Sparkhouse Coffee | Uptown

Description: A coffee shop inside Sparkhouse Uptown, a three-level, 20,000 square foot entrepreneurship hub from the nonprofit Do Greater Charlotte, located on N Tryon Street in the heart of Uptown Charlotte. The building, owned by Harvey B. Gantt (Charlotte's first Black mayor), previously housed his architecture firm Gantt Huberman Architects.

Alongside the coffee bar, the space offers coworking, classrooms, screen-printing, and podcasting and production studios for early-stage entrepreneurs and creatives. Beyond Amazing Donuts, a local Black-owned doughnut maker, sells doughnuts (and cinnamon rolls) inside on weekdays. Like its sister location in west Charlotte, every cup of coffee funds Do Greater Charlotte's youth entrepreneurship programs.

Comments: This is the Uptown sister to Sparkhouse Coffee | West, but the setup here is much bigger. It’s 3 levels of stuff, with the coffee shop on the ground floor and a whole lot more throughout the rest of the building. It’s all run by Do Greater Charlotte inside a building owned by Harvey B. Gantt, Charlotte’s first Black mayor, whose old architecture firm used to be here. Their stated goal is basically that everything you need to grow a business should be in 1 building. There’s the coffee bar, coworking, classrooms, conference rooms, call rooms, podcast and production studios, screen printing, and the works.

The primary coffee shop area is open to everyone, while much of the building behind it is for people with coworking memberships. What I like though is that even without a membership there’s still plenty of first come, first serve seating for the public, including a few booths upstairs. Aesthetically, it reminds me of a modern university library. Earthy colors, soft lighting, couches and armchairs here and there, and very comfortable seating with padded backs. No metal chairs here! It’s warm and inviting and was clearly designed for remote workers, students, and anyone who wants to come hang out for a while.

And most importantly, the Black-owned business Beyond Amazing Donuts sells their stuff here on weekdays. They have donuts, but the cinnamon rolls are MARVELOUS. I don’t know how else to tell you to please get one. It’s AMAZING. That alone is worth the trip.

The biggest challenge here is parking. It’s Uptown, so you have to pay, and it's mad expensive. The only rate was 10 hours for $15 through Park Mobile for the lot behind the building. There are other options in the area where you can park and walk, but they're all still paid. So I mean, I think this place best serves those within walking distance.