Duke Energy finishes $59 million sale of 2 Charlotte sites, as developers plan changes
Duke Energy closed this week on a $59-million deal to sell two uptown Charlotte properties, as development projects get closer to starting.
The moves mean the redevelopment of the properties — at 401 S. College St. and 526 S. Church St. — will be closer to starting. Plans for one of the projects has changed since the deals were first announced in May.
Demolition work is expected to start at the College Street building soon, a Duke Energy spokeswoman told The Charlotte Observer, with fencing expected to go up next week.
Duke Energy will continue to occupy the Church Street building into the new year. Developers plan to start demolition and construction on a mixed-use project in early 2024 once Duke Energy moves out.
The sales come as the utility giant shrinks its real estate footprint ahead of moving to its new 40-story high-rise headquarters on South Tryon Street. The $675 million Duke Energy Plaza will be home to 4,000 employees. Employees will begin to move in phases starting in January.
German developer’s plans for Charlotte
Berlin-based Millennium Venture Capital purchased 401 S. College St. from Duke Energy for $24 million, Mecklenburg County property records show.
All Duke Energy employees are out of the building.
Millennium is planning a mixed-use development, including luxury apartments and a mix of office, hotel and retail space.
Attempts to reach the developer on Thursday were not successful. Millennium told the Observer in May it wasn’t ready to reveal any particulars when Duke Energy announced that the firm was the buyer.
Duke Energy is also selling its parking garage at 410 S. Mint St. to Millennium. It will remain a garage under the new owners, Duke Energy has said. That deal is expecting to close next year.
More mixed-use development in uptown
A few blocks over on South Church Street — not far from Bank of America Stadium — a Washington, D.C., firm will redevelop another Duke Energy building.
MRP Realty plans to convert the existing office buildings at 526 S. Church St. into about 450 loft-style apartments, according to Patrick Sullivan, MRP’s acquisitions and investment manager. The developer also plans to bring between 50,000 and 60,000 square feet of retail.
MRP Realty purchased the building for $35 million, according to county property records.
Plans for building a 14-story, 125-unit apartment tower on top of the existing building have been scrapped from the plans, Sullivan told the Observer in an email. Immediate plans to bring offices to the site also are off the table, though that could be brought back in a later phase, according to Sullivan.
MRP Realty initially said it was planning 100,000 square feet of office.
Adding the 14-story building on top of the existing building presented design complexities, Sullivan said, and required more units to finish in one phase.
MRP declined to release the total cost of the project.
Keeping the existing Church Street structure
MRP is planning to keep as much of the existing structure at 526 S. Church St. as possible, Duke Energy spokeswoman Madison McDonald told the Observer in an email.
That lines up with Duke’s goal of limiting carbon impact on the environment, she said.
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
