Charlotte's largest swath of undeveloped land may have its first homes and inhabitants by next summer
Monday, August 12, 2024
Home construction in Charlotte's long-anticipated The River District will begin soon, and the first families could move in as early as next year.
Why it matters: The western area between the Catawba River and airport has been Charlotte's largest swath of remaining undeveloped land, with hardly any sewer, electricity or roads.
- But a massive public-private effort is expected to turn that 1,400 acres of greenery into a yearly $5.6 billion economic engine with thousands of residents.
Driving the news: Charlotte-based developer Crescent Communities brought on four home builders to start construction on an initial 267 lots: David Weekley Homes, DRB Homes, Toll Brothers and Saussy Burbank, which is also building the first homes at Eastland Yards.
- Construction on model homes will begin as soon as the end of this year. Those, and some inventory homes, are slated to be ready by spring of 2025.
Zoom in: The first neighborhood is called Westrow. Considered The River District's "town center," Westrow will have amenities, a 2-acre urban farm and commercial space, likely incorporating a grocery store.
- "We're going to see how the community develops and then start talking to some potential grocers," says Rainer Ficken, The River District's senior managing director.
- Some homes will also be completed in the development's second phase, Basswood, by the end of 2025.
Zoom in: Home builders must follow the community's architectural guidelines, Ficken says. However, Crescent expects to get more diverse designs by using multiple builders.
- "With four different home builders, you really enhance the streetscape quite a bit," Ficken says, "because you have a little bit of different architecture."
- Each of the community's areas has different themes to draw inspiration from. For example, Westrow's is "farm and town." Other themes will be "forest" and "river."
- Plus, the builders are constructing a mix of housing types — townhomes, cottages and single-family homes — which will create a range of prices.
Several multi-family buildings will go up over the next year and a half.
- Crescent Communities this month is starting construction on NOVEL River District, a 318-unit development spread across seven structures, primarily three- and four-story buildings. Crescent has several NOVEL properties across North Carolina, like NOVEL Ballantyne and NOVEL Cary. The apartments will feature "world-class amenities, residential programming, and sleek and modern design," a press release states.
- Local developer Laurel Street Residential will start this year on an 87-unit building, targeting residents earning 80% of the area's median income or less.
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Flashback: The land where The River District will rise has been a topic of discussion for nearly 30 years, dating back to a 1996 master development plan for the airport, which contained a rough outline for a "Western Development Zone," as Charlotte magazine wrote in 2017.
- Community members were concerned that the airport's growth would turn their wooded landscape into an industrial zone, so they worked with the city on the 2003 Dixie-Berryhill Strategic Plan, which called for homes and businesses and using the natural landscape.
- The 2008 recession stalled the development conversation for about six years. The blockbuster The River District proposal was revealed in 2016, making it Mecklenburg County's largest master-development plan since Ballantyne.
- Crescent has been working since 2022 on laying down the roads, utilities and other infrastructure needed to make The River District livable. That work included extending West Boulevard.
What's next: Eventually, The River District will encompass 2,300 single-family homes, 2,350 multi-family units and more than 500 acres of open space.
- Within the first few years, Crescent plans to open a 20- to 30-acre public riverfront park, with a kayak launch, dock and trails.
