6-passenger golf cart, said tours are filling up, after 2020 devastated the business.
“Oh, it’s picking up, we are staying busy all day long,” said Street Manager, Danny Jordan. “We run 4 and 6 people all day long.”
Jordan has operated the tour for years, spending much of his day riding around the streets of Uptown. He said seeing Uptown so empty during 2020 was, “really sad.”
“Now that we see people back out on the sidewalks, out here enjoying Charlotte again, they’re coming up, they’re wanting to take the tours, they’re coming from all over the country, so it’s really heartwarming to see that we’re starting to pick back up again,” he said.
Also seeing an increase in bookings is the Ivey’s Hotel on North Tryon. In 2020, the hotel said sales dipped 50%, but are now surpassing some numbers from 2019.
“Ever since the beginning of this year, we’re really seeing a 10% growth month over month, with our biggest jump coming really from March to April, once a lot of the restrictions started to get lifted,” said General Manager, Kyle Dehont.
Dehont says in addition to locals celebrating events with the hotel, the hotel is also seeing an increase in both leisure and business travelers.
“They’re excited to be on the road, they’re excited to hand us their company card, so it’s really a good thing to see,” he said, adding that area businesses are also renting the hotel’s meeting spaces.
“As they’re starting to bring people back into the office they have a need to gather the team, host team meetings and really reunite their efforts,” he said, “certainly some of the corporations around town reaching out to do just that, bring their teams back together, kind of have some kick-offs and really reunite their teams.”
Josh Hall and Max Vicario, who were walking to grab lunch Friday in Uptown, said their office on North Tryon reopened June 14.
“It’s been nice just being around people again and in the office, it’s nice to have a little comradery with your coworkers,” said Hall.
Vicario, whose originally from Charlotte, agreed, saying it’s nice to see Uptown on its way back up.
“It was definitely desolate but now it’s awesome, it’s hopping, lot of people around,” he said.
But while the buzz in Uptown Charlotte is starting to grow, some say it isn’t fully back yet.
“It’s starting to hum a little bit, you know, it’s not where we want it to be with the lunch traffic and having all of the business shirts out there at 12 o’clock but it’s starting to get a little bit of buzz back,” said Dehont.
Dehont said The Ivey’s Hotel also has plans to reopen Sophia’s Lounge under the hotel’s management later this month. He said the restaurant and cocktail bar will be open for breakfast, dinner, and cocktails.
“We’re really excited to just welcome people back,” he said.
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