A once-partly abandoned industrial site that's become one of Charlotte's hottest developments has a new part-owner. An Atlanta-based group has purchased a stake in Camp North End just north of uptown, now home to offices, restaurants and apartments. For more on what the change means, Ashley Fahey of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: I do want to point out quickly that Camp North End is a WFAE underwriter. What can you tell us about Jamestown? That’s the new part-owner.
Ashley Fahey: Jamestown is an Atlanta-based real estate investment manager. They own a lot of adaptive reuse properties, a little bit similar to Camp North End. They include Industry City in Brooklyn. They also own Optimist Hall here in Charlotte and they also own Ponce City Market in Atlanta.
Terry: Any idea yet if they're planning any changes, or what's next for the development?
Fahey: I actually spoke with an executive at Jamestown this week and he told me they are excited to keep building on the momentum that's already at Camp North End. The property is entitled for up to 3.2 million square feet of additional development. They do want to see more housing at the property. They want to see more retail, food and beverage tenants. A lot of the tenants at their current properties outside of Charlotte have a food hall component, a mix of small local businesses, as well as some national brands. So I think those are some of the things we could expect to see in the property's future.
Terry: Camp North End is known for its locally owned and operated businesses. What’s been their reaction?
Fahey: I think there's a sense of cautious optimism. A few of them say they're excited by the prospect of Jamestown. They're familiar with Jamestown's other projects in the country. There's also a lot of wariness. I spoke to Davita Galloway and Dion Galloway, the co-owners of creative studio DUPP&SWAT, which has been at the property since 2016. They're a little bit nervous. They say we've seen the story in Charlotte where artists get displaced and they're a little concerned that that might happen at Camp North End.
Terry: Over to NoDa now, where the debate over street vending has intensified this week after a pilot program allowing the practice expired. What’s going on with that?
Fahey: It's not being renewed, and a lot of the vendors are a little bit miffed because they say it's been challenging to get a permit to even operate during the pilot. I think a lot of folks are just concerned that there's no place in Charlotte for them to operate if there's no such program in existence from the city. The city is also considering additional regulations. There's some public safety concerns. There's some food safety concerns. There's a lot of kind of layers to this, but basically the street vendors want a place to operate safely and regulated, but they also say it's so difficult to even get a permit under the pilot.
The city, I think, still needs to figure out what it wants to do, how it wants to regulate this type of business. I think there's a real question about does this kind of take away from the fabric of NoDa, which has long been known for its artisans and small businesses.
Terry: Finally, Charlotte has a new planning director, who you recently spoke to. What's Monica Holmes' background and what are her plans for, well, planning?
Fahey: Monica Holmes, who's actually a Charlotte native, which she hopes people see that and know she's invested in the community and the city — she's actually worked for the city's planning department for about a decade now. She's very excited, mostly about what does the recent transit referendum and all the kind of projects that will be emerging from that, how planning can play a role in that. One thing she said to me was that she wants to move away from transit-oriented development to transit-oriented communities, which is kind of taking a more holistic approach to planning around future transit stations. One of the criticisms of the Blue Line and all the development that sprung up around it is that it's very rapidly gentrifying places like South End and NoDa.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates.
