An annual look at the state’s best new and rehabbed structures.
Construction’s contributions to North Carolina can be counted in many ways. The $1 billion Pearl complex has led to a highly anticipated medical school and a separate magnet attracting leading global surgeons to study in Charlotte. Toyota’s $14 billion battery plant in Randolph County strengthens the Tar Heel state’s participation in creating a clean energy future.
CN Hotels’ development of a dual-branded Hilton hotel gave the state capital the highest rooftbar in the Triangle. Northwood Development has turned Charlotte’s Ballantyne area, long known for its massive office complex, into a popular place to eat, drink and enjoy live entertainment.
Then there’s Champion Credit Union’s decision to move forward with a new corporate headquarters in Haywood County, demonstrating the resiliency of Canton residents affected by Tropical Storm Fred and the closing of a dominant regional employer. In Bessemer City, a long-abandoned Gaston County textile mill now offers 139 affordable housing units.
Making a difference in communities was a common theme as Business North Carolina recognizes the most important new buildings to open in the year ending June 30. This marks the 12th year for the project, which is put together by the BNC editorial team with input from representatives of the state’s construction and architecture industries.
The list includes nine category winners and eight honorable mentions. The buildings represent some of the biggest investments in state history, some of its tallest office towers and largest residential developments, as well as hospital facilities that promise better access to healthcare. Renovation projects that preserved cultural heritage also show up on the list.
Construction contributed $41.4 billion to the state’s gross domestic product last year, about 5.6% of the total. The industry employs about 280,000 workers in the rapidly developing state.
HEALTHCARE
The Pearl Charlotte
Developers: Atrium Health (Charlotte) and Wexford Science & Technology (Baltimore)
Contractors: Whiting-Turner Contracting (Baltimore) and R.J. Leeper Construction (Charlotte)
Architects: Ayers Saint Gross (Baltimore) CO Architects (Los Angeles) and Neighboring Concepts (Charlotte)Cost: $965 million Size: 643,000 square feet (Phase 1)
The 26-acre innovation district is built around the Charlotte campus of Wake Forest University’s School of Medicine, merging the city’s health, research and education sectors. The Pearl opened its first phase in June as a collaboration between Atrium Health, Baltimore-based Wexford Science & Technology and Ventas,
a Chicago-based real estate investment trust.
The Pearl’s first buildings include the 14-story Howard R. Levine Center for Education, which includes the medical school, and a 10-story research building, which houses IRCAD North America.
Those structures include 643,000 square feet of lab, academic, research, office and retail space. Plans call for as much as 4.2 million square feet of additional development over the next 15 years. Construction of a hotel is expected to start next year, Atrium officials say.
The Pearl is projected to generate more than 5,500 on-site jobs and spur the addition of 6,000 more across the region, entailing an investment topping $1.5 billion.
The IRCAD North America site will attract more than 8,000 surgeons annually to study emerging techniques in cardiovascular, neuro and orthopedic surgeries, among others. The first course launched in September.
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Champion Credit Union Canton
Developer: Champion Credit Union (Canton)
Contractor: NewGround International/Beverly-Grant (Chesterfield, Missouri)
Architect: NewGround International (Chesterfield, Missouri)
Cost: $23 million
Size: 30,000 square feet
Champion Credit Union finished its new headquarters in May, overlooking the former paper mill where seven employees of the former Champion mill came together in 1932 to found what was then known as Champion Savings and Loan. Building plans were announced in 2022, but construction began after Pactiv Evergreen announced the plant’s closing in March 2023, idling more than 1,000 people in a town of 4,400 residents.
The project became a testament to the town’s resiliency and the credit union’s commitment to Canton, says CEO Jake Robinson.
The mostly stone and glass facade offers picturesque views of the surrounding Great Smoky Mountain range. The new building consolidates back office operations and administrative work that had been done in three separate buildings.
The city of Canton bought the credit union’s two former buildings for a new town hall and police department offices. Both need renovations that are expected to be completed over the next 18 months. City staffers still operate out of Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers after Pigeon River flooding during Tropical Storm Fred slammed Canton in August 2021.
COMMERCIAL
1000 Social Raleigh
Developer: Dewitt Carolinas (Raleigh)
Contractor: Brasfield & Gorrie (Birmingham, Alabama)
Architect: Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio (Atlanta)
Cost: $200 million
Size: 353,891 square feet
The 12-story office tower begun in September 2022 is the first building completed as part of the $1 billion, 40-acre development known as The Exchange. Over the next seven to 10 years, it is slated to include 990,000 square feet of office space, 125,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 300 hotel rooms and 1,275 apartments, condos and townhomes.
