Looking into 2017, there are some absolutely incredible construction projects in Charlotte that will begin, continue or complete by the end of the year. In no particular order, let’s take a look at some of what is to come.
The Stonewall Street corridor
What: Stretching from I-277 to the east and Bank of America Stadium to the west, this stretch will see countless game changing development projects. To recap:
Observer site: Lincoln Harris is developing a MONSTER that we know for sure will contain at least 1 million square feet of office space (housed in one 600-foot+ tower) and tons of retail square footage, amongst other things.
Tryon Place: The project has changed quite a bit since its initial announcement, but the heart remains intact. 35,000 square feet of retail space and a ground floor plaza for all of Charlotte to use and love.
Tryon Place, via Crescent Communities
Montage Apartments: 302 units and 11,000 square feet of retail
via Axiom Architecture
Northwood Ravin Stonewall: 400+ apartments, 12,000 square feet of office, 8,000+ of retail and a 250-foot tower.
via Northwood Ravin
Crescent Stonewall Station: WHOLE FOODS UPTOWN. Oh, also a sweet Stonewall Station plaza and 460 apartment units with a 230-foot tower.
via Crescent Communities
615 S College: 370,000 square feet of office with Regions Bank as an anchor
615-s-college-under-construction
Brooklyn Village: A project still in early planning stages but it will deliver hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail, tons of residential, office and hotel rooms.
via BK Partners
When: These projects will be opening in a variety of time periods. Crescent Stonewall should be wrapping up early 2018 and 615 S College will be done in early 2017. The rest, however, are in varying stages of planning and development. All should be under construction by next year though.
Why it matters: This is the single most important street for development, arguably, in Charlotte’s history. Thousands of apartment units, thousands (hopefully) of hotel rooms, hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and millions of square feet of office. The sheer volume of everything renders it enough to be important, but on top of that, it will give the city an entirely new heartbeat and part of town to explore and love.
The Camden corridor
What: Look for an in-depth Charlotte Agenda look at this bustling street in the coming weeks, but to take a high level look, there are a ton of “happenings” along this small, but important street.
Dimensional Fund Advisors HQ: The controversial project that took down the Common Market, this building will bring over 25,000 square feet of retail, hundreds of jobs and office space to Camden.
dimensional-fund-building-rendering
1616 Retail: The office building is nearly fully occupied and with the recently opened Fidelli and announcement of Clean Juice, look for two more retailers to round out the ground floor of this project.
Camden Gallery retail: The base of this apartment building is now completely filled with existing tenants Blaze Pizza, Blue Hem, Ultra Running and the recently announced tenants of Pop the Top Craft Beer Shop and Bulgogi Box.
Design Center: It was recently announced that RAM Realty has sold the Design Center to Asana Partners who plan to transform it into a boutique office and, more importantly, retail mecca. Look for some tenant announcements early next year.
Atherton Mill: A MASSIVE overhaul of the Atherton Mill is already under way with EDENS adding retailers like Alton Lane, Anthropologie, O-Ku, Free People and Warby Parker. The next step will be to add hundreds more apartments and tens of thousands of retail square footage in a new structure breaking ground next year.
Hotels: A West Elm Hotel and another hotel at Tryon and Kingston are coming to the area to provide greatly needed hotel rooms as well as additional retail space.
When: As with the Stonewall Corridor, these projects will open over time but all will be under construction next year.
Why it matters: Similar to the Stonewall corridor, this stretch will breathe new life into South End and provide more shopping and retail to the uptown area. This will be an incredibly walkable corridor along the rail trail complete with nightlife, shopping, hotel rooms and much more.
300 S Tryon
What: We all know this one by now. It’s hard to miss when you’re walking Uptown. Office, hotel, retail, linear park. It’s awesome.
When: Both the Kimpton and office tower will be complete and open Q3 2017
300-south-tryon
Why it matters: Not only is it a great looking building, it provides Third Ward with so many incredible additions. From a linear park extending Romare Bearden Park along the structure to Tryon, to a rooftop bar, to additional restaurants, this project is easily one of the most important in the future of Charlotte.
What: The 9+ mile extension of the Blue Line from 7th Street to UNC Charlotte.
When: It is currently on pace to be open for the fall semester at UNC Charlotte.
Why it matters: Just look at South End. The density and develop that this extension will create, and has already started creating, is incalculable. Thousands of apartments will popup, people will get out of their cars and most importantly, communities will be connected. Being able to travel to NoDa from South End, for example, without having to use a car will be a dream. There aren’t enough words to describe the impact this will have on our city.
Trade & Tryon revamp
What: Multiple projects are under way that will transform the most important intersection in Uptown from just being a place you cross the street to a place you can actually do stuff in.
Bank of America Plaza: This project will not only greatly enhance the ground floor presence of the building, but will add tons of retail. From what I hear, they already have an excellent mix of tenants that I will be able to tell you about soon.
bank-of-america-plaza-renovation
101 North Tryon: Currently known as Independence Center, the building will see a similar transformation to BofA Plaza across the street in that retail will be added and the ground floor will be made more human scale and improve the pedestrian experience
Omni: The hotel recently announced that it will revamp its ground floor to make it more appealing to the pedestrian. Personally, I think they could do more than what has been announced but anything is an improvement over its current state.
When: The Marriott is complete now and BofA Plaza will wrap up early next year. Look for the other two to begin construction next year.
Why it matters: More so than any other project in this list, these represent a “course correction” in that we are recognizing the mistakes of the past and looking to fix them. We are looking to be a more urban city and one that is more friendly to the pedestrian. All these projects recognize that and people are at the core of each of these. Well done.
That’s all for now. This is obviously not all of the projects that will begin, continue and complete construction but these are generally the most visible and largest scale for the city’s future. There are a countless number of projects going on just around uptown alone, so stay tuned as I take you further into all these projects in more as things develop in 2017.
By Jason Thomas
Charlotte Agenda
