Ballantyne has long been a great place to call home in the Charlotte area. There are great schools, wonderful neighborhoods, thriving businesses, and an overwhelming sense of community. It looks like there will be many more reasons to love this area as well as this week, the city approved a redevelopment project of Ballantyne Corporate Park called Ballantyne Reimagined.
Ballantyne Corporate Park covers well over 400 acres and is home to the headquarters of Babcock & Wilcox, Curtiss-Wright, Tree.com Inc, Snyder’s-Lance Inc, Premier Inc, Extended Stay America Inc, SPX, and ESPN regional television just to name the largest companies there. The redevelopment project is for a 455-acre tract and will be a $1.5 billion revitalization with the city providing developer Northwood Office $42.5 million for infrastructure.
The revitalization project will include around 2,000 apartments, offices, hotel rooms, single-family homes, 300,000 square feet of retail, restaurants, multiple parks, greenway, and an amphitheater. These will all be built over two phases of development. The plan is to turn Ballantyne from just a corporate park into a walk-able, urban, dense community.
The project is expected to last for several years and to create around 1,700 jobs at the peak of construction in 2024. This is great at a time when jobs are sorely needed to bolster the economy.
There will be 260 units in the two phases set aside for affordable housing which can be in limited supply in the affluent Ballantyne area. 20% of the affordable units will be reserved for people making between 50% and 60% of the median area income. This would be between $39,500 and $47,400 for a family of four. Another 30% of the units will be reserved for people earning between 60% and 70% of the median area income. This would be ranging from $47,400 to $55,300 for a family of four. The last 50% of the affordable units will be for people earning between 70% and 80% of the area median income. This would be between $55,300 and $63,200. This would be a great example for how projects in the area can include people normally excluded due to high prices.
Prices for the units and timing of the project are still being finalized and can change due to permitting and the infrastructure changes necessary. This week was a big hurdle that has been overcome as the zoning and funding can stall developments. This means that Northwood can go full steam ahead to get this project closer to fruition.
This project will help to keep Ballantyne one of the major employers in the area and will keep up with a trend of urban developments so people can live within walking distance to where they work. The lucky people that will call Ballantyne Corporate Park home will have all of the services they need, greenspace, and community all inside the larger community of the city of Ballantyne. We can’t wait to see what it is like once it is finished. You can be sure we will be watching eagerly to see this revitalization realized.
