CHARLOTTE MARKET AT A GLANCE

Top new retailers to enter the market in 2006:
REI – Carolina Place Mall
Z Gallery – Northlake Mall
Neiman Marcus – SouthPark Mall
Crate & Barrel – SouthPark Mall
Hermes, BCBGMaxAzria – SouthPark Mall
Hecht’s converted to Macy’s

Top new restaurants to enter the market in 2006:
Ruth’s Chris Steak House, SouthPark and Uptown
McCormick & Schmick’s, SouthPark and Uptown
Morton’s Steak house, SouthPark (Uptown already in place)
Five Guys Burgers & Fries (several locations)
QuakerSteak & Lube
Brio, SouthPark
Oceanaire, SouthPark

Top corporate entries / expansions in 2006:
NASCAR headquarters – 400,000 s.f., 19 stories, opens 2009
Wachovia -- 1.3 million s.f. new office building on First St., 48 stories of office,
42 stories of condos, with retail. Under construction for 2008.
Bank of America office tower.
HSBC – divisional headquarters in Lancaster, SC on HWY 521
just south of Ballantyne.
4 ½ stories -- 182,000 s.f. – relocation/expansion from SouthPark area.

Top industrial entries / expansions in 2006:
Crescent Resources – 176,000 s.f. Spec building in Air Park West near airport
AAC began third 109,000 s.f. building in Shopton Ridge, southwest Charlotte
Murdock’s Bio-Tech Research Campus in Kannapolis – under construction, will have 5,000 employees

Notable new office/retail/industrial projects in 2006:
Relocation of Piedmont Natural Gas in Piedmont Town Center (SouthPark) mixed use condo, office and retail

Big development buzz:

Del Web – Sun City, south of NC/SC border in Lancaster County

Vue and Avenue condo towers uptown – residential/retail

EpiCenter, The Ghazi Co., $275 million – 53-story, mixed-use: office, entertainment, 12- story hotel, condo, retail complex at the site of the former convention center Uptown

Google computer farm coming to Lenoir, NC

Biggest land sale in the market in 2006:
Mel Graham purchased 6,000 acres in Chester, SC – planned for mixed-use development, to take approximately 20 years to complete.

Biggest building sale in the market in 2006:
Charlotte Plaza building

Retailers who have left the market in 2006:
Continental Tire closed Charlotte plant

Item worthy of attention:
Ikea announced new store in University area for 2008

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