Rendering of new Birkdale Village

Dec. 2. By Mike McGinnis. If the tone of a community meeting is any indication, opposition to new development Birkdale Village remains focused on the approach the new owners have taken with information dissemination.

The just-completed renovation was worth on the order of $20 million. A proposed expansion that includes a hotel, parking decks and multifamily units, is valued at around $275 million.

While expressing that the new owners have not been transparent enough with the plans to remodel Huntersville’s lifestyle center, concerned residents voiced their opinions about a shortage of planned parking lots, higher-than-expected building heights, and increased traffic problems.

Third community meeting

As it awaits final approval of its overhaul, North American Properties, the new owners of the reimagined Birkdale Village, held a third community meeting, one more than legally required, spelling out the plans for 350 new multifamily units, a 125 -room hotel, 150,000 square feet of office space and 25,000 square feet of commercial development.

The Huntersville Town Board is expected to vote on the plan on Jan. 17.

Sharing information

The main rub with NAP making over Huntersville’s outdoor mall is the way the Cincinnati, Ohio-based company is handling the remodel with the community.

Peter Romaniello, a Birkdale Village resident, said the lack of transparency is the biggest issue that residents have with NAP.

“As residents, we all know that it (Birkdale Village) has to continue to grow, they have to continue to develop in order for it to be a vibrant shopping area. But, the problem is that we have to look at ourselves as neighbors and have to work together. If you do a project and your neighbor isn’t going to be transparent and straightforward, you are going to be upset when something gets approved and built,” Romaniello said.

At a previous community meeting in late October, the residents heard the NAP officials present the height of the proposed office building at a lower level than what the company proposed to the Huntersville Town Board just one night later.

Plans change

Tim Perry, NAP Managing Partner, says that plans change and their plans have changed since the first proposal in August 2021.

“With fewer rooms planned, the hotel height has been reduced. The office building height hasn’t changed. We are using the same rendering since the beginning. And that is 115 feet high which even though our application said 145 feet, from a procedural standpoint, the Planning Board recommended that the height be reduced and we agreed to that reduction and would expect the Town Board to accept that,” Perry said.

Brand name stores such as Banana Republic will move out.

Timeline

Construction of the proposed office building is expected to start in 2025. Under the best case scenario, the building would be finished in two years time, according to NAP officials. Meanwhile, the completion of the multi-family units ranges from 2027 to 2032.