Axiom Architecture announces new Interior Design Division with Rosarae Drury as Director of Interior Design

Axiom Architecture is excited to announce that Rosarae Drury has joined the company as Director of Interior Design for Axiom’s new Interior Design division. Rosarae has over 15 years of expertise in multi-family, workplace, residential, corporate, healthcare, and hospitality design and has designed projects across the country. She maintains crucial industry qualifications including LEED accreditation and NCIDQ certification as well as being recognized and awarded for many prominent projects in the Southeast. Rosarae has taught as an assistant professor at Queens and Winthrop University as well as served on the advisory boards of the Interior Architecture Department at UNC Greensboro and Winthrop University. Rosarae graduated from Western Kentucky University with her Architectural Science Degree, Bachelor of Science, and from Savannah College of Arts and Design with her Interior Design Degree, Master of Arts. She and her team will offer full interior design and FF&A services to existing clients of Axiom Architecture as well as to new clients with diverse interior projects in our region.

Congratulations!

Axiom Architecture is excited to announce the promotion of Ashley Damiano-Hill to Associate. Ashley is a licensed architect, an AIA member, and a valued leader at Axiom for more than 7 years.

How Columbia’s BullStreet District is creating a new vision of urban living

By Christina Lee Knauss

Bennet at BullStreet, currently under construction, will offer 269 luxury apartments along with retail space.

Every day when Joann Turnquist comes to work at the First Base Building in Columbia’s BullStreet District, she sees something different outside her windows.

Turnquist, president and CEO of the Central Carolina Community Foundation, a Midlands nonprofit, has been a tenant at BullStreet since 2019, and she has been able to witness the daily growth and transformation of the historic 181-acre former campus of the South Carolina State Hospital into a mixed-use district that offers something for visitors and residents of all ages.

“The vibrancy of the community really appeals to me – I see people of all ages every day, from senior residents at Merrill Garden to moms who have a planned stroller walk to college students and young professionals living in the Babcock building,” Turnquist said. “When the foundation moved here, we were excited to be one of the pioneers of what promised to be a vibrant and engaging community, and now we’re in a place that has an energy unlike anywhere else in Columbia.”

Since groundbreaking on the district in January 2015, the BullStreet District has become known as one of the largest urban redevelopment projects on the East Coast. The area is anchored by Segra Park, home of the Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball team, and also includes a wide variety of businesses including REI Co-Op, Capgemeni, Founders Federal Credit Union, and Publico Kitchen and Tap, as well as Page Ellington Park, a 20-acre public park. The District also includes Merrill Gardens, an active senior community, and the first four phases of TownPark at BullStreet, a complex of 28 townhomes.

Besides the First Base Building where Turnquist’s office is located, the district also includes the innovative WestLawn Building. Unveiled in 2022, the structure holds retail and Class-A office space and is built from sustainable cross-laminated timber.

WestLawn’s innovative design and construction recently was awarded on March 8 when the project was named one of the recipients of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s 2023 Golden Nail Award, an annual award given to businesses or property owners for exemplary contributions to the physical characteristics of the greater Midlands.

Although it is already home to all this, change is still ongoing at BullStreet. Master developers Hughes Development Corp. is taking the site into its next phase with work on projects designed to fulfill the District’s goal of providing homes near downtown Columbia for people from diverse backgrounds and with a variety of income levels.

“This is the most exciting time to be at BullStreet because you can stand anywhere on campus and see the vision taking shape,” said Chandler Cox, BullStreet project manager for Hughes Development “We’ve had such a good partnership with the city of Columbia and it’s been nice to see it continue to grow since the beginning.”

Work is currently ongoing at the site on housing for everyone from young professionals who might be drawn to apartments in the renovated, historic Babcock Center to those seeking a luxury apartment, who will be able to find those as well as retail space at the much-anticipated Bennet at BullStreet.

Further down the road are plans for MidTown at BullStreet, a 90-unit apartment and townhome complex adjacent to Page Ellington Park that will be attainably priced, which means pricing for rents will be affordable for those who make roughly 60-70% to 120% of an area’s median income.