Building features include outdoor meeting spaces on each floor, an amenity terrace on the top floor and an eight-story, double-helix parking deck with 1,585 spaces. An adjacent park will include walking trails, an amphitheater and connections to an existing greenway.
It’s Raleigh’s first WELL- and LEED-certified project, tied to sustainable energy and environmental designs.
Plans call for a skybridge to connect 1000 Social with a mirror-image counterpart, 2000 Social, once that building is constructed.
Uzun + Case were the structural engineers; Crenshaw Consulting Engineers handled mechanical, plumbing and electrical; and Advanced Civil Design was in charge of civil engineering. RJTR was the interior designer and Studio Outside was the landscape designer.
Fifty percent of the building was pre-leased. The first tenant, Raleigh-based Whitley Law Firm, moved into its second-floor office last year. CBRE managed leasing.
PUBLIC
Asheville Regional Airport North Concourse Fletcher
Developer: Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority
Contractor: Parsons (Chantilly, Virginia)
Architect: Gresham Smith (Nashville, Tennessee)
Cost: $228 million
Size: 136,000 square feet
Asheville Regional Airport completed construction of its North Concourse in June, where most of its operations will take place for the next two-plus years. Planning began in 2019, while demolition of the old north concourse started in August 2023.
The North Concourse includes Gates 7 through 12, new restaurants, an art gallery and floor-to-ceiling, electrochromic windows that offer picturesque views of the Blue Ridge Mountains while helping keep the terminal cool on hot days.
The project is part of a five-year, almost $400 million construction project expected to
be completed by early 2028. It’s the largest infrastructure project in the airport’s
64-year history.
Workers are also replacing the South Concourse, which will include a new main entrance and Gates 1 through 6. Some operations still take place in the “legacy” concourse, including baggage claims and car rentals. Those areas will be replaced in phases.
Once complete, the new concourse will be 150% larger.
The Asheville airport attracted more than 2 million passengers for the first time in 2023, and did it again in 2024. The number of nonstop destination flights increased from 10 to 27 between 2013 and 2023.
INDUSTRIAL
Toyota Battery Manufacturing, NC Liberty
Developer: Toyota (Aichi, Japan)
Contractor: Aristeo Construction (Livonia, Michigan)
Architect: SSOE Group (Toledo, Ohio)
Cost: $13.9 billion
Size: 7 million square feet
Toyota Battery Manufacturing, 20 miles south of Greensboro marks the global marks the global automaker’s first in-house battery plant outside Japan and its 11th U.S. manufacturing plant. Toyota began shipping batteries from the plant in April. It will feature 14 production lines, with four dedicated to hybrid electric vehicles and 10 for battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Spanning 7 million square feet on roughly 1,825 acres, the campus represents a nearly $13.9 billion investment, with plans to employ about 5,100 people once fully operational. The production build-out will occur in phases through 2030.
The project is expected to supply batteries for Toyota and Lexus electrified models. The company sold a record 1.006 million electrified vehicles in North America in 2024, up 53% from the year before. That represents 43% of its total sales volume. Second quarter electrified vehicle sales increased 29.7%, representing 48% of total sales volume.
The company offers 32 Toyota and Lexus electrified vehicle models, more than any other automaker.
HOSPITALITY
Tempo by Hilton/Homewood Suites by Hilton Raleigh
Developer: CN Hotels (High Point)
Contractor: Humphreys & Associates (Carrollton, Texas)
Architect: The Preston Partnership (Atlanta)
Cost: 332,913 square feet
Size: Not disclosed
CN Hotels opened the 261-bed, dual-branded Hilton hotel located between the state Capitol and Raleigh’s Warehouse District in December. Its location makes it an easy walk to some of the city’s popular restaurants and bars, and entertainment venues like Red Hat Amphitheater, Lincoln Theatre and The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop.
Homewood Suites has 134 rooms and caters to extended stay guests, while Tempo’s 127 rooms are geared toward lifestyle-focused travelers. The Raleigh location for Tempo is a first for North Carolina. It is managed by Tampa, Florida-based McKibbon Hospitality.
Urban Oak, featuring tapas plates and cocktails, is on the 13th floor, making it the tallest rooftop bar and lounge in the Triangle area. CN Hotels’ owners, the Patel family, have been operating hotels in North Carolina since the 1970s.
RENOVATION
Lofts at Osage Mill Bessemer City
Developer: WinnDevelopment (Boston)
Contractor: Rehab Builders (Winston-Salem)
Architect: Tise-Kiester Architects (Chapel Hill)
Cost: $36 million
Size: 250,000 square feet
A long-vacant textile mill now has 139 apartments to rent in an affordable housing project that city leaders say will be key for downtown redevelopment. Town founder John Smith built the mill in 1896 for his Southern Cotton Mill. It employed more than 400 in its heyday, but closed for good in 1995. After almost 30 years of vacancy, construction started on the project in 2023. The first residents moved into the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments earlier this year.
