New details on 32-story apartment tower replacing the Levine Museum in Uptown
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Rendering courtesy of VeLa Development Partners
Construction will begin next year on a $170 million luxury apartment complex at the former Uptown site of the Levine Museum of the New South.
What’s happening: VeLa Development Partners unveiled additional details last week about the 32-story tower, which will include 379 rental units.
Details: Apartments will include studios, one- and two-bedroom units, one- and two-bedroom duplexes, and two- and three-bedroom penthouses.
- The building will have about 4,000 square feet of retail at the corner of College and 7th streets.
- It will also have more than 20,000 square feet of interior and exterior amenity space, including a club room, bar, entertainment kitchen, fitness center, dog spa and resort-style outdoor pool.
Timing: Construction will begin in the first half of 2023, and it’ll wrap up by the end of 2025.
Why it matters: Luxury apartment construction marks a significant change for the property. The Levine Museum was a fixture in Uptown for two decades.
- The new apartments could also signal a shift in development momentum for the northeast stretch of Uptown, as Clayton Sealey of CLT Development recently noted.
- Nearby, for instance, the Seventh and Tryon development will go up in place of the main library and Spirit Square.
Flashback: The developers bought the Levine Museum site earlier this year for $10.75 million. The museum, which has featured local social justice exhibits such as K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace, which highlighted police-involved shootings, continued in its place until the spring.
- The Levine Museum is now operating out of a new home at Three Wells Fargo Center. The museum recently opened its first exhibit in collaboration with Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture — the Smithsonian’s “Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth.”
What he’s saying: VeLa principal Nick Benjamin said in a statement that Charlotte is “one of the most walkable, livable cities in the country, which is one of many reasons why it has grown so rapidly.”
- Company officials, he added, are excited about the location of its site in the growing North Tryon area, with connectivity to the light rail, First Ward Park and the rest of Uptown.
- “Being across from the Seventh and Tryon project is also a great amenity. It’s rare to be able to find a site that is so close to the heart of the (central business district) and that allows real density but that also feels as residential and comfortable as our pocket of 7th Street,” Benjamin said.