Ground was broken in September 2021 for the Bennet, a 280,000-square-foot luxury apartment community that will eventually house 269 luxury apartments and house more than 500 residents, according to figures released by BullStreet District. The complex is by far the most visible construction on the campus, located between Boyce Street and Pickens Street and just behind the Westlawn Building. The Bennet is also notable because it includes not only luxury apartments but 45,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The developer for the apartment segment of the Bennet is Proffitt Dixon Partners out of Charlotte, a multifamily investment and development firm specializing in luxury apartment communities around the Southeast, with a focus on the Carolinas and Tennessee. Once complete, the Bennet at BullStreet will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 550 to 1,600 square feet, and a wide variety of onsite amenities including a saltwater pool, sun decks, heated spa, grilling areas, an entertainment pavilion, and two dedicated dog parks.

The project also includes a 350-space parking garage, which will be in addition to two other parking garages already underway on the campus, officials said. Once these garages are complete, BullStreet will have more than 1,300 structured parking and 1,100 surface parking spaces accessible to residents, workers, and visitors.

Axiom Architecture out of Charlotte is the architect for the Bennet project, while Charlotte-based Samet Corporation is the contractor.

Hughes Development Corp. will be handling the retail segment of the Bennet, and the goal is to attract retailers and restaurants that will complement nearby tenants REI, Starbucks, and Iron Hill Brewery, which is currently under construction.

The goal is to have Bennet at BullStreet open later in 2023.

Construction is ongoing at The Babcock Building, by far the most recognizable historic structure on the former State Hospital campus. The 254,000-square-building is being transformed into 200 apartments by Clachan Properties out of Virginia, a company that specializes in massive historic renovation projects. And massive is the word for the Babcock project.

Originally built in 1885 as the central building of the S.C. State Hospital, the Babcock is best known in many long-time residents’ memories as a place for the treatment of mental health patients and is listed on the National Register of Historic places. The brick building with its high domed cupola came to symbolize the State Hospital and its history, and it sat falling into disrepair over many years. The iconic cupola’s dome was destroyed in a September 2020 fire.

The building started to literally rise from the ashes after federal funding was secured in December 2020.

The first phase of construction on the project is complete and some tenants have already moved in, while work is ongoing on other sections. Builders have followed strict guidelines to preserve the building’s distinctive lines, and historic windows are being refurbished.

The Babcock will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with distinctive layouts and modern amenities, as well as special features such as a lounge area for residents, a yoga studio, a game room, and a yoga studio.

A bit of the “old” look of BullStreet also will return later this year when the refurbished historic dome is returned to the top of the Babcock cupola, with a special ceremony in the works for its placement.

Reach Christina Lee Knauss at 803-753-4327.

Akridge, Kettler to add 865 apartments in South End

Early rendering of a seven-story, 415-unit multifamily community at 3119 South Blvd.

By Elise Franco – Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal

Jan 30, 2023

Washington, D.C., developer Akridge and Virginia-based property management company Kettler have partnered on two multifamily projects that will add a total of 865 new units to South End.

Both projects, a 450-unit, 31-story high-rise at 1427 South Blvd. and a 415-unit, seven-story midrise at 3119 South Blvd., are scheduled to break ground toward the end of the year.

Akridge and Kettler purchased 1427 South Blvd., a 0.9-acre property at the edge of South End and Dilworth, for $13.5 million on Dec. 20. The small business plaza currently there is home to H&R Block, BetterMed Urgent Care Charlotte, Modern Man, and Cachet South End.

On Jan. 11, the firms closed on the $17 million purchase of 3119 South Blvd., spanning 2.8 acres near lower South End. The building on that property, formerly South End Jewelry and Loan, is currently vacant.

Dan Outen, Akridge vice president of the Carolinas, said the project at 1427 South will be about 550,000 square feet, and 3119 South will total about 400,000 square feet. Both properties will have ground-floor retail facing South Boulevard, as well as top-of-the-market amenities that include a resort-style pool, fitness center, and co-working spaces.1427 will also have an outdoor terrace on the 10th floor and a rooftop sky deck.

