Night Swim Coffee expands to Optimist Park

The new coffee shop will open on the ground floor of The Joinery—aka Charlotte’s first “carless apartment complex” this September.

What to expect: The 1,900 square-foot café will have large windows overlooking the light rail and pedestrian walkways. Charlotte-based design company Cluck Design will design the space. 

• The address is 1824 N. Brevard Street.

Why it matters: Night Swim is the brainchild of Not Just Coffee and Undercurrent, whose initial vision was to open a roastery and four cafés together under the Night Swim brand. Now they have five locations, plus 13 locations between the three brands, including The Joinery.

• Co-founder James Yoder told Axios they plan to continue to expand the Night Swim Coffee cafés both in Charlotte and beyond North Carolina.

Back to the carless apartment complex.

• The Joinery, Space Craft’s mixed-use apartment development, opened on April 1, featuring 83 studio, 1 and 2-bedroom apartments. Over a third of the building is leased. A second phase of the project is in the works. We will update you with details as they become available. 

By the numbers: Eliminating parking saves developers money, which allows them to invest in other areas, like competitive rent, as Axios’ Katie Peralta Soloff reported in March.

• Some estimates indicate parking can cost developers $20,000-$40,000 per spot, she reported.

• “Having a strong and edgy locally-owned retail tenant is so important to the ‘forward looking’ culture we want to build in Optimist Park,” Harrison Tucker, CEO and Co-Founder of Space Craft said in a statement.

What they’re saying: “The Joinery’s focus on environmental resiliency and facilitating walkable neighborhoods is incredibly attractive to us and something that we are proud to be affiliated with,” Night Swim Coffee Co-Founder Todd Huber said in a statement. “Our families have lived close to this location for over a decade, so we understand the potential for evolution and growth in the area.”