A major mixed-use project in a northern Charlotte suburb has cleared a key regulatory hurdle.

The Huntersville Planning Board voted Wednesday to back a rezoning proposal for a $200M mixed-use development from WLA Enterprises Inc., The Charlotte Observer reported.

Knox Crossing, proposed for a 44-acre site near the Lake Norman intersection of Sam Furr and Old Statesville roads, would reportedly bring nearly 500 apartments and townhomes to the town and around 82K SF of commercial development. It would be anchored by a 45K SF grocery store.

The board voted 6-3 in favor of the project.

WLA first filed a rezoning request in early January, seeking Transit Oriented Development Residential Conditional District and Highway Commercial Conditional District designations for the site, the Charlotte Business Journal reported.

But the planning board initially denied the request, noting several required improvements, including a phasing plan for commercial development to occur alongside residential construction as well as upgrades to architecture, road infrastructure and green space elements.

The town’s board of commissioners will make a final decision on the rezoning proposal at its March 17 meeting.

Knox Crossing’s development team — led by Kevin Rogers of WRS Inc., a local real estate investment firm — is negotiating with three major grocers to anchor the development, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

WRS had estimated it will take two years to complete the project after rezoning approval, according to the CBJ. The company has other developments across the Southeast, including the Shoppes At Mallard Creek in Charlotte. 

Last December, the town allowed developer Peak Development to rezone 21.3 acres at 17220 Old Statesville Road for Station South, a 348-unit residential community with around 25K SF of commercial space.

Sellers of a 65-acre site on the Cumberland River set the price at $200 million. Ewing Properties, the property owner, has hired Stream Realty to market the property.

The parcel, called “The Riverside,” was once slated for 5 million square feet of residential, office and retail space. Ewing paid $7.6 million for the property and assembled the 65 acres starting in 2015.

The Nashville Business Journal reports the price is comparable to the number Carl Icahn is seeking for his East Bank scrapyard property, located just a few miles down the river. Oracle Corp. paid $253.7 million for more than 65 acres of East Bank land across the river from Germantown for its future campus in 2021, and Southwest Value Partners paid $125 million for the 15-acre former Lifeway Christian Resources campus in 2015.

Cannon Hill Capital Partners has completed a $200-million recapitalization of 888 Broadway, with the addition of Global Holdings and Williams Equities as equity partners, according to published reports. The recapitalization reportedly was arranged by a Newmark team including Adam Spies and Adam Doneger.

Located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, the 220,000-square-foot office building is anchored by Netflix, which houses its corporate offices there. The property recently underwent a significant capital improvement program, including a new lobby entrance and a rooftop terrace designed by Fogarty Finger. 

Fried Frank represented the partners in the structuring and negotiation of the $200-million recapitalization of 888 Broadway by Cannon Hill, Global Holdings and Williams Equities. The Fried Frank team was led by partners Michael Werner and Matthew Aldana and included partners Jonathan Mechanic, Janice Mac Avoy, Julianne Befeler and Richard Wolfe.    

Seattle-based Pinnacle Partners, a real estate investment manager, and Dallas-based multifamily developer JPI announced the launch of a $200 million workforce housing fund.

The fund will back four projects, including one in Redmond at 15025 NE 24th Street. The new fund will partner on the development with the property owner with Stream Real Estate, reported the Puget Sound Business Journal.

“With JPI’s integrated development and construction platform and our capital raising expertise, we believe this fund will both meet crucial housing needs and produce strong returns for our investors,” Jeff Feinstein, managing partner at Pinnacle Partners, said in a news release.

Pinnacle Partners focuses on identifying and participating in qualifying Opportunity Zone real estate projects. To date, the company has capitalized over $1 billion in multifamily development projects, including over 900 lower-income workforce housing units.

 JLL Capital Markets completed the $200-million sale of The Gas Company Tower, a 1.3-million-square-foot office tower at 555 W. Fifth St. in Downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles County emerged as the buyer for the 53% occupied office tower, which JLL marketed on behalf of a CMBS trust that previously held the mortgage.

The seller was represented by a JLL Capital Markets Investment Sales and Advisory team led by senior managing directors Jeffrey Bramson, Sean Ryan and Tom Hall, managing director Andrew Harper and director Will Poulsen.

“The Gas Company Tower presented a tremendous opportunity to purchase a top asset in DTLA at pricing not seen in nearly 20 years,” said Bramson. “This transaction represents an important milestone in the DTLA office market as we are witnessing a reset of the market and anticipate increased transaction activity and pricing stability in 2025.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation broke ground on the $200 million National Training Center (NTC) and Headquarters, which will be called the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center.

The former co-owner of Home Depot and current owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Blank donated $50 million to the project. The training center will span 200 acres and include more than a dozen soccer fields and over 100,000 square feet of indoor courts for all 27 U.S. Soccer National Teams, including Senior Women’s and Men’s, Youth and Extended National Teams. The facility will also include more than 200,000 square feet of high-performance facilities, locker rooms, meeting rooms and headquarters space for all U.S. Soccer employees and is expected to open in 2026. 

The location of the center will be in Trilith in Fayette County. The Town at Trilith is adjacent to Trilith Studios, a major film and television production studio in Fayette County. 

Kyowa Kirin, a Japanese life sciences company, has selected Sanford, North Carolina, for its new pharmaceutical manufacturing complex. The $200 million investment will create more than 100 jobs. The company will utilize the Helix Innovation Park at the Brickyard, a new 895-acre industrial park in Lee County.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee approved roughly $2 million worth of incentives to lure the project. Earlier, the Sanford City Council and the Lee County Board of Commissioners approved an incentives package of $3.86 million and roughly $4.7 million, respectively.

Kyowa Kirin first entered the North American market when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved three medicines it markets in the United States. The company has three other manufacturing sites in North America.

Sanford, in recent years has landed large projects from Pfizer and Astellas Gene Therapies, part of Japanese firm Astellas Pharma.

A lot is known about the requirements of a Japanese life sciences project slated for Sanford, NC. Besides the expected investment by the company, it will create over 100 jobs at a new industrial park on 70 acres at Helix Innovation Park at the Brickyard. What’s not known is the name of the company. The Sanford City Council is set to vote on more than $3.86 million in incentives for the development.

Besides the city inducements, the Charlotte Business Journal reports the state is likely to give incentives to the project following approval of local incentives from Sanford City Council.

Sanford has drawn interest from other pharmaceutical firms. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) operates a gene therapy manufacturing operation in Sanford and has also committed to expanding in the town. The drugmaker said the plant would employ about 300 people by 2025, growing the company’s headcount in North Carolina to more than 4,500 workers.

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