The Westin is a great hotel. YOu guys should be fine there. BRixx is definitely walkable. Head straight up college and then turn right on 6th. Mapquest often sends you the backwards way.

For neighborhoods to look in... if you like NEW construction then you may be very happy in Southpark or the 'burbs. If you are working in uptown, then the commute becomes an issue and you'll want to look at the more established neighborhoods that are closer in. If you aren't working in uptown, then the commute doesn't matter!

You should look in Cornelius and Davidson (Lake Norman Area), Ballantyne and Carmel (South Charlotte) and Matthews or Fort Mill (Lake Wylie area). Myers Park and Dilworth have MUCH more character and charm then the other areas mentioned. They are older homes, but most have been redone. There are several golf courses in each of those areas.

Just to add to Brian's post- there is a lot of construction going on near the Westin with the new Wachovia/Wells and Nascar HoF. However, College isn't a bad walk. It will take you right by the epicentre.

And I wouldn't say the walk to Brixx is a hike in the least. The walk is flat. If the Westin is located at Stonewall (1 block past 1st) and College and Brixx is at 6th and College, then it's 7 blocks... and they aren't huge city blocks. You can walk it just fine.

Just saw another one of your posts which stated you were coming down in February. Which weekend in February are you coming?

The CIAA tournament is being held at the Arena and there will be events going on all over Charlotte. It can get a little crazy. The tournament kicks off on 2/24/09 and goes through 2/28/09.

Meyers Park High School in Meyers Park and Providence High School in Matthews both rank in the top high schools in the country.

Charlotte/Mecklinberg County is some of the best public schools in the country.

I'm sure Brian,SA, & Gretchen can give you better insight.

I would doubt it is the CIAA tournament weekend if they got the Westin for decent price.
You might want to ride the trolley or ghe Gold Rush to the arena--it is a small hike, but doable, of course.
I would ask you where you will be working before suggesting a lot of neighborhoods, and your tolerance for a commute.
There are lovely in town neighborhoods in your price range. There are perhaps some golf course commmunities on the cusp of that price range--but further out from city center.
Golf courses in the city are country club courses.
If you are serious about seeing some neighborhoods I would suggest making an appointment with a realtor for X hours and have them take you around.
I think there is a Fuel Pizza around the corner vrom BRixx and I think that is better pizza. What is at the EpiCenter to eat, all you knowledgeable types?
Mimosa Grill is high end eating--excellent food and chef, but a bit different level than Brixx.
Look on restaurant.com for some discounts. Good discounts for some uptown places.
Intown neighborhoods would be Myers Park, Eastover, and Dilworth. Beautiful tree canopy.
Next neighborhoods out (southeast) would be Foxcroft (in the South Park area). Then there are more nice areas, and you get to the gated community of Winged Bourne. There are also gated communites around South Park--Morrocroft. Finally, furthest out, and newest, around the beltway is Ballantyne, and east of that is Matthews which has the gamut of neighborhoods.
If you look at a map of Charlotte you may want to roughly look between Park Road and Monroe Road, from uptown to 485 and south. Charlotte has some of the most beautiful homes in any city I have ever seen.
I can give you a name of several brokerages that would be glad to take you around.

That's a good point about the Epicenter - a huge, brand new complex of entertainment options on College St. College will be a nice street when it's done - but it's pretty torn up right now. In the Epicenter is a brand new bowling alley which is smoke free until 10 PM, an ice cream place, a movie theater, and new restaurants opening seemingly every day.

http://epicentre-charlotte.com/

I must, with respect, strenuously object to the idea that Fuel Pizza is better than Brixx. That's just crazy talk.

Though I will point out that Brixx is closer to the pizzas you'd get in Italy. If you're looking for gobs of cheese and lots of red sauce, it may not be for you.

We were planning to go the last weekend in Feb, but my husband couldn't change his work schedule - It sounds like this was a good thing! We are, instead, going Feb 13-15. After we changed our weekend, I rechecked the arena events schedule, and saw that the Monster Truck Jam was in town. Funny thing is, because we have an 8 yr old son, we actually go to the Monster Truck Nationals in Columbus every year, but missed it last month, b/c we were in SC over Christmas break! Looks like we'll be able to catch this show in Charlotte though!

I've thought about a realtor, but I'm not sure we're there yet. We don't even know if we're moving at this point. My husband is just beginning to talk to potential groups. I was hoping if I have a number of communities and neighborhoods to look at and our GPS, we could just see if it's something we really want to pursue.

You wouldn't have to commit to the realtor--just say so upfront. It will truly maximize your time to have someone take you.
I'll bow to the pizza folks about Fuel.
I'll mention Frog and Toad play again. It is on that weekend, and is getting WONderful reviews. Your kids are the perfect age.
Oh, I think you are the radiologist. There are certainly enough of you!!!