Once construction begins, Outen said, 1427 will deliver in about 36 months and 3119 will deliver in about 24 months.

Luke Davis, Kettler chief investment officer, said Charlotte and the South End submarket, specifically, have been attractive for investment for the last several years.

“We are really attracted to the area given the growth of employment, as a whole, and the emergence of South End as a more urban neighborhood,” he said.

These will mark the firm’s third and fourth projects in Charlotte.

South & Hollis, at 3441 South Blvd., is under construction now and expected to deliver this fall. The 310-unit, six-story building will have 9,500 square feet of ground-level retail. That project combines seven parcels for a total of 2.6 acres. Akridge and Kettler paid $9.3 million for that land.

Hawkins Press, at 2200 Dunavant St., is a 426-unit multifamily project slated to deliver this summer. The firms purchased the three-acre property in 2020 for $5.5 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records.

Duncan Jones, Akridge senior vice president, said the firms plan to continue growing throughout Charlotte and the Carolinas as opportunities arise.

“The intent is to grow a lot in the Carolinas, in general, and respond to the best opportunities for the best projects,” he said. “A strength of ours is that we don’t need a specific, narrow business plan. We can be thoughtful and reactive and creative.”

ABACUS ANNOUNCES THE CAMPBELL HIGH RISE IN SOUTH END

Abacus Capital (Abacus) with joint venture partners JE Dunn Capital Partners (JEDCP) and L&B Realty Advisors (L&B) is pleased to announce that it has acquired a 0.75-acre land assemblage in Charlotte’s South End located at 2025 Cleveland Avenue for $5.0 million in an off-market transaction. Concurrent with land closing the partners announced a new high-rise multifamily project on the site that will break ground next week.

The new project will be called The Campbell in recognition of the legacy Campbell’s Nursery operation that has historically occupied the site for decades.

“As the surrounding neighborhood evolved over the past few years into the new epicenter of South End the seller realized that it no longer needed to continue operating a plant nursery in its historical location,” said Wes McAdams, Managing Partner of Charlotte-based Abacus Capital. “However, since Campbell’s was such a well-known and beloved part of the fabric of this community the development team wanted to ensure that the site’s legacy would live on through its next iteration as The Campbell, which will be a boutique luxury multifamily community catering to South End’s most discerning renters.”

Upon delivery in 2024 The Campbell will be comprised of 117 curated 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom residences averaging approximately 1,200 SF per unit in a 12-story high-rise tower with unimpeded views of downtown Charlotte. Units will have chef’s kitchens, generous living spaces, and large balconies in recognition of the changing preferences of renters in today’s post-pandemic world. Residential units will start on the 5th floor above 4 floors of parking, affording every unit sweeping views of either Uptown Charlotte’s iconic skyline, South End’s nascent skyline, King’s Mountain, or South Charlotte.

“The Campbell was designed with today’s renters by choice in mind,” said McAdams. “As South End has matured into the dynamic and best-in-class submarket that it is today, its rental housing stock has increasingly become characterized by commoditized multifamily product – The Campbell is tactically positioned to offer its residents something that less than 1% of the South End rental market can currently offer. With the best retail and restaurants in South End at Atherton Market and Design District out its front door and Historic Dilworth’s tree-lined streets out its back door, upon delivery, The Campbell will redefine luxury living in Charlotte’s South End.”

Charlotte’s South End has undergone a renaissance in the 15 years since the delivery of the Lynx Blue Line light rail line in 2007. Today South End is the crown jewel of Charlotte’s urban neighborhoods – an 18-hour submarket with 4.5M SF of existing office space and another 5M SF either underway or planned – this burgeoning daytime population increasingly requires a diversity of nearby rental housing options to cater to its expanding workforce and The Campbell has been thoughtfully designed and will be purposefully built to satisfy the top end segment of that renter population.

In addition to offering the largest unit sizes in South End, The Campbell will offer tenants a full panoply of building amenities often not seen in boutique projects of its size. Notably, The Campbell’s 12th floor tenant amenity suite will provide residents protected views of downtown Charlotte’s skyline over the historic Dilworth neighborhood to where they can work, entertain or simply unwind after a long day. Additionally, the project was designed to activate its streetscape with several retail opportunities on both McDonald and Cleveland Avenues ideally suited to amenity retail uses such as coffee, fitness, and/or general services.

