Here come the North End apartments
Plus: Bakery to replace photo studio in Eastover?; OrthoCarolina marketing exec leaving; Charity puts books in kids' hands; Gibbie Harris celebrated upon retirement; Video-gaming in new arena
Good morning! Today is Friday, December 17, 2021. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C. This post is sent to paying subscribers only.
Plans for new housing multiply in the ‘last frontier’ in the urban core; Opinions split: Will development push people out — or bring a long-awaited grocery store?
Construction has started on 140 apartments on West 30th Street between Graham and North Tryon Streets — the first of at least eight housing developments planned in the area near Camp North End, north of uptown. Over the years, there has not been much new housing construction in the area.
by Tony Mecia
Developers are honing in on land north of uptown, around Camp North End, with plans for new apartment complexes and townhouses that could bring big changes to the area.
While other parts of Charlotte are quite acquainted with the sight of new housing construction, new developments have largely bypassed this area of town, located roughly between NoDa and I-77 along the North Tryon Street, North Graham Street and Statesville Avenue corridors.
Developers and neighborhood advocates say the trend seems to stem from many sources, including the city’s rising demand for housing, to historically lower-than-average land costs in older neighborhoods that lack amenities such as drugstores and grocery stores.
Development twist: It also represents a twist on traditional development patterns. Typically, retail and restaurants spring up only after new housing is built. In the North End, it’s the reverse: The new housing, developers say, is coming in part because of the success that Camp North End is having with its eight retailers and 13 food and beverage tenants. Camp North End is a 76-acre old industrial site that’s becoming a hip hangout spot, though there is no housing component (yet).
Most of the development action has taken place in the last year or so. There’s little construction underway, but that’s about to change.
“In 20 years, I’ve done one rezoning on that corridor,” says Collin Brown, a land use lawyer with Alexander Ricks. “Now, I’m talking to eight different people.”
The prospect of new development in lower-income areas also comes with the familiar Charlotte tension between concerns about renters being driven from their homes because of escalating land prices and hopes that an influx of newcomers will help attract stores and services that residents want.
Mixed feelings: Residents in the eight neighborhoods surrounding Camp North End have different views on the coming housing developments, says Melissa Gaston, executive director of the North End Community Coalition.
“You get a mixture of people who are happy and people who aren’t so happy,” she says. “Some residents are happy because they know it will bring the additional amenities that have been sorely missing from this area, like banking and grocery stores and drugstores. And then of course you have other residents who are like, ‘We don’t want to have anything additional because it’s going to push people out.’”
She says the area has three breweries, but no grocery stores.
Like a lot of real estate, it’s all about location. Development has been spreading out of uptown and radiating out of NoDa and from the AxidXchange Music Factory area, into corridors marked by industrial buildings, warehouses, car repair places, convenience stores and some historic neighborhoods with modest houses.
“This is happening now because they are running out of space price-wise,” Gaston says. “This is almost the last frontier. We are so close, one-and-a-half miles to uptown. Most of the locations, you can see the skyline.”
A developer submitted plans to the city in June for 21 townhomes on Statesville Avenue.
Planned development in the area includes a mix of affordable and market-rate housing:
A commercial and apartment development on 5.2 acres on Statesville Avenue by Kohler Avenue by an Atlanta company called MQC1.
Plans for 340 apartments on 3.5 acres on North Tryon Street at Matheson Avenue by Alliance Residential.
Plans for 21 townhomes on 0.9 acres on Statesville Avenue by Norris Avenue by LEH NC Statesville.
22 for-sale “duet” units in the Druid Hills neighborhood by DreamKey Partners (formerly the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership).
140 apartments under construction on 4.3 acres on West 30th Street by North Church Street by Inlivian (formerly the Charlotte Housing Authority).
Plans for 370 apartments and 31 townhomes on 7.5 acres at North Graham Street at 28th Street by Abacus Acquisitions.
Plans for 92 townhomes on 7.2 acres at Statesville Avenue and Oaklawn Avenue by The Drakeford Co.
Tentative plans for 300 apartments at Camp North End itself, in a future phase that might get started in 2022, according to ATCO Properties and Management.
New housing developments (marked by red dots) are planned north of uptown.
