CommScope, a North Carolina telecommunications company and one of Catawba County’s largest employers, is halting a long-planned expansion project, according to The Charlotte Observer. 

The fiber-optic manufacturing facility project in the town of Catawba, just north of Charlotte, was projected to cost $60M and bring 250 new jobs to the region, according to a 2023 press release by the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

North Carolina’s Economic Investment Committee also terminated a nearly $2M economic development agreement grant it gave CommScope last summer as an incentive for the project. 

The demise of the expansion, announced Jan. 13, comes about a month after CommScope informed the state it would not reach its local hiring or investment goals.

In a letter, the company placed partial blame on delays in grant funding from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, which works to expand high-speed internet access across the country.

The White House updated oversight of the federal grantmaking process in August 2025 through an executive order. Among the changes, the order calls for more oversight by senior government appointees or their designees in awarding grants. The National Association of Development Organizations, a nonprofit supporting regional and local government officials and development organizations, warned that the additional scrutiny may “introduce delays into the grantmaking process.”

CommScope reportedly told the state commerce department that a recent acquisition was another factor for missing hiring and investment goals.

On Jan. 12, the telecommunications company Amphenol Corp. announced the completion of its $10.5B purchase of CommScope’s Connectivity and Cable Solutions business. 

The parts of CommScope’s business that were not folded into the Amphenol merger will be rebranded as Vistance Networks.

Multifamily developer Northwood Ravin has something for everyone just outside Charlotte. The Lodges at Fort Mill, a 261-unit rental community off Fort Mill Highway, just east of Indian Land includes 118 apartments, 80 townhomes and 63 single-family homes.

The community includes a mix of two—and three-bedroom homes and townhomes, as well as walkup corner apartments with one—and two-bedroom floor plans.

Northwood Ravin paid $8.5 million in 2021 for the project site.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports that Northwood Ravin came in at No. 2 on the list ranking the market’s most active commercial real estate developers based on five-year activity. The developer delivered just over 4 million square feet of projects locally, and around 90% of that square footage was multifamily development.

The developers behind the Empire Hotel are embarking on a $25 million remake of the building. The project calls for redeveloping 100,000 square feet at 228 S. Main St. Upon full buildout, the project will include 38 residences, a 35-room boutique hotel and possibly a steakhouse. Iron Horse Development is heading up the project in Salisbury, 20 miles north of Charlotte.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports the first phase of the project will be named Empire Row, which includes two row homes and seven full-floor lofts. The residences will be for rent and then sold after five years. The project will be built in three phases.

The Empire Hotel opened in 1859 and was remodeled in 1907. The hotel was then permanently closed in 1963.

Iron Horse Development says it focuses on historic buildings and the acquisition, entitlement, design and development of small—to medium-sized multifamily projects with 2 to 50 units. 

Pappas Properties hopes to rezone a 98-acre parcel in Mooresville to build homes and up to 400,000 square feet of commercial space. Mooresville’s planning staff has already recommended approval of the rezoning request. Mooresville is near Lake Norman just north of Charlotte.

The site at 1740 Mecklenburg Highway would be home to a project named Mooresville Village. The Charlotte Busiiness Journal reports the proposed commercial element includes a mix of retail, grocery, bank, office and hotel uses.

Town documents show Mooresville Village would be developed in four phases.

The first phase calls for residential uses. The second and third phases are being planned for a mixed-use area with multifamily, retail and grocery uses. The fourth phase is being plotted for “higher-intensity retail and office uses.” The final phase could also include a hotel and more multifamily development.

CBRE has arranged two loans worth $66 million to refinance two separate industrial portfolios in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metropolitan area. 

Brian Linnihan led CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance in Atlanta, which represented CIP Real Estate in both deals. A $35 million loan was secured through HIMCO, while a $31 million loan was secured through a national bank. 

The larger of the two loans was secured for the refinancing of International Corporate Center, a six-building industrial project located in Concord, North Carolina and the construction of two industrial buildings totaling 147,467 square feet. Located near the intersection of International and Corporate drives, International Corporate Center totals 200,831 square feet (not including new development), is home to 12 tenants, and was 92% leased at the time of the loan funding. 

The $31 million loan was secured for the acquisition of a seven-building, 334,989-square-foot industrial portfolio also in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Three different industrial developments comprised the portfolio, which was 99% leased to 12 tenants.