In Kannapolis, a Charlotte firm seeks to unlock ‘enormous potential’ with massive land purchase
Go back through the history books of Kannapolis and you’ll find a few significant markers of change in the small North Carolina city. At the turn of the 20th century, it was defined as a textile manufacturing town, home to sheet and towel maker Cannon Mills Company. The company later became Pillowtex before that textile giant closed in 2003, wiping out thousands of jobs.
In 2008, billionaire and longtime former Dole Food Company owner David Murdock founded the North Carolina Research Campus. Murdock bought and imploded the former Pillowtex mill complex and built the 350-acre campus intending to make it the nation’s premier research center on nutrition.
Now, the city of about 50,000 people about 30 minutes north of Charlotte is adding another milestone to its evolving history.
Insite Properties, a Charlotte commercial real estate firm, will soon close on the first phase of a massive deal on mostly vacant properties surrounding the research campus in downtown Kannapolis. The firm is purchasing north of 50 properties in all from Murdock’s Castle & Cooke company, spread across North and South Carolina.
Insite will facilitate development of 800,000 square feet of new office, research and medical space, close to 50,000 square feet of new commercial and retail space as well as 1,200 residential units, including some combination of apartments, townhomes and single family homes, said Jay Blanton, Insite founder and managing principal. Some of that development will be led by Insite and some done in a joint venture with another developer.
Insite might also sell off some parcels to other developers. Insite would work only with companies aligned with Insite’s goals to build downtown Kannapolis into a desirable place to live and work, Blanton said.
“There’s an enormous potential to unlock,” Blanton told The Charlotte Observer.
Insite expects $500 million of investment to come with developing the Kannapolis properties over the next 5 to 10 years, most of which are undeveloped land. Blanton declined to disclose the overall sale price of the Castle & Cooke land.
Potential for new jobs
The investment is aimed at bringing more jobs, said Mike Legg, Kannapolis’ city manager. He estimated the investment could lead to 1,000 more jobs over a roughly 10-year period.
“That’s the missing piece to our whole revitalization puzzle,” Legg told The Charlotte Observer.
Legg points to the completion last year of Vida, an approximately 300-unit apartment building that has commercial space on the ground floor. The project is within steps of the Atrium Health Ballpark, which was completed in the past two years and is home to the minor league Kannapolis Cannon Ballers.
The city expected Vida to get fully leased over several years. It took six months. Several more similar projects are coming out of the ground nearby, Legg said.
It was that sort of success, the city manager said, that helped the city and Insite have confidence in the recent land purchases.
Darrell Hinnant, Kannapolis’ mayor, said Insite’s investment continues his city’s transformation over the past three years.
Until five years ago, downtown was mostly boarded up storefronts with only about five businesses. Today, there are more than 35 merchants.
Insite’s land purchases mean more jobs and growth, the mayor said.
“It means property taxes we can collect to build new fire stations, parks and recreational facilities,” Hinnant said.
Kannapolis properties span 236 acres
Insite is purchasing the properties from Castle & Cooke. Castle & Cooke is part of Murdock’s family of companies.
All told, there are 16 properties across 236 acres in and around downtown Kannapolis. Insite will close on some this week and others by next spring.
One of those that will be closed on next year is the Core Laboratory building. The 300,000-square-foot building sits on the research campus. Various companies operate in the building today as well as some research facilities but there is vacant space Insite will work to lease, according to Legg and Blanton.
Among the vacant land Insite is buying is 8 acres just west of the research campus, sandwiched between the campus and core downtown area. Legg called those perhaps the most valuable of any of the properties in the deal. Any development there could better link the two parts of Kannapolis.
Blanton said Insite already has offers from investors and others who want to partner on developing some of the parcels.
“All this land is open for business,” Blanton said. “We will be extremely entrepreneurial in building out the rest of downtown Kannapolis.”
20-somethings moving to Kannapolis
The growth of Kannapolis mirrors the growth of other cities around Charlotte. Concord, for example, jumped to the 10th largest city in North Carolina, growing about 33% in the past 10 years.
Kannapolis is now seeing a large number of 20-somethings moving in, Legg said. These younger professionals are mostly single and either work remotely or in Charlotte and the surrounding region, he said. They’ve zeroed in on Kannapolis because of the recent development as well as its proximity to Charlotte and the airport.
Kannapolis’ population was about 42,600 in 2010 and grew almost 25 percent to approximately 53,100 by 2020, according to U.S. Census data.
For Legg, it is Kannapolis’ history as a textile town that’s putting the city in a good position for the coming development.
Kannapolis’ infrastructure like roads and water and sewer were designed many years ago to support the large industries and, at one time, 30,000-plus people working in town.
In that sense, Legg said, Kannapolis is ready for what’s to come.
This story was originally published September 28, 2022 at 10:46 AM.
