Another project could soon rise in uptown's First Ward following a recently closed land transaction.
Concord Levine Hotels LLC, affiliated with Raleigh-based hotel group Concord Hospitality Enterprises, recently purchased a 0.4-acre parcel at the corner of North College and East Eighth streets from LMC, the multifamily arm of Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) that's developing a 549-unit apartment project on that same block. The portion of the site that Concord Hospitality acquired last week for $3 million was anticipated for hotel development, as previously reported by the Charlotte Business Journal.
Multiple attempts to reach Concord Hospitality for more details by deadline Thursday were unsuccessful.
Concord Hospitality has nine hotels in North Carolina listed as part of its portfolio, including the Homewood Suites by Hilton Charlotte Airport hotel on Yorkmont Road. Its other N.C. hotels are in Raleigh, Durham and Beaufort, though it's developed and owns hotels nationally, primarily on the East Coast.
LMC isn't breaking ground on its mixed-use project until later this year. It will include a 33-story high-rise with 365 units and a six-story, 184-unit midrise, as well as about 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail fronting the Lynx Blue Line. LMC's project will occupy the rest of the block, which is bounded by East Eighth, North College and East Ninth streets and the light-rail line.
Concord's project will join a number of other hotel projects in the works or under construction in uptown. An Even Hotel and Home2 Suites by Hilton are underway now next to Novel Stonewall Station at Caldwell and Stonewall streets. Not far west, Crescent Communities recently appointed White Lodging as its hospitality partner at the Ally Charlotte Center block at Tryon and Stonewall streets, though a hotel flag has not yet been confirmed for that site. Vision Ventures and McKibbon Hospitality are nearing completion on the dual-branded AC Hotel and Residence Inn Charlotte City Center at the EpiCentre, which will add 300 rooms to uptown's hotel inventory. The Kessler Collection has begun construction on the 254-room Grand Bohemian Hotel at Trade and Church streets, and Valor Hospitality Partners and SB&G Group are developing a 270-room InterContinental Hotel at the Carolina Theatre site on North Tryon Street.