Dilworth’s tallest building breaks ground

A jazz trio played as dozens of people gathered under a white tent to escape the beating sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and members of Charlotte City Council marked part of Election Day by shoveling ceremonial dirt to kickoff the project.

What’s happening: Radius Dilworth, the two-building project will be Spandrel Development Partners’ first in Charlotte. The Overlook is the 26-story tower, and the Enclave is the eight-story tower at 615 E. Morehead St. 

Details: The buildings will have a combined 626 apartments, ranging from studio to three-bedroom and 5,000 square feet of retail space.

• The Enclave will have 274 apartments, and the Overlook will have 352 apartment units. 
• Expect stainless steel appliances, wood plank inspired floors, granite quartz countertops, frameless shower enclosures and soaking tubs. The apartments will also have keyless entry and WiFi-enabled home technology.  
• Also on the property: Two saltwater pools (one for each building), an expansive rooftop deck, a 24-hour fitness center, club room, sky lounges, poolside lounges with grilling stations, a courtyard, co-working spaces, electric vehicle charging stations and bike storage.

What’s next: The Enclave and the Overlook are set to be completed by the first and fourth quarter of 2024 respectively.

Why it matters: Spandrel Development Partners may be based in New York City, but as co-founder Emanuel Neuman told me, everything they do is in the Southeast, and they’re eyeing Charlotte for more projects, particularly in areas like South End, LoSo and the suburbs. Plus, they have a 288-unit multifamily project under construction in Raleigh. 

• “We did a large statistical analysis when we started this firm nine years ago, looking for growth in the United States,” Neuman said. “It was obvious where it was going, and it was going to the Southeast.” 
• Neuman added that Charlotte has always been top of their list.

Zoom out: Spandrel Development Partners is also working on a project at 3245 Statesville Ave., which the city approved rezoning for on March 21. They’re currently in the design phase and hoping to start construction in the first quarter of 2023. 

• Neuman said this will be a “very different product type” from Radius Dilworth. Instead of a tower, it will be garden-style with 300-350 apartments, plus a few townhomes on just under 16 acres. 
• “It will be more for the folks who don’t want to live downtown, but want to live somewhere close,” he said. 
• Bohler Engineering NC, PLLC is the civil engineer on the Statesville Avenue project.

Flashback: Spandrel bought the site, just down Morehead from the Dowd Y, in December for $17.8 million, the Observer first reported.

For perspective, it’ll have the same number of stories as the new Ally Charlotte Center in Uptown, and more than the Lowe’s tower in South End.

State of play: Radius Dilworth will be transformative for Dilworth, an upscale neighborhood filled with stately single-family homes. It’s also the latest in a flurry of new development that’s rapidly changing the area.

• Most notably, about half a mile away, Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health will begin construction on a new nearly 30-acre med school campus early next year.
• Next to Radius, Bridgewood Properties plans to build 220 senior housing units, per the Observer. And across Euclid, developer Hanover Company is planning another 350 apartments.

“It will have a great live-work-play environment with unbelievable views,” Neuman told Axios in 2021.

Apartments will range in size from about 500-square-foot studios to 1,800 square feet for a three-bedroom unit. They’ll be market rate (so no affordable housing), but Neuman says some studios will start at “entry-level price points.”

• Charlotte’s rapid population growth drew Spandrel to Charlotte — as the city has done in recent years with many other out-of-town developers.

The Dilworth Community Association has been working with the city and developers to improve the streetscape along Morehead, DCA president Franklin Keathley says. He’s hopeful the Radius project helps to further that goal.

“Morehead should be a great street. It connects Bank of America Stadium, a light rail, South End, lots of new housing, a new medical school … all within a mile and a half stretch,” Keathley says.

Here’s a look at Radius Dilworth. All renderings are courtesy of Spandrel.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the height of the tower. It was first published on Sept. 11, 2021 and updated on May 17, 2022.