“The Campbell is deliberately differentiated from the majority of the existing inventory and pipeline in South End to appeal to a more mature renter,” said Mason Ellerbe, a Principal with Abacus. “As the neighborhood has involved from its bar/brewery-centric roots over the past decade into Charlotte’s premier submarket for shopping, dining, and high-paying jobs, South End is no longer just a millennial playground. Abacus and its partners have intentionally set out to design a building that would offer our renters the best of both worlds between South End’s dynamic mixed-use environment and the quiet sophistication of Dilworth.”

The Campbell is being developed by Abacus Capital while being built by JE Dunn Construction Company. The project architect is Axiom Architecture and civil engineer is the McAdams Company. Colony Construction Management will manage the development of The Campbell on behalf of the project team.

Click here to view or download the official press release.

Tenants Begin Moving Into SECU The Rise on Clanton, Apartments by Roof Above

Khris became the first tenant of SECU The Rise on Clayton.

Charlotte’s first adaptive reuse, permanent supportive housing for 88 individuals
experiencing chronic homelessness

CHARLOTTE, N.C., (August 3, 2022) – Last week, Roof Above began moving in the first tenants of SECU The Rise on Clanton, Apartments by Roof Above. SECU The Rise on Clanton will provide permanent supportive housing for 88 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness and is anticipated to make a significant impact on chronic homelessness in our community. According to the latest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing and Homelessness Dashboard, there are 422 people in Mecklenburg County experiencing chronic homelessness. These are people with a disabling condition who have experienced homelessness for at least a year. Ten of the first tenants will be individuals who were displaced from the North End Encampment when it was cleared and were moved to a Mecklenburg County-funded motel-based shelter.

SECU The Rise on Clanton is Charlotte’s first adaptive reuse, permanent supportive housing solution. Adaptive reuse is the process of renovating buildings that have outlived their original purposes and modifying them for different functions. The pandemic revealed an innovative opportunity to purchase and convert an underutilized hotel into affordable housing, making adaptive reuse a tool to serve some of our community’s most vulnerable residents.

In December 2020, Roof Above announced the purchase of the hotel at the intersection of Clanton Road and Interstate 77. Through a partnership with the Salvation Army Center of Hope, the hotel served an immediate need as an emergency shelter for women and families. In May 2021, Roof Above began construction on the hotel, renovating the hotel rooms into apartments including the addition of kitchens, and building an addition to provide space for on-site support services. Beyond the affordable housing, tenants will have onsite access to case managers, a full-time nurse, a learning lab, and community space for support activities. Tenants will be primarily selected through the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Coordinated Entry process, which uses a common assessment to identify the most vulnerable people in need of permanent supportive housing. Tenants will move in through a phased approach, six to eight people each week, to ensure they are fully supported in their transition.

Many generous gifts made the project a reality, including $2 million from State Employees Credit Union (SECU), $2 million from the City of Charlotte, $1.5 million from Covenant Presbyterian Church, $1 million from the Lowe’s Foundation, $1 million from the Springsteen Foundation, and a significant gift from John McKibbon and the McKibbon Family Foundation. The total project cost was just over $13 million, inclusive of the purchase price, renovation of the existing building, and construction of a wing to provide onsite case management and health care support. We are grateful to our operating partners like Mecklenburg County for funding case management for tenants and Novant Health for supporting our full-time nurse and other healthcare needs of tenants.

“This opening comes with our deepest appreciation to everyone who accepted the challenge to dream big and meet the moment to make this new apartment community possible. We hold to the vision that everyone is worthy of the safety, stability, and dignity of a home. Together, and one life at a time, we end homelessness,”
said Liz Clasen-Kelly, Roof Above CEO.

With the opening of SECU The Rise on Clanton, Roof Above now provides nearly 700 units of supportive housing within Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Generally, tenants pay 30% of their income towards rent plus basic utilities. Learn more about the permanent supportive housing options and eligibility by visiting
https://www.roofabove.org/permanent-supportive-housing/.