Bobby Drakeford of urban infill developer The Drakeford Co. says he senses strong demand to live near Camp North End and the Music Factory. That’s why he’s planning 92 townhomes across the Statesville Avenue from Camp North End, in the Greenville neighborhood. In a city worried about rising housing prices, he says the area has a leg up on the competition.
“If you can deliver in the $400,000s out here, you’ll be cheaper than anything else in the urban core,” he says.
The Drakeford Co. has plans for 92 townhomes at the intersection of Statesville and Oaklawn avenues in the Greenville neighborhood, across the street from Camp North End.
Tommy Mann, development director for Camp North End, said he’s happy to see a mix of housing types headed to the area to complement the single-family neighborhoods nearby.
“It’s more neighbors in the immediate community to visit our small shops and restaurants,” he said. “It’s more options for employers to choose to put their office space in the North End, for their employees to have a variety of housing options in the area. It’s great to see some of the underutilized properties in the North End sort of being re-energized with new life.”
Related Ledger articles:
“View from NoDa: ‘We don’t want to be South End’” (Aug. 20, 2021)
“Flyover Friday: Camp North End up close” (Aug. 21, 2020)
Longtime Eastover photography studio to become a bakery?
Changes are ahead for a longtime Eastover photography studio, Phil Aull Studios on Providence Road.
It’s in a 1924 building, and the studio has been there for decades. Its even on its own street, Phil Aull Place.
Now, though, there are plans for a new building on the site, adjacent to Colonial Park, that call for a ground-floor bakery and offices on the upper level, according to a rezoning request filed this week with the city.
Cassie Aull Stone, who owns the 0.4 acre site, said plans are proceeding but didn’t have a lot of details. Her dad, Phil Aull, died in 2014. He started his business in 1954 as an in-home photographer and later set up a studio at the current site.
Asked whether the studio would continue, Stone said, “I hope so. That is unclear at the moment.” She said she has worked at the studio since 2014 and has a separate studio in North Wilkesboro. —TM
OrthoCarolina marketing exec, known for nontraditional approach, stepping down for new job
One of Charlotte’s best-known marketing executives, Blair Primis of OrthoCarolina, says he’s leaving the company after more than 12 years.
Under Primis’ leadership, the orthopedic practice’s marketing efforts represented a new approach in the Charlotte area — one that focused on reaching millennials and others where they actually are by pumping money into sponsorships of high school sports, community organizations and new-media ventures. In 2015, OrthoCarolina was the first backer of Charlotte Agenda (now Axios Charlotte), giving it a critical lifeline. It has also backed the Queen City Podcast Network, a soccer site called Soccer ‘n’ Sweet Tea and an advertorial publication aimed at women called Scoop Charlotte.
The Ledger explained the approach in a January 2020 article, “Inside OrthoCarolina’s new-media ad strategy”:
Like almost no other company in the Charlotte region, OrthoCarolina has embraced a strategy far different than the traditional TV and newspaper ads and boosted social media posts that are staples of usual marketing. Instead of paying for clicks or promoting its own corporate content, OrthoCarolina is spreading money around to 125 different organizations in the area and hoping to become top of mind when you inevitably twist your ankle, tear your meniscus or dislocate your shoulder.
Primis told The Ledger on Thursday that he’s staying in Charlotte and will be taking a new job with a national healthcare organization that is not based in Charlotte. He said that in his time at OrthoCarolina, he has tried to take a “disruptive and nontraditional approach to how we think about brand-building and marketing campaigns. I hope people see that is successful and that it works.”
His last day at OrthoCarolina is in mid-January, he said. —TM
Related Ledger articles:
“Inside OrthoCarolina’s new-media ad strategy” (Jan. 24, 2020)
“Building Charlotte Agenda” (🔒, April 27, 2021)
Video-gaming in a new arena
The Carolina Fintech Hub’s Youth Technology Apprentice Camp held a gaming competition this week, one of the first events at a new “mini e-sports arena” south of South End operated by the Charlotte Phoenix, Charlotte’s e-sports team. It’s a 5,000 s.f. facility with 100 gaming stations. The camp “uses e-sports and friendly competition as a gateway to STEM” and teaches students how technology and coding can offer an exciting career and life. (Photo courtesy of Carolina Fintech Hub)
Charity spotlight: Encouraging reading from a young age
This month, The Ledger is highlighting a few local charities doing good work in our community. The full list of Charlotte-area nonprofits recommended by our members can be found here.
