Anchor Tenant Charlotte Art League To Move Into Station House
The Charlotte Art League has been announced as the anchor tenant of Flywheel Group’s adaptive reuse project Station House, opening in the spring at the upcoming Sugar Creek Station on the new LYNX Light Rail extension.
After 21 years in Historic South End, CAL lost its space on Camden Avenue last year after its building was purchased by Asana Partners. The nonprofit visual arts organization will make its new home near the Arts District in NoDa at 600 East Sugar Creek Road, just north of Flywheel Group’s upcoming Greenway District. The Cross Charlotte Trail will connect the two, Flywheel Group President Tony Kuhn said.
Station House is a 45K SF warehouse that was once occupied by Source Recycling and has been reimagined into a transit-oriented mixed-use space by architecture, design and planning firm Odell Associates Inc.
CAL will occupy 9,500 SF, made up of working studios, wall spaces, a front gallery space, offices and classrooms.
“While we’re excited about the Station House as a new home for CAL, we’re also excited to be part of an integrated area that combines elements of business, residential, entertainment and the arts,” CAL Executive Director Cindy Connelly said.
“This helps us with our goal of bringing the arts to the underserved in the Charlotte community,” she said. “So the Station House is not just a new home but also a base, a foothold, to better contribute to the community as a whole.”
Station House town center
In addition to the adaptive reuse stage, Flywheel is planning a 100K SF new construction office and retail space as part of the first phase. Ultimately, this area will be combined with the 4.5 acres Flywheel owns across the street to create a larger retail, dining and entertainment-centered mixed-use project on 8.5 acres.
“The Station House project will be a hub of activity for art, music, food, retail and offices,” Kuhn said in a statement. He called the project “a true mixed-use development that combines preservation of some of the old buildings on the site as well as new construction.”
Odell CEO Bradley Bartholomew said options for tenants could include a boutique-style hotel, a brewery, dining and entertainment as well as offices and apartments.
The focus will be on destination-style, unique retail related to nearby NoDa’s galleries and arts scene, Bartholomew said.
“It’s a great opportunity along the north line extension to really do transit-oriented development right.”
