$100 million Atherton Mill renovation is creating the premier shopping destination of center city Charlotte

Developers EDENS and Crescent Communities are well into a planned $100 million renovation to the historic cotton mill property.

By summer 2019, this project will turn the formerly sleepy South End farmers market hangout into a premier shopping destination in Charlotte.

Think a mini Park Road Shopping Center of the center city. And that’s no coincidence — EDENS owns both.

The Atherton Mill redevelopment keeps some of the historic buildings and will add four main components.

• 346 apartments
• 62,000 more square feet of retail space.
• Large public gathering space along the Rail Trail.
• Parking deck

What now looks like this:

Will soon look like this:

Here’s another look at the apartment component.

And an overall shot.

Tenants are already lining up.

EDENS has already been bringing in high-profile tenants to the Atherton property. Free People, Warby Parker, Anthropologie, Luna’s Living Kitchen and Not Just Coffee have all opened new locations there.

Expect that to only intensify as the new retail space comes on-line next year.

Several big names have already committed:

• West Elm, modern furniture, accessories and kitchen items

• CAVA, a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant
• The Eagle, a fried chicken joint (Agenda Eagle preview)
• Indaco, an Italian restaurant (Agenda Indaco preview)
• Las Olas, a swimwear company

EDENS managing director Lyle Darnall told the Charlotte Business Journal that less than 50 percent of the retail space has been locked down so far.

That means there will be a slew of new announcements coming.