PI KAPPA PHI MOVING IN
Ayrsley draws more tenants, construction of all kinds
KIRSTEN VALLE
kvalle@charlotteobserver.com
New things are happening at Ayrsley, the 180-acre, $720 million development going up near N.C. 49 and Interstate 485.
Crews have started work on Charleston Row, a 90,000-square-foot office and retail building that's modeled after one in Charleston.
The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity announced recently that it will move its national offices there. The fraternity's 13,000-square-foot space will include a museum, educational seminar room and administrative offices.
Ayrsley has been growing slowly for about four years, with a recent surge. That measured growth has been part of the community's success, said Charley Hodges of Cambridge Partners, which is developing Ayrsley with Henson-Tomlin Interests.
"It's not just this cookie-cutter design," he said. "We have a tendency to get involved in projects that aren't just concept, built and flipped."
Charleston Row should be finished by late fall. Nearby, the Kings Parade One building is open, with Strayer University to become a major tenant.
The first tenant at The Shops at Ayrsley Grand, the Eat Here Now restaurant, opens today. The building will eventually have seven or eight tenants, including an anchor that developers plan to announce soon, Hodges said.
Other things are in the works, too. Developers will announce the first of three or four hotels soon. They're also adding signs in the community and along N.C. 49 and I-485, a move the city of Charlotte approved in April, Hodges said.
On the residential side, 26 live-work units, which combine retail and residential space, will open in mid-summer.
Ayrsley is zoned for 2,000 residential units, and about 130 families have moved in.
Ayrsley, going up less than 10 miles from uptown, is meant to be a city on the edge of a city, with its walkable mix of shopping, entertainment and offices, Hodges said.
"A lot of things you're seeing nationally are all around sustainability and mixed-use," he said. "Cities don't like sprawl, and this is one of the best countermeasures" to that.
Mixed-use projects are springing up across southern Mecklenburg. And master-planned communities are especially hot in Steele Creek, with The Palisades, The Sanctuary and Berewick being built minutes from Ayrsley.
People are starting to catch on, sometimes skipping uptown for Ayrsley, Hodges said.
"Essentially we're the pioneers of doing an edge city," he said. "The difficulty is getting people to see it. The difficulty is that it's so different, but that's also its great strength."
About 80 percent of the land at Ayrsley has been sold, with the build-out about 40 percent complete, Hodges said.
Ayrsley
• Spans 180 acres.
• 1.8 million square feet of office space, 400,000 square feet of retail, 2,000 residential units and three or four hotels.
• Wireless Internet throughout.
• Tenants include a 14-screen movie theater, Indian restaurant and spa.
• Pronounced "AIR-slee."
Residential projects
• Lennar Townhomes at Ayrsley: more than 100 townhomes ranging from the low $180,000s to the low $200,000s.
• Village Manor at Ayrsley by Faison: 68 townhomes, $140,000s-$180,000s.
• Avenues at Ayrsley by D.R. Horton: 96 townhomes from the $230,000s.
• Meeting Street Market at Ayrsley: 26 live-work townhomes, low $200,000s-$400,000s.
• Ryan Homes: 200 townhomes planned. Details to be announced.
• Colonial Grand at Ayrsley by Colonial Properties Trust: 368 apartments, including a pool, fitness center and cyber cafe.
Events
• YMCA parent's night out 6:30-9:30 p.m. May 11. Register early, $15 per child; day of event, $20. 704-716-4925.
• "Spider-Man 3" premiere weekend at Ayrsley Grand Cinemas, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday. To register for a chance to win a $25 theater gift card: www.ayrsley.com.
• Farmers market starts this summer.