South End's next most luxurious apartment tower hits construction milestone
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Queensbridge Collective's 10 floor amentities. Rendering: Courtesy of architecture firm Goettsch Partners
The Queensbridge Collective apartment tower, bridging Uptown and South End, is on pace to open by late summer, with an adjacent office tower potentially breaking ground soon.
Why it matters: At 42 stories, Queensbridge Collective will be the second tallest residential building in the Carolinas, behind The Vue at 51 stories.
- And it will be luxurious — with a skyline-view steakhouse, pickleball and basketball courts atop the parking structure, and a pool on the 42nd floor.
The big picture: Queensbridge Collective continues the trend of high-end apartments raising the bar for big-city living in Charlotte, especially in South End. As a record number of units open, new communities must offer the latest and greatest features to compete for residents.
- Chad Hagler, development partner at Woodfield Development, says Queensbridge has "essentially all the amenities that a resident could imagine."
- Those include a dog run, co-working spaces, a managed fitness center with personal training and group exercise, plus a golf simulator, duckpin bowling, billiards and shuffleboard.
- For hosting events, residents can rent a private dining room next to Guard & Grace, a renowned steakhouse from Denver that is opening on the roof of the nine-story parking podium.
Catch up quick: Construction began in May 2023 at the old site of Midnight Diner and strip club Uptown Cabaret at the intersection of South Tryon and Morehead streets (1111 S. Tryon).
- An adjoining 35-story tower is also planned and could be the next major office tower to break ground during a slowdown in new construction. Although it also appears Charlotte developer Crescent Communities' Carson & Tryon project — a planned 31-story office tower across the street — could start construction soon, too.
- The entire $750 million Queensbridge Collective development is expected to be finished by 2027.
Driving the news: Chicago firm Riverside Investment & Development and Woodfield Development recently celebrated a topping out in early February, meaning the building's structural framework is now complete.
- The work took 41,000 cubic yards of concrete, 4,500 tons of steel and 564,000 hours of labor, with 1,500 dedicated employees from Clark Construction and its contractors.
- Units are completed up through the ninth floor, Anthony Scacco, president at Riverside tells Axios. Once the rest of the residential units are complete, they'll build out the amenities, lobbies and corridors.
- Pre-leasing for the 409 units will begin about 30 or 60 days before the certificate of occupancy is issued.
What's next: Riverside and Woodfield will soon announce a third new business for one of the ground-floor retail spaces, leaving only two spaces left to fill. They expect to finish leases by the end of the year.
- Charlotte's Night Swim Coffee will open on the ground floor later this year. Guard & Grace will debut in mid-2026.
For the second tower to commence construction, Scacco says they need companies to commit to the spaces in advance. He's confident they'll be able to do so.
- While Charlotte, like other cities, struggles with alarming vacancies of old office buildings, Scacco says demand is growing for high-end spaces as dwindling options fill up.
- "We're absolutely convicted relative to the development plan for the second tower," Scacco says, "and are confident that we're going to be able to get underway here in the not-too-distant future."
Zoom out: Queensbridge is Riverside's first investment in Charlotte. Scacco says Riverside is more optimistic about working in the market now than when it acquired the land in 2021.
- "It's a great place to do business and continues to attract and retain great talent," he says.
