Charlotte Pipe hires CBRE to market huge Uptown property

Zoom out: Charlotte Pipe has been melting scrap metal into pipe for more than a century. The company plans to vacate the Uptown property in late 2023 and relocate its operations to a 480-acre property in Stanly County.

• Since announcing plans to relocate, Charlotte Pipe has received interest from “some of the largest developers in the nation,” according to Chip Mark, CEO of Mark Real Estate Advisors and longtime consultant to Charlotte Pipe.

Flashback: Last year, city council approved a new mixed-use zoning district for the massive site, allowing for a range of uses, from hotels to shops to a stadium.

Why it matters: The Charlotte Pipe property off Clarkson has long been rumored to be a potential site for a new NFL stadium one day. What’s more, sprawling tracts of developable land in the city center are increasingly hard to come by in a market like Charlotte.

• Yes, but: The hiring of an outside firm to market the site likely means that there is “no secret deal to sell the site to the team,” per the Charlotte Ledger, which first reported that Charlotte Pipe had engaged CBRE.

What he’s saying: “It’s a rare opportunity to be able to market such a large, attractive, contiguous urban tract of land in one of the fastest growing and most dynamic cities in the country,” said Compie Newman, managing director of CBRE’s Charlotte office.

What’s next: There’s no timeline for the sale. Factors that could affect the process include factors like the economy, interested parties and best offers, Charlotte Pipe spokesperson Brad Muller said in an email.