New Birkdale Village owner faces protests while touting benefits of expansion plans
The new owner of the longtime Birkdale Village mixed-use community in Huntersville near Lake Norman touted the economic benefits of its expansion plans at a public hearing on its rezoning request Tuesday night.
But that didn’t sway at least 22 residents who spoke against the developer’s plans, citing concerns about traffic and crowding. Three residents spoke in support of the project.
Birkdale Village already is the town’s largest taxpayer, representatives of Atlanta-based owner Jamestown told the Huntersville Board of Commissioners. The development is off Interstate 77 Sam Furr Road exit 25.
Jamestown, the new owner, wants to add a 125-room hotel, 150 multi-family units, 26,715 square feet of commercial space and 122,300 square feet of offices to the development, according to its rezoning application.
The Huntersville Planning Board is scheduled to make a recommendation about the rezoning request on Feb. 25. The Huntersville Board of Commissioners, which has final say, is scheduled to consider and vote on the request on March 18.
Tuesday was the first time that the developer presented schematics about what the expansion could look like. Plans call for removing two buildings and constructing three new ones: a six-story office building, a six-story multifamily building and a five-story hotel.
Two parking decks would be replaced with a seven-story, 537-space parking deck and a four-story, 291-space parking deck.
Jamestown bought the development last year from the Atlanta subsidiary of North American Properties.
The new buildings would produce $200 million in direct construction spending and $212 million in annual employment benefits to the town, Jamestown representatives told the Town Board at Tuesday’s public hearing.
The expansion would generate $200,000 in additional annual property tax revenues to Huntersville, Jamestown officials said.
The hotel would be similar to those in the Autograph Collection, a group of independent, upper-scale luxury hotels in the Marriott International portfolio, Jamestown representatives said.
A crowd of residents attended Tuesday’s meeting to voice their objections to the expansion. Traffic already backs up in Birkdale Village, Huntersville resident Suzanne Villar said.
“We can’t handle the traffic even if we have more parking,” she said, echoing the concerns of other opponents.
And the proposed buildings ”will create a Manhattan-style shade canopy,” Villar said.
Proponents said the expansion would be good for the town.
“Huntersville isn’t changing into Manhattan anytime soon,” said Eric Willoughby, a supporter of the plan. .
This is the second effort to expand Birkdale Village and add more parking, a proposal that generated similar concerns.
In 2023, the Huntersville Board of Commissioners denied former Birkdale Village owner North American Properties’ zoning request to add 450 parking spaces and a multi-story mixed-use building.
NAP wanted to grow Birkdale Village with a Class A building that would have included 150,000 square feet of offices and 25,000 square feet for commercial businesses. The developer also wanted to add 450 parking spaces.
Citing public opposition, NAP previously removed a planned hotel and 350 apartments from its request to enlarge Birkdale Village.