New South End hotel, urban plaza and office space planned near Midnight Diner

The Spectrum Companies is petitioning the city for a rezoning that would allow two mid-rise buildings at South Tryon and Carson. This is where the crescent-shaped Cardinal Innovations Healthcare (former) headquarters building stands, and diagonal from the Midnight Diner.

No renderings or detailed plans were yet available.

But Spectrum Companies Chief Operating Officer Steve McClure described the project as two Class A office buildings with retail and restaurants lining the ground floor. The desired hotel is described as a “cool, hip boutique.”

The centerpiece of the 5-acre development, however, will be a central courtyard with green space lined by retail.

“We really want to make it an iconic urban plaza that becomes part of the fabric of what South End is,” McClure told the Agenda. He says it will be a destination and part of the gateway to Uptown.

This project will fit in among South End’s non-apartment boom.

The Spectrum Companies is the developer behind the new 300 South Tryon office tower and the Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel in Uptown.

Developers have long eyed South End for hotel development. The neighborhood’s first hotel is already in the works: a Holiday Inn Express and Suites a little farther down Tryon Street at Kingston Avenue.

The South End office market is also expanding rapidly. Most notably, the regional headquarters for Dimensional Fund Advisors is taking shape at Tryon, Park and Camden.

The Spectrum Companies filed the rezoning petition this week. That means it will likely come before the City Council in the fall.

The developer hopes to break ground in the first quarter of 2019. The project will unfold in stages, with a significant portion expected done by 2020.

Cover photo by Cardinal Innovations Healthcare via Facebook.