Currently, my husband commutes about 35 minutes to his main hospital, but because radiology groups often cover several hospitals, he often has to drive almost an hour to some of the more remote locations. Usually, their days begin at 7am, so rush hour traffic would not be a factor at least in the morning. Is the traffic bad during evening rush hour to some of the newer communities outside of Charlotte that you mentioned? It's nothing like Atlanta, I hope! Thanks for advice on our weekend visit. BTW, what is the GHE Goldrush?

The Gold Rush (not sure about the GHE Gold Rush) is a free trolley that runs around uptown. It's very useful and you can just hop on and off at several stops.

As for traffic, I would say our traffic isn't quite as bad as Atlanta's (yet!)... but there are definitely some traffic issues when you live in the suburbs and are commuting. There's also just a lot of traffic in the suburbs, period. However, I think you get that with any large city.

Both hospital systems have multiple sites so it will be the same here, perhaps. Perhaps he will even be hired for a satellite office as his primary location--Gastonia, Huntersville, etc. And yes, traffic is an issue for the outlying suburbs.
One of the Gold Rush routes will go right by the Westin, I believe, and take you right down College or Tryon. It's a neat little thing. They criss cross the uptown area in perpendicular routes.

If I'm not mistaken, Charlotte recently passed Atlanta as having the worst traffic rush hour/gridlock in the country.

Atlanta beat LA out about ten years ago and Charlotte took that away from Atlanta.

It's bad.

I think that would be hard to measure. Where did you read that? Just interested, and am in NO way saying that we don't have terrible traffic problems, but the structure of the two cities--or 3--and the amount of interstate/freeway travel is SO different. Apples and oranges.

Gretchen, it had to do with the fact that Atlanta has much better mass transportation than Charlotte and better roads.

I tried to google but I'm not having any luck.

That could make more sense. Our new light rail is very cool. The economy is going to slow down the expansion unfortunately.
But I wonder if they considered Raleigh!! ;o)
I did hear a disturbing statistic about Atlanta MARTA system however--it provides fast getaway for criminals committing crimes. That was from an Atlanta resident.
Traffic is slow because it is using internal roads with stop lights, etc. so at rush hours it backs up. But it does move.

Hmmm... Sounds like traffic is a consideration there. Let me see if I understand correctly - It sounds like if you work in downtown Charlotte, but live in some of the older communities not far from there (eg. Dilworth, Meyers Park)- you will be commuting on city streets, rather than highways - similar to our "Upper Arlington," I think. Beautiful homes, but because of downtown convenience, the prices are sky high. Despite their close proximity to downtown, traffic still gets heavy during rush hour due to traffic lights and stops. The newer suburbs which are farther away from the city -which may deter some- also have beautiful houses but are accessed via freeways. Prices may be better than in some of the older neighborhoods of Charlotte. Are the freeways also clogged during rush hour for these areas (like Matthews, for instance? Which traffic, in your opinion, is worse?

Neal, I personally think traffic is always bad in Charlotte. My ex lived in Dilworth and good friends live in Meyers Park and stepdaughter did live in Ballentyne (moved to Philly). It seems anytime we went anywhere traffic was always bad.

The locals can fill you in better but in the past 15 years, it has gone from busy to horrible.

JMHO.

Not quite. I live in Myers Park and can be in uptown in 10 minutes non-rush hour. But I can be at two hospitals in 3 minutes, rush hour or no.
The outer new neighborhoods are still accessed to the downtown area by 4 lane inner city "streets", not by freeways--at least I don't. The "freewaays"/interstates that go through midtown Charlotte (I77) will get you "by" the city and have access to the center city, but would not get you real close to the hospitals, for example, from the Ballantyne area, without sort of going around your thumb.
I don't quite agree with GoTravel's assessment at all. I live on artuably the most beautiful street in Charlotte's inner city, and a MAJOR rush hour artery. It isn't "gridlock" at all in the morning or evening. Busy, but moving. It is just that it is a LONG way to these outlying new divisions like Ballantyne--I think it is 10 miles from my house to I485 (Ballantyne).

There is the Independence expressway that is a limited access road, but it connects with the major route east and west--route 74--and not to the residential areas being discussed.
There are MANY many very attractive neighborhoods to choose from--both near to the city center and not, but still within20-30 minutes of downtown.
And yes, the interstates are clogged during rush hour--not just with commuters, but with people going north and south.
Ithink you will very much need to make a decision based on where your husband's practice will be located.

to clarify some typos
"arguably the most beautiful street"

And the 10 miles to Ballantyne is as the crow flies on a direct road that passes neighborhood/division after division of homes.