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SouthPark’s urban evolution is continuing, with more plans for taller, mixed-use projects concentrated in its center by the mall
Real estate development company Hines is proposing to rezone two parcels on Carnegie Boulevard in SouthPark, on the site of Rooster’s Wood-fired Kitchen, for a mix of high-rise apartments, offices and retail. It is part of a trend toward higher-density developments in SouthPark and other suburban areas.
By Tony Mecia
The expanding commercial center of SouthPark is being eyed for a new mixed-use development — one that would include offices and apartments on a site now occupied by Rooster’s Wood-fired Kitchen and a few shops.
On Wednesday, Houston-based real estate development company Hines filed for a rezoning of the 3.9-acre site on Carnegie Boulevard, across the street from SouthPark Mall. It’s between a Walgreens and the Perry’s Diamonds and Estate Jewelry building.
The rezoning, which would take months to complete, would allow buildings up to 275 feet tall, which would likely be more than 20 stories — although it is unclear whether Hines would build a structure of that height or how many buildings it would construct.
The company hasn’t released detailed plans, and city ordinances allow flexibility. But it envisions a mix of offices and apartments, with ground-floor retail and restaurants, plus plenty of open space.
A redevelopment of the site would be one of several major redevelopments in the commercial center of SouthPark surrounding the mall, and it illustrates how some parts of town often thought of as suburban are increasingly attracting developments common to urban areas.
It would also add to the growing number of high-density developments in SouthPark, adding potentially several hundred apartments on top of the hundreds that have come online in recent years.
Adam Rhew, CEO of SouthPark Community Partners, said it makes sense to encourage high-density and walkable developments in SouthPark’s business district while ensuring that developments closer to neighborhoods of single-family homes are less dense and more in line with residential areas.
“If you think about the full length of Carnegie Boulevard, there’s a lot going on,” he said. “That signals how special that street will continue to be and how it will evolve.”
The 3.9-acre site consists of two parcels on Carnegie Boulevard in SouthPark. (Image courtesy of Hines)
Rob Aulebach, the vice-chair of the SouthPark Association of Neighborhoods, said the plans are in line with how SouthPark should be growing.
“We want densification as much as possible in the center, and less on the fringe,” he said. “This being in the center, and it being pretty dense, that’s very much in line with the overall plan for SouthPark.”
Hines’ managing director for North and South Carolina, Paul Zarian, said in a statement: “Hines is pleased to bring forward a thoughtful mixed-use redevelopment that promotes the evolution of SouthPark’s core into a more urban and walkable district.”
Just within a few blocks of the Rooster’s site, other planned redevelopments include:
An overhaul of Symphony Park, which is owned by SouthPark Mall. It plans to break ground next summer.
A new office for TowneBank, next to Specialty Shops (BrickTop’s).
An office/retail building that could be up to 275 feet tall on the site of upscale Asian restaurant Baku. It was rezoned in 2023. It was sold to insurance company Amwins in December 2024.
The final phase of Apex SouthPark, behind the Hyatt Centric Charlotte SouthPark, which was rezoned in 2023 to allow up to 425 residential units in a building of up to 250 feet tall.
The next phases of The Colony development, which would include 341 apartments and commercial businesses, including a long-planned grocery store.
When will it happen? While there are plenty of development plans in SouthPark and elsewhere in Charlotte that are on the books, the big question is when the projects will actually start. Even in still-booming Charlotte, development has slowed in recent years, as interest rates have risen and the market works to absorb apartments built during a building spree in 2022 and 2023. And office vacancy rates remain high, above 20%.
It’s unclear what will happen to Rooster’s and to other retailers on the site, though officials said the businesses have been aware of the possibility of having to move for a while.
Besides Rooster’s, other businesses on the site include Copain Bakery & Provisions, Tommy’s Tailoring and Garden Secrets. Another mostly vacant building at the location includes a former Wendy’s, which was previously a Bojangles.
Real estate records show the land is owned by Camdee Properties, whose manager is developer Dee-Dee Harris. She and her husband, Cammie, are members of the prominent Harris family, which developed much of SouthPark and Ballantyne.
Tony Mecia is The Ledger’s executive editor. Reach him at [email protected].
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