This new hotel and office tower – 20 stories tall – is planned just outside of uptown

A new office tower and hotel are planned for a bustling part of Charlotte just outside of uptown, according to a recently filed rezoning plan.

The new development would be built at the northeast corner of Baldwin Avenue and Third Street, on 3.4 acres. The plan would allow for a 20-story office tower totaling 512,500 square feet – one of the tallest buildings outside uptown. A 240-room hotel would be built as part of the development, along with 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

NAI Southern Real Estate is the developer. Charlotte City Council will hold hearings on the rezoning plan in early 2018. There’s no timeline yet for construction. The developers said that would be dependent on how pre-leasing activity goes, and they don’t plan to build on a speculative basis, without tenants.

“We believe that this can be a transformative project for the area and a catalyst for investment along the Gold Line,” said Caldwell Rose, president of Southern Real Estate. “We will continue working with community leaders to understand their perspectives and develop a plan that impacts the community in a positive way.”

Architecture firm Gensler, engineering firm Stewart and Design Resource Group are also part of the team behind the plan.

The development is the latest big chunk of office space to be planned outside the Interstate 277 loop, as developers turn to the areas around Charlotte to build taller and more urban buildings.

In South End, the eight-story RailYard and seven-story Dimensional Fund Advisors buildings are both under construction, adding big chunks of office space, while the 500 East Morehead building recently opened in Midtown.

The site at Third and Baldwin is near a planned development by Grubb Properties on Elizabeth Avenue, where the Gold Line trolley runs. Although the company announced plans in 2015 for a major mixed-use project with 550 apartments and 20,000 square feet of shops and restaurants along Elizabeth Avenue at North Torrence Street, work on that site has not begun.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "This new hotel and office tower – 20 stories tall – is planned just outside of uptown."