Jun. 02, 2008
Fat City facade will live again in NoDa
Neighbors invited to help decide on graffiti for wall of new lofts

DOUG SMITH

A NoDa landmark disappeared a year ago when high winds blew down the graffiti-splashed facade of Fat City Deli.

Now, the developers, who had planned to integrate it into the new Fat City Lofts on the site, are working to bring back the funkiness and perhaps create another icon for the North Charlotte neighborhood.

"We went to great lengths to find and match the brick that tumbled," said Eric Vargosko of BlueSky Partners. "We are going out of our way to make the facade look like it did."

But the re-creation isn't stopping there.

BlueSky, which is providing development and marketing services for Fat City Lofts owners Crosland LLC and Merrifield Partners, also is inviting neighbors to help decide how to cover another wall of the new building with graffiti.

"The people in the community are the ones looking at it," said Doggett Advertising's Heather Coggins, who is assisting the developers on the graffiti project. "We want them to tell us what they want to see on the outside."

Five artists, including some who painted the original designs on the building, will display their creative concepts Friday night at a NoDa event where people can vote on their preferences.

No matter which design is selected, Coggins said, the artists will work together to paint the side of the 70-foot-tall building that faces the uptown skyline.

Within a couple of weeks, she said, passersby can expect to see "guys on a scaffold doing graffiti on the wall" at North Davidson and East 35th streets.

Fat City Deli opened in the early 1990s and closed about five years ago, leaving the original building on the site vacant.

Deli founder K.C. Terry, a partner in the new venture, said he chose the location back then for one key reason: "It was the cheapest building in town."

He commissioned the initial artwork, but he didn't mind graffiti artists embellishing it.

Fat City Deli became a neighborhood gathering place for NoDa's body-pierced musicians and artists, but over the years the clientele grew to include business people in dress shirts and suits.

Fat City Lofts, which includes 26 condos and 8,000 square feet of street-level retail, is the latest example of the neighborhood's transition from restored mill houses to commercial and multi-family development.

Vargosko said 15 units are under contract for purchase and about half of the restaurant and shop space is taken.

The majority of the remaining lofts, on the upper three levels of the building, are priced from about $315,000, he said.

"We are now able to walk through and show people the 20-foot ceilings, floating mezzanines and character of the building," Vargosko said.

Some of the brick salvaged from the old building is being incorporated into the lobby, corridors and lofts interiors, he said.

SkyGroup Properties, a BlueSky affiliate, is handling sales and marketing of the units, which range from 700 to 2,000 square feet. Information: www.fatcitylofts.com.

Vargosko expects to complete the $8 million project by August.

Development

Want to vote on graffiti?

Fat City Lofts developers are sponsoring "The Graffiti Exhibition" on Friday from 6 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. at 3100 N. Davidson St., Suite 104.

Visitors can examine graffiti artists' conceptual ideas for covering a wall of the residential-retail building and vote on their preferences.

Five participating artists plan to paint a 70-foot-tall building wall that faces the uptown skyline. 
Doug Smith