SkyHouse apartment tower construction tops out at half-way point

If you drive into uptown on the Brookshire Freeway, you've no doubt noticed construction on the SkyHouse apartment tower on North Tryon Street. If you're like me, you've been marveling at how fast they've been throwing that thing up. Yesterday, they topped it out at 24 floors, officially signaling the half-way point of construction that broke ground just in March.

Developers are expecting to finish in June, and the on-site leasing gallery will open for pre-leasing activity in January. "SkyHouse Uptown is on schedule," said Jim Borders, president of Novare Group, which is developing the 336-unit tower with Grubb Properties and Batson-Cook Development Co. "Batson-Cook, through the use of lean construction techniques, has perfected the ability to methoically and expediently deliver a very high-quality high-rise community."

The development team has built 11 of the SkyHouse towers in cities across the Southeast, including Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa and Raleigh. Mecklenburg real estate records show the team is planning a second tower right next to the one going up on North Tryon. The second one would go in at West 9th and North Tryon, a parcel currently occupied by the former Day's Inn motel. It would include an expansion of the parking structure planned for the original SkyHouse.