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.

Second SkyHouse apartment tower planned in uptown Charlotte

Less than two months after developers broke ground for SkyHouse Uptown, a 24-story apartment tower going up at West 10th and North Tryon streets, plans are on the books for a second tower right next to it.

Real estate records show the second tower 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. The planning remains in its early stages.

The property that would house the second tower has long been one city leaders have hoped to redevelop. It is owned by the Dalton family and is being leased to Hospitality Corp. of America through the end of this year, records show. Thornton Kennedy, a spokesman for Novare, the Atlanta-based developer of the first SkyHouse project, said: "All we can say at this point is that we do have that property, which is the former Day's Inn ... under contract, and we are in (due) diligence on a possible second tower on that site."

The first Charlotte SkyHouse project was developed by Novare Group, Batson-Cook Development Co. and Grubb Properties. The $70 million project, with 336 units, marked the 11th SkyHouse tower Novare Group and Batson-Cook have handled around the Southeast. The SkyHouse concept aims to attract young urban office workers.

Charlotte developer Clay Grubb told me recently that given the growing number of apartment-loving millennials flocking to the Queen City, he could easily envision building a second SkyHouse in uptown. Grubb couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the latest SkyHouse project.