The redevelopment preserved the building’s brick exterior and historic features while adding a resident lounge, business center and fitness room. Skylights bring natural light into the building’s interior atriums, illuminating its wooden beams and original flooring.
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency supported the project with tax-exempt bonds issued by the Gastonia Housing Authority. Bank of America provided construction and permanent financing, as well as equity under the federal
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, the federal Historic Tax Credit program and the state’s Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credit program.
The Lofts at Osage Mill is WinnDevelopment’s first adaptive reuse project in North Carolina. Collaboration with Duke Energy ensured the building’s design conformed to Energy Star guidelines to maximize energy efficiency.
Apartments will be rented to households earning 60% of the area’s median income, which is less than $53,880 for a two-person household. Monthly rent for the 50 one-bedroom apartments will be $1,125; rent will be $1,352 for the 77 two-bedroom units; and $1,160 for the 12 three-bedroom units. As of mid-September, all but 15 of the apartments were occupied.
RESIDENTIAL
Linea Charlotte
Developer: Portman Holdings (Atlanta); National Real Estate Advisors (Washington, D.C.)
Contractor: JE Dunn Construction (Kansas City, Missouri)
Architect: LS3P Associates (Charleston, South Carolina)
Cost: Not disclosed
Size: 360,932 square feet (apartments only); 614,385 square feet total
A glass exterior and 23rd-floor year-round outdoor pool make this 24-story tower stand out in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood, which is home to an estimated 18,000-plus residents. Move-ins began in January to the 370 apartment units, which lease for about $1,800 to $5,000 per month, and 13 penthouses that lease for as much $9,500
a month.
A skybridge offers a connection to The Line office tower, which includes Sycamore Brewing on the ground floor. The parking garage shares 766 parking spaces with The Line. It also has 18,700 square feet of retail space.
Linea has a prime location on the city’s bike-and-walk Rail Trail, as well as 18,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, including Night Swim Coffee, Peachy Salon and Half Shell Oyster House. Charlotte Area Transit System has plans for adding a light-rail stop nearby.
In additio to the heated pool on the 23rds floor, the sun deck has loungers, fire pits and grill stations. The floor includes an athletic club that has a two-story rock climbing wall, co-working space, lounges and game rooms.
Portman’s Charlotte developments have included the Westin hotel uptown, which opened in 2003; the 615 South College building, which opened in 2017; and the 16-story Line building, which was completed in 2022.
RENOVATION
The Bowl at Ballantyne Charlotte
Developer: Northwood Development (Charlotte)
Contractor: Rodgers Builders, (Charlotte, joined Tokyo-based Kajima in 2004) (retail and infrastructure), Samet (Greensboro) (residential)
Architect: Cooper Carry (Atlanta) (retail), SK&I Architecture (Bethesda, Maryland) (residential), LandDesign (Charlotte) (civil/landscape architecture)
Cost: $111 million (Phase 1)
Size: 40 acres
The Bowl at Ballantyne represents a transformation of South Charlotte’s sprawling office park into a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood. The project, spearheaded by Northwood Development, is anchored by a 20-acre core that combines retail, dining, entertainment, multifamily residences and public green space. The development aims to provide a
main street atmosphere in what was once primarily corporate campus land.
Phase I included more than 90,000 square feet of retail, a
350-unit, 26-story residential tower, a 6-acre stream-park, and a myriad of retail and restaurant buildings. The Bowl also offers a 5,000-person capacity outdoor amphitheatre to foster community gathering through music and other live events. The mix of tenants includes s includes both local favorites like Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, Bossy Beulah’s Chicken Shack and Rooster’s Wood-fired Kitchen, along with national names like The Salty Donut and Postino WineCafe.
The Bowl is part of a larger $1.2 billion acquisition of 535 acres by Northwood from Bissell Companies in 2017. Phase 1 cost approximately $111 million in infrastructure. Phase 2 has yet to commence, but the expansion may include 1,000 multifamily units, 300 townhomes and 400,000 square feet of office.
Its outdoor concert venue, The Amp, will become a pop-up ice skating rink during
the holidays.
Honorable Mentions:
- Caromont Health, Belmont (healthcare)
- UNC Health Blue Ridge Patient Tower, Morganton (healthcare)
- Ziehl-Abegg, Winston Salem (industrial)
- Towers at SouthPark, Charlotte (renovation)
- The Weld, Raleigh (residential)
- 100 East, Charlotte (commercial)
- Carolina Theater, Charlotte (restoration)
- Horseshoe at Hub RTP, Durham (commercial)
