Charlotte is a city that is constantly expanding and reinventing its culture in regards to restaurants, music, neighborhoods and nightlife. With so many other establishments vying for the attention of an ever-growing population with an ever-shrinking attention span, bars must get creative in order to keep the edge on the competition.

That's where City Lights and Craft City Social Club come in; two new bars opening June 2 at the neighboring Sheraton and Le Meridien hotels on South McDowell Street.

John Thompson, general manager of both hotels, says City Lights, opening atop Le Meridien, will boast a vibrant, urban garden space with summertime cocktails and a gorgeous view of Marshall Park and Uptown Charlotte behind it. By comparison, Craft City Social Club, part of the Sheraton Hotel, is a pool-side space where twenty-somethings can socialize and play games.

"Think of summertime," Thompson said. "Think of something that will cool you off."

• Craft City Social Club, part of the Sheraton Hotel, opens on June 2.

But what sets them apart from the competition?

Both bars, neither of which are open past midnight, are designed to draw crowds of Charlotteans seeking specialty cocktails before they hit the clubs on their weekend list.

At 4 p.m., the Sheraton Hotel pool — only available to registered hotel guests during the day — will beome Craft City Social Club, open to the public. Groups or dates will enjoy cocktails while socializing over shuffleboard or shooting pool.

"Maybe someone wants to take a quick swim," Thompson said, "and they would be able to do that."

Oscar La Fuente, a Peru native and current executive chef at Evoke, created the Nuevo-Latino-inspired cuisine menu for the pool-side social club.

"It's a nod to lots of different countries that have Latin influences in their cooking," Thompson said. The menu "crosses culinary borders" by including dishes from countries like Cuba and Chile. Craft City also has a specialty drink program that Thompson thinks gives it a one-up on other venues.

They call it a "barrel program" in which their cocktails are aged in oak whiskey barrels for at least 30 days. Drinks like Manhattan and Negroni cocktails release the flavors of the oak as they age in the barrels. If there's a cocktail that a customer would like aged, they just ask in advance and then return to Craft City with friends to enjoy their requested cocktails.

While Craft City Social Club contrasts the heat of its Latino-inspired food and the cooling effects of their drinks, City Lights focuses on specialty beverages and maintaining an urban nightlife atmosphere.

For example, City Lights will begin by launching a line of summertime signature drinks, the Sparkle and Pop. Each Sparkle and Pop option includes a Prosecco with a specialty popsicle that would, ideally, melt as the sun sets, infusing the flavor of the popsicle with the light and bubbly sparkling wine.

• Le Meridien’s City Lights is launching a line of summertime signature drinks called the Sparkle and Pop.

Unlike other popular Uptown rooftop bars, such as Fahrenheit and Rooftop 210, City Lights is a completely open space. Guests arrive on the 18th floor, then ascend stairs to the garden-style roof.

"The landscape and seating arrangements provide opportunities for open-air conversations and meeting new people," Thompson said. "Maybe the comfortable seating is next to someone you don't know. The idea of getting people together to mingle and share experiences is what the vibe is about."

The al-fresco feel of the rooftop bar aims to set it apart from the few other area rooftop bars, which are trending in cities with a quickly-growing population of young professional (yuppies, you might say).

It's easy to compare the Queen City to other southern cities like Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee. All three have a quickly-growing population bringing new ideas and customs from around the country to add to the lingering traditional southern ideals lingering. But until recently, Charlotte has been lagging in the rooftop bar game.

A quick look at Thrillist and Yelp shows that Austin and Nashville both host at least a dozen rooftop lounges and bars with gorgeous views of their own city skylines.

So why now, Charlotte?

Most obvious to anyone who has lived here over the last decade: Charlotte is a young city. When Austin was opening their first rooftop patio bar over a decade ago, Charlotte was a still-blossoming city just starting to grow into its own. Nashville long ago cultivated a culture perfect for sippin' whiskey on porches and patios.

What we have here in the Queen City that Austin and Nashville don't is height. Sophisticated venues sitting atop condos and hotels, such as Fahrenheit and now City Lights, are helping raise the bar for the city's nightlife scene.