Hello Wednesday. It’s Ted.
To support our state’s education system and to feed my gambling addiction (two birds, one stone), I buy an aggressive amount of scratch-off lottery tickets for my in-laws each Christmas. The first year of my marriage my father-in-law said, “Wait, which one of our friends would waste $20 to buy me these?” Gulp. Now I think he likes them. I think.
Side note: We’re hiring an intern. Maybe two. Here’s the job posting. Despite Andrew’s smelly lunches, Katie’s uncomfortably large hair, Cristina’s jazzercise chatter and my striking good looks — I promise we’re fun to work with and we have average to above-average intelligence.
VITALS
Today’s Weather: 65. Showers and T-storms. 80% chance of rain. Ugh.
Today’s Stat: 77%. Growth in the craft brewery space in Charlotte between 2013 and 2014 – the fastest rate in the country, according to Colliers International.
Today’s Job: Director of Operations & Marketing at Red Ventures. Apply.
Today’s Charlottean: Nancy Kudwa, a 64-year-old designer, for maintaining a collection of over 1,000 Santas [Fowler/Observer].
ORIGINALS
Essex: The first step in a major transformation of the Trade and Tryon “square” [Thomas]
Exclusive renderings of this new bistro and bar opening in Q2 at the bottom of the Omni in Uptown. Inside: Industrial modern décor elements like brick, copper and wood. Patio too. Master Mixologist Todd Bayley and Director of Operations Sean Potter are not messing around when it comes to wine and cocktails. Bullish. View renderings and details.
Maybe Charlotte’s school district should keep developing subdivisions [Dunn]
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is about to sell a big chunk of property around Ballantyne Elementary to Meritage Homes for $6 million. The school will remain in the center of the property, with 88 lots encircling it. The school board will chalk up a profit of roughly $1.7 million on the deal that will be used to pay for other capital projects.
This Christmas [Jones]
A personal essay from a grieving Charlotte mother. Beautiful and important.
10 places to say Happy Birthday to Jesus, whether you have a church or not [Robertson]
Quick analysis and Christmas Eve church service schedules at the following spots: Freedom House Church, Calvary Church, Mecklenburg Community Church, University City United Methodist Church, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Providence Presbyterian Church, Little Church on the Lane (Moravian) and St. John’s Baptist Church.
How a trip to Europe made me love Charlotte a bit more [Grier]
Maurice explains how Charlotte is a cosmopolitan, diverse city and challenges us to drive through various sides of town: Park Road, SouthPark, Tuckaseegee, Derita, NoDa, North Tryon, University Area, Beatties Ford, Albemarle Road, Independence and Uptown.
CLT Playlist: Live music picks for December 23 – 27 [Gassaway]
Santa means it’s a quiet week for live music. Danny’s picks: BYOG, Groove Fetish; Visulite Theatre, 9 p.m. on Saturday ($10 tickets) and JaggerMouth, International Scar Lovers, Glaus; Snug Harbor, 10 p.m. on Saturday, ($5 tickets).
TALKING POINTS
A restaurant is going in the short red building at 3106 North Davidson [Agenda/Instagram]. Will be named Haberdish — “a new neighborhood hashery serving delightful Southern-inspired food and drink.” Concept is from Jeff Tonidandel, owner of Crepe Cellar.
You’re not the only one buying Panthers gear this Christmas [Spanberg/CBJ]. Cam’s jersey is the #5 seller and Luke’s jersey is the #6 seller onNFLShop.com. The team store at the bottom of Bank of America Stadium has around 7,000 orders this month (2x as many as last year).
North Carolina now has over 10 million residents, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau [Burns/WRAL]. N.C. is adding an average of 281 people a day. We’re currently the 9th largest state.
Malls are open to take your money today, tomorrow and Friday [WSOC].Christmas Eve hours for the following malls are: Carolina Place (8 a.m. – 6 p.m.), Charlotte Premium Outlets (9 a.m. – 6 p.m.), Concord Mills (9 a.m. – 6 p.m.), Northlake Mall (8 a.m. – 6 p.m.), SouthPark (8 a.m. – 6 p.m.)
The largest real estate sale in 2015 was a $3.9 million home in Eastover on Cherokee Road [Martin/CBJ]. #2 was a $3.5 million, 10,000+ sqft home in Foxcroft. View full slideshow.
10 Panthers were named to the Pro Bowl [Panthers.com]. Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, Jonathan Stewart, Mike Tolbert, center Ryan Kalil, guard Trai Turner, linebackers Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly, cornerback Josh Norman and defensive tackle Kawann Short were selected to the NFL’s version of the all-star game. Big ups!
Happy Holidays! I’m off to buy scratch off lottery tickets. Lots of them.
– Ted
