Charlotte Merchandise Mart

[cb7tuner]

I was in the area today and checked out the various lots behind the Charlotte Merchandise Mart. It looks as if there is one lot that is about the size of the Continental lot that is devoid of medians and only has 4 light poles.

Here is a sat view:
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=briar+creek+rd,+charlotte,nc&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.550571,79.013672&ie=UTF8&ll=35.205737,-80.801219&spn=0.003344,0.004823&t=h&z=18

The only issue is that paddock and grid would have to be across the street in the main Merchandise Mart parking lot. But I think it could work.
And possibly we could have grid in the WK Dickson lot. I doubt there is any weekend traffic there.
Sound may need to be kept in check here as there is residential area adjacent to the site.

Oh and, I paced it out for size. In the east-west direction it is about 228 paces, and for the north-south direction about 150 paces. This is center to center of course.

Here are some pictures I took. Sorry for the quality, all I had with me was my phone.





















Edit: Whoa, those pictures are bigger than I thought. Hooray for my new phone.

[lagunamiata]

The lot is about 340ft x 520 ft.
Conti was about 460ft x 410 ft.

Years ago there was a show there called RaceFest. CCR put on an AX in that parking lot. I never attended the AX. The show was in Dec, so it was COLD out there. I did go the show once, cold, rainy... yuck...

A few concerns about the lot...
1. Apartments right next to the lot - noise issues.
2. The residents of those apartments are (or at one time were) not of the highest caliber - safety / security / theft concerns.
3. Last report is that a church now owns the Merchandise Mart (not sure if thats true).

Our contact at Metrolina Expo used to be the manager of the Merchandise Mart site. If he's there this weekend Dave and I can get his thoughts on the site.

[cb7tuner]

Yeah, the residents could be sketchy but as long as we set up in the morning and tear down in afternoon they would not have a chance to mess with stuff.

Not sure about the church stuff, but it looks like they want to use that lot for similar purposes; look:
www.ppm-nc.com/services/rideanddrive.html

[cr89x]

That doesn't look too terribly bad.