The hotel conversion was led by JE Dunn Construction with architecture by Axiom Architecture, interior design by ODA, and project management by McKibbon Places

Roof Above is an interfaith nonprofit with the mission of uniting the community to end homelessness, one life at a time. The organization’s vision is that every person has the safety, stability, and dignity of a home. The organization operates a day services center, three year-round shelters, nearly 700 units of supportive housing, and a treatment program for substance use disorders. For information, please visit www.RoofAbove.org.

Media Contacts: Melinda Wilshire, mwilshire@roofabove.org 443.540.0593; Randall Hitt, rhitt@roofabove.org; 704.618.1329.
Liz Clasen-Kelly will be available for scheduled interviews.

Commonwealth in Plaza-Midwood

The developers of the Commonwealth project in Plaza-Midwood have commissioned what they’re calling a “sizzle video” that showcases what life will be like there — and it’s unlike any rendering we’ve ever seen.

Hot rendering 🔥 alert: Developers have a new ‘sizzle video’ of the Plaza-Midwood Commonwealth project

With a backdrop of upbeat music, the 2-minute, 19-second video blends footage of real people in actual existing neighborhood businesses — a woman shopping for a bracelet at Moxie Mercantile, and a family eating pizza at Emmy Squared — with real-looking animated renderings of people living their best lives: sunbathers relaxing by a rooftop pool that contains an inflatable pink squirrel, couples sharing an embrace on a lawn, folks enjoying drinks on a terrace overlooking uptown.

To be clear, those scenes don’t actually exist — yet. The development’s 383 apartments, 150,000 s.f. of office, and 100,000 s.f. of retail are under construction at the intersection of Central and Pecan avenues, on what was mostly a surface parking lot.

The video “provides an emotional attachment,” said Bobby Speir, senior vice president of mixed-use for Crosland Southeast. “Especially for those not in the real estate development world, if you go through 3D like that, you can put yourself in the middle of the project. You can visualize what’s there.”

He declined to disclose the cost of the video, other than to say: “They’re not cheap, especially for 2 minutes of the film.” It was made by Boston-based Neoscape, a marketing agency that has an office in the Plaza-Midwood area.

More sizzle: Speir says he foresees the use of more “sizzle videos” in Charlotte, as technology improves and developers look for new ways to engage potential tenants: “Not many projects in Charlotte have gone to this level to date, but I see that changing.”

Barry Fabyan of JLL, which is handling the office leasing for the project, said the video should be helpful.

“We are getting more and more, where you blur the lines and have to ask yourself if some things are there yet or not,” he said.

We should be able to compare the video to reality toward the end of 2023 when the first parts of the project are estimated to be completed. —TM

Renderings: Hundreds of Germantown apartments eyed for Q4 groundbreaking

Courtesy of Proffitt Dixon

North Carolina development firm Proffitt Dixon Partners is targeting the end of this year to start construction on hundreds of waterfront apartments in Germantown.

Stuart Proffitt, one of the company’s founding partners, told Nashville Business Journal that he’s in the review process with the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. If everything goes according to plan and there are no hang-ups, he’s hoping to break ground in the fourth quarter on 339 units at 900 Second Ave. N.

That first phase would be followed by the eventual construction of a second building, at 1000 Second Ave. N., which would hold more apartments, as well as retail and office space. The Music City Greenway would intersect the two structures.

The total 6-acre project site, which is bounded by First Avenue North, Second Avenue North, Stockyard Street, and Jefferson Street, sits just a few hundred feet from the Cumberland River, around 1,000 feet from First Horizon ballpark and a few thousand feet from the East Bank’s River North development district.

Everything in the East Bank’s radius — including Germantown, Dickerson Pike, and downtown — is expected to benefit from Oracle Corp.’s recent plans to create an 8,500-job tech hub there.

Proffitt Dixon spent $32.53 million on the two development parcels in October 2021.

The firm’s project, dubbed “Stockyard” in filings, comes during a push from real estate executives and the mayor’s office to better orient development toward the Cumberland River. Developers like Ray Hensler, for example, are underway on massive waterfront structures, and Mayor John Cooper announced plans to upgrade First Avenue North, which he referred to as “a front porch” for the river.

