The following article appeared in the 1/26/23 edition of The Charlotte Observer:
An urban feel in the suburbs? How a north Charlotte area off I-485 is evolving
By Gordon Rago
Local developer Beauxwright has started construction of 89 town homes in north Charlotte, in an area known as Prosperity Village. Located just off Interstate 485, the area is seeing more urban development in what's largely been a suburban setting. PHOTO COURTESY OF BEAUXWRIGHT
Like a NASCAR track, Interstate 485 forms a loop around the city of Charlotte. Zoom into one of its most northern points and you’ll find a largely suburban area.
Look even closer and you’ll land in Prosperity Village. The area was historically defined by farmland and green fields. But ever since the last segment of I-485 opened in 2015, a different scene has been playing out.
Shopping centers, a dine-in movie theater, hundreds of apartments and plans for more town homes, office and commercial space now gives Prosperity Village a new look. Most of this development is clustered just off the interstate around Prosperity Church Road and Benfield Road.
It’s the type of growth you might associate with a part of Charlotte closer to the center of city, not an area that sits off a major highway. But as Charlotte’s population expands to towns outside the urban core, developers are increasingly bringing a more urban development plan to the suburbs.
The latest project: Larkhall.
Charlotte developer Beauxwright has started construction on 89 for-rent town homes just off Prosperity Ridge Road and Old Ridge Road. The project will include several thousand square feet of retail. The company declined to release the cost of the project.
For Beauxwright, the site can be marketed as both an increasingly walkable community with nearby stores and food options, and having easy access to the highway.
“Our goal is to create a setting that combines suburban comfort and urban walkability,” Andy Lucas, a Beauxwright principal, said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer about the project. “This is an increasingly important factor for people considering town home living, especially millennials.”
Beauxwright, a local developer, is building 89 town homes that will be put on the market for rent in north Charlotte. The project also will include 4,000 square feet of retail. Rendering courtesy of Beauxwright
CHARLOTTE’S PROSPERITY VILLAGE GROWS
Beauxwright’s 7-acre site is one of the last remaining open land sites in the area to be developed, said Wil Russell, president of the Prosperity Village Area Association.
The group welcomes a denser type development, though it has been pushing for housing types other than just apartments, Russell said. It also has been successful at working with developers to bring other community benefits like parks.
Over the last three years, about 1,200 apartment units have been approved for construction through rezoning petitions, Russell said.
More are on the way.
Land has been cleared along Benfield Road, also off the interstate. The approved rezoning petition calls for 84 for-sale condominiums as well as nearly 30,000 square feet of both office and commercial space.
Across the interstate to the south, developers won City Council approval in 2021 for a 58-acre mixed-use project. Those plans call for 132 single-family homes, 300 apartments and up to 145,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
The apartments in Prosperity Village have been filling up, Russell said. Of four new apartment complexes built in the last five years, all are above a 95% occupancy rate.
It speaks to the area being compatible with people seeking a mix of urban and suburban living, Russell said.
Beauxwright's project in north Charlotte will include 4,000 square feet of retail, located off Prosperity Church Road. This part of Charlotte, known as Prosperity Village, is seeing a denser, more urban development. Rendering courtesy of Beauxwright
MORE ABOUT BEAUXWRIGHT’S TOWN HOMES
The first series of buildings for Beauxwright’s town home project are planned to be completed by late this year, according to Lucas.
The retail portion will be at Prosperity Church Road and Goose Creek Drive. The developers plan to connect those two roads during construction, Lucas said.
Charlotte’s White Point Partners is leading development of the retail portion of the project. Copper Builders is the homebuilder for the three-story town homes.