SouthPark office tower and retail plans move ahead with upcoming demolition work
Construction is set to begin on a long-proposed office tower in Charlotte’s SouthPark neighborhood.
Amwins, a specialty insurance distributor, is relocating its headquarters from one SouthPark site, 4725 Piedmont Row Dr. to another: 4415 Sharon Road. That’s Sharon Station, which previously housed Japanese restaurant BAKU and five vacant buildings.
Demolition of the existing buildings will begin this month, according to the Amwins.
In the plaza’s place, Amwins headquarters will be 15 stories tall, split into nine floors of office space and six levels of parking.
The ground floor will include up to 250,000 square feet of retail space.
Amwins will use seven floors once construction is complete approximately by the end of next year, the insurance distributor said. The remaining office floors will give Amwins flexibility and the capacity to expand further in the future, a spokeswoman said.
Amwins employs over 7,900 people in 138 locations worldwide, according to its website.
A retail tenant hasn’t been identified yet.
BAKU closed in late March after being in Sharon Station for 13 years.
There are no plans to reopen BAKU in another location, owner Birdie Yang previously told CharlotteFive. The restaurateur, who’s also behind tasting menu restaurant Sora, is working to revamp his casual, Asian fusion concept Yama Asian Kitchen in the meantime.
Redevelopment near SouthPark Mall
A revamp at Sharon Station has long been proposed.
In 2023, Childress Klein filed a site amendment rezoning for the 2.3 acre plot. Site plans indicated the construction of a mixed-use building and parking deck in the back. In 2024, Amwins purchased the site from Childress Klein for $16.7 million, according to Mecklenburg County records.
The Amwins office tower also isn’t the only large scale development proposed near the booming SouthPark mall area.
In October, real estate group Hines filed a rezoning petition to transform almost 4 acres at Carnegie Boulevard in SouthPark.
The two sites at 6601 and 6555 Carnegie Blvd. host The Pavilion, a single-story retail building. Tenants there include Rooster’s Wood-Fired Kitchen, Copain Bakery & Provisions and Garden Secrets.
The rezoning would allow for a mixed-use project with apartments and commercial properties including office, retail, restaurant or fitness spaces.
The building could also climb up to 275 feet. If each story of the building is 11 feet, which is the standard, the building could be about 25 stories high.
Hines did not provide the city with site plans but said it would be primarily multifamily. The firm also included prohibited uses within its rezoning request such as no drive-through establishments, live performance venues or industrial uses.
The rezoning was approved in February.