EOA Architects, Manuel Zeitlin Architects, and Axiom Architecture are a few members of Proffitt Dixon’s project team, according to documents.

The land at 900 Second Ave. N. currently holds a building that once housed the headquarters for Tennessee’s Department of Child Services. The second is a parking lot.

Proffitt Dixon entered Nashville in 2014 when it pitched 220 units in Germantown, according to the previous reporting from the Business Journal. In September, the firm secured $37.3 million to build another apartment project in Wedgewood-Houston.

Drew Hutchinson

Reporter

Nashville Business Journal

The Best Multifamily Architects in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Axiom Architecture

333 W. Trade St., Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202

Axiom Architecture specializes in multifamily and mixed-use development and design. Since its inception in 2007, the firm has delivered exceptional projects by combining inventive design with development expertise. Its team of expert designers and architects is dedicated to bringing new concepts and fresh perspectives to the multifamily and mixed-use design fields. The firm is dedicated to designing unique, economically successful, socially sensitive, and environmentally sustainable places. Its impressive portfolio contains more than 20,000 housing units. Many of Axiom Architecture’s designs have won awards from Multi-Housing News and Multifamily Executive magazines, The Charlotte Business Journal, USGBC Charlotte Chapter, Charlotte Center City Partners, and the American Institute of Architects.

The West End Station, a 229-unit apartment project in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is one of the firm’s notable projects. The main front, along Green Street, is a three-floor structure that steps down an entire level toward the site’s back and Brookstown Avenue. A podium garage carves beneath the structure, accessed from the lower side of the site, with four complete floors of flats lying above and addressing the Brookstown border. One of two elevated passive courtyards atop the parking garage is flanked by a big pool courtyard and amenity plaza tucked behind the split portion of the Green Street arm of the building.

Click here to view the whole article

Developers bringing apartments, retail to lower South End site along light-rail line

By Jennifer Thomas – Senior Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal

This lower South End project will bring a mix of apartments and retail offerings to the neighborhood.

South & Hollis — a 322,000-square-foot development by Washington, D.C.-based Akridge, and Virginia-based Kettler — is under construction at 3441 South Blvd., in close proximity to the Scaleybark light-rail station.

The 310-unit, six-story building will have 9,500 square feet of ground-level retail. That project combines seven parcels for a total of 2.6 acres.

Akridge and Kettler paid $9.3 million for that land.

“When we look at the transformation of LoSo over time, there are certain sites that are holding the entire submarket back. This is one,” says Dan Outen, Akridge’s vice president for the Carolinas. “Not only can we transform this site into something better than it was before, but I think it will have an outsized impact in transforming LoSo as a whole.”

Plans call for a roughly 3,100-square-foot corner restaurant, complete with patio space. Local, regional, and national options will be considered.

“I think we would be open to a lot of different concepts. The use will be one that complements our residential experience,” Outen says.

Two additional retail tenants could split the remaining space — though those spaces could also be divided. Outen says a coffee shop, fitness concept, or other uses that would support the community will be considered.

“The way we look at this building — it’s also contributing to the larger community growth of LoSo,” Outen says.

Jay Royster of Royster Commercial Real Estate represented Akridge and Kettler in the property transaction.

Axiom Architecture is designing the project, LandDesign is providing civil engineering and landscape design, and Samet is providing construction services.

South & Hollis will deliver in the fall of 2023.

Davis Hahn of Ascent Real Estate Partners is leasing the retail space. Ascent is a boutique, full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm focused on retail leasing in Charlotte’s infill submarkets.

South & Hollis marks Akridge’s fourth project in North Carolina — and it’s second in the Queen City. Outen is leading its work in the Carolinas.

Kettler also continues to expand its footprint in North Carolina, with plans for long-term growth.

The firms are working on Hawkins Press, a 426-unit multifamily project that sits on 3 acres on Dunavant Street in South End. It is slated to deliver in late summer 2023.

“We have been pleased with the evolution of South End and the market,” Outen says.