Independence Boulevard features many shopping centers and retail/commercial areas. Look here for one of the city’s biggest collections of automobile showrooms, huge home-supply and furniture stores, restaurants and membership-only warehouses.
Albemarle Road is a busy boulevard lined with strip shopping centers filled with supermarkets, drugstores, restaurants and specialty shops. Development along this thoroughfare continues to grow, particularly on the outskirts of Charlotte.
Near the I-485/Lawyers Road interchange, the Bridges at Mint Hill shopping mall is in the works, which would provide 1.3 million square feet of shopping in an open-air setting.
Presbyterian Healthcare was recently approved to build a $90 million, 50-bed hospital near the Albemarle Road exit off I-485 that is slated to open in late 2009. The facility will be called Presbyterian Hospital Mint Hill.
Another trend shaping east Charlotte is the influx of immigrants and new citizens who make their homes here. Here’s where you’ll find the Hindu Center, the Islamic Center, the Chinese Baptist Church and a host of other facilities, as well as plenty of ethnic groceries and stores.
Accordingly, east Charlotte also has developed an eclectic selection of restaurants, including Italian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, steakhouses, family restaurants and cafeterias.
Outdoor recreation in the area includes Reedy Creek Park and Nature Preserve, which features 116 acres of recreational fields, 727 acres of preserve, a disc golf course, fishing ponds, picnic areas and 10 miles of nature trails. Reedy Creek Park is also the site of Native American artifacts as well as the Robinson Rockhouse Ruins, dating back to 1790.
Golfers will enjoy teeing off at the area’s public and semi-private golf courses, including Olde Sycamore Golf Plantation, The Divide on Stevens Mill Road and the Charles T. Myers course on Harrisburg Road.
If you’d rather fly than drive, check out Wilgrove Airport, off Albemarle Road. This general-aviation facility offers charters, leasing and pilot training. |