Promising Pages distributes around 200,000 books a year to children living in Charlotte’s “book deserts.” (Photo courtesy of Promising Pages)
More than 60,000 children in the Charlotte area have 10 or fewer books in their home libraries. Promising Pages, a local nonprofit organization, is working to change that number and inspire more children to develop a daily habit of reading for pleasure.
For over 10 years, Promising Pages has been collecting new and used books to give to children living in Charlotte’s “book deserts.” Eric Law, executive director of Promising Pages, said that Charlotte’s growth has made it difficult for certain areas to get the resources that they need. Over the last three years, Promising Pages has distributed an average of 199,000 books per year.
“We’re one of Charlotte’s better-kept secrets,” Law said.
Promising Pages’ biggest book distribution program is called “Books on Break.” Since 2016, Promising Pages has set up free pop-up book fairs at Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools for pre-K through fifth-grade students. Last Spring, Promising Pages shared over 54,000 books with over 9,000 students in 16 schools.
“If a child is not reading on grade level by the time they’re in third grade, they’re four times more likely to drop out of high school,” Law said, citing to a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Promising Pages is always looking for book donations, but they also accept monetary donations. Right now, Promising Pages operates from donated warehouse space, but as they grow, Law said they need a larger space.
With a staff of only four, Promising Pages also welcomes volunteers. Volunteers are invited into the office to help count, clean and sort books.
The organization has a wish list on its website of needed books to make sure children have a diverse range from which to choose, including books in Spanish.
“Over 90% of the students we serve are children of color,” he said. “We've been working intentionally to see to it that we increase the number and percentage of books we share that are diverse and reflect their daily lives.”
Book donations can be brought to the South End office or at one of the 15 drop-off locations around the county. Though Promising Pages primarily focuses on children from birth through third grade, it also accepts books for middle and high school readers. —Lindsey Banks
Changing of the guard at the health department
In brief
Jackson endorses Beasley: State Sen. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte announced he was pulling out of the U.S. Senate race on Thursday morning: “I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished, but everyone needs to know when to step aside,” he said. He endorsed fellow Democrat and former N.C. Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and said he won’t seek re-election to his state senate seat. (WBTV)
Don’t call us ‘NASCAR’: The 20-story NASCAR Plaza tower at 550 S. Caldwell St. will now be known as “550 South,” according to owner Cousins Properties. The new name of the building — which is in uptown — “ties together the address with its location near booming South End, South Boulevard and the Stonewall corridor,” the Charlotte Business Journal reported.
Mecklenburg Boy Scout lawsuits: Three lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 31 former Boy Scouts who say that scout leaders with the Mecklenburg County Council of Boy Scouts of America sexually abused them. The alleged incidents took place between 1950 and 2007, the lawsuits say. (WSOC)
State’s first e-closing: North Carolina’s first e-closing of a real estate transaction took place this week, “in which the buyer, notary, and attorney were each in different physical locations,” the N.C. Secretary of State’s office said. The transaction involved Truliant Federal Credit Union in Winston-Salem, a home buyer in Stokes County and a notary in Charlotte. (N.C. Secretary of State)
New black-owned brewery: A Georgia-based brewery called Hippin’ Hops is planning to open at the Bainbridge NoDa apartment complex on North Davidson Street next summer. It would be Charlotte’s only black-owned brewery. (QCity Metro)
Brooklyn Village timeline: Don Peebles of The Peebles Corp., the lead developer of the planned Brooklyn Village project, told Charlotte’s Black Political Caucus that he expects to break ground on the project by uptown’s Marshall Park “in the next 16-18 months” and is considering buying a home in Charlotte. (Erik Spanberg on Twitter)
Correction
Our breaking news alert yesterday on Jeff Jackson leaving the U.S. Senate race gave the wrong information about how long he has been a state senator. He has been elected to the General Assembly four times. (Apologies, we said twice.)
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project