Ballantyne is growing up
The following article appeared in the July 24 edition of the Charlotte Ledger, a 3x/week e-newsletter focusing on local business news. Sign up for free:
New 14-story hotel/office at Ballantyne Village reveals a more urban future for Charlotte’s suburbia
Ballantyne is movin’ on up.
The 14-story hotel and office tower announced at Ballantyne Village this week will be one of the tallest Charlotte buildings outside of the center city — and it is just the latest evidence that there are big changes afoot in a part of town once viewed as sleepy suburbia.
Consider the following developments in just the last three months:
- Panorama Holdings on Monday announced it is building a 186-room AC Hotel by Marriott on the first seven floors and about 100,000 s.f. of office space on the top seven floors. The building will include a rooftop restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. It building is expected to be complete in 2021. The project also adds 400 parking spaces to the Ballantyne Village parking deck.
- In May, Northwood Office — which owns the corporate park and the Ballantyne hotel — announced it is building an 11-story office tower on Ballantyne Corporate Place across from the Aloft hotel, expected to be complete in 2021. Northwood Ravin plans an adjacent luxury-apartment tower.
- In June, Northwood Office announced plans to turn 25 acres behind the Ballantyne hotel into a mix of parks, restaurants, retail, residential and an amphitheater in a “town center” design. The first phase would include 1,000 apartments and 150,000 s.f. of retail. At the time, Northwood CEO John Barton told the Ledger: “We want to make the millennials feel very welcome here in Ballantyne.”
- As if to underscore that this isn’t your father’s Ballantyne, the area this month got Lime scooters.
The Ballantyne of the future: All this activity suggests that Ballantyne is on its way to becoming its own urban center — like one of a series of planets encircling the sun that is uptown/South End. Other cities have similar structures: Think of Atlanta’s Buckhead — it’s distinct from downtown Atlanta and has its own urban feel.
Quote: “The idea of Ballantyne becoming another suburban center, but a very urban one, is very, very real. … These new ideas really lay a good groundwork that can be amplified. I would think Ballantyne in the future would be much more self-contained. People would live, work and play there.” – David Walters, professor emeritus of architecture and urban design at UNC Charlotte, in a Ledger interview.
The tricky part of urbanizing, Walters says, will be transportation. CATS is eyeing an extension of the Lynx Blue Line into Ballantyne, but that’s at least a decade away even if politicians can scrounge up money to build it. Light rail might not do much for local traffic congestion, which is already a rising concern in the area.
“Ballantyne will have to adapt to a future where driving the car is a real pain in the neck,” Walters says. Some might say the future is already here.
Thought bubble: As Ballantyne urbanizes, the tax money it generates will increase dramatically — much like how the tax base of South End has skyrocketed. If Ballantyne starts throwing off a lot more in taxes, would that enhance an argument for the area becoming its own city, separate from Charlotte? Maybe that’s crazy talk, but recall there was a Ballantyne secession movement a few years back.
Ballantyne: What’s out
- Golf
- New single-family housing
- Traffic-free drive down 521
Ballantyne: What’s in
- Light rail plans
- Mixed-use developments
- High-rises
- Traffic congestion
