A front elevation rendering of the proposed Foxcroft City Home structure.

A contentious rezoning dispute between Alan Simonini Homes and Foxcroft residents will be back before Charlotte City Council as early as next month for a vote after being brought before the City Council for the second time at its February rezoning meeting.

Simonini and Saratoga Asset Management are seeking to rezone more than 6 acres on Sharon Lane from zoning that allows 3 single-family homes per acre to a zoning that allows for more dense development with attached residential units.

According to the original petition that went before City Council in October, Simonini planned to develop 31 attached townhome units on the plot of land between Providence Road and Heathmoor Lane.

Simonini has since scaled back the plan for Foxcroft City Homes, as the project is to be called, to 24 attached townhomes targeted toward empty nesters. The acreage would have 12, 2-residence buildings.

Area residents have voice opposition and more than 1,200 signed a petition opposing the rezoning that allows for multi-family structures in a neighborhood of single-family homes, according to a Charlotte Business Journal report.

Plans for the residences start at 3,400 square feet and $1 million, which area residents question as targeting empty nesters, who typically choose to downsize.

Other issues complicating the rezoning request are stormwater runoff from development, which Simonini and Saratoga Asset Management said would be miitigated by plans for a stormwater management system to be implemented.

Current zoning would allow for 18 single-family homes. Simonini is seeking to build only 3 more structures and a total of 6 more residences.

Several residents, including owners who had sold their homes for this development, supported the plan saying as an advantageous change in the neighborhood and a nice transition between the current single-family landscape and the mixed-use activity at nearby Sharon Amity and Providence roads.

The City Council will likely vote on the petition in March.

A rendering of finished NoDa Street Market. D3 Studios

A brewery, Thai restaurant and coffee house/pub are among the newest tenants added to the roster for the $2.45 million project under way in North Davidson.

The market parcel, which will span the two buildings located at 3701 and 3629 N. Davidson Street, is about 1.25 acres.

The entire project will encompass approximately 23,000 square feet of “industrial chic” space with original brick walls and barrel vaulted ceilings, according to a Charlotte Business Journal report.

The North Davidson street site prior to its transformation.

Divine Barrel Brewery is taking over the more than 8,000 square feet of space currently occupied by Charlotte Roller Girls, who will be relocating.

Thai restaurant DeeJai will open its third location in the Queen City at 3629 N. Davidson St. The restaurant currently has locations in South End and Eastover.

Crown Station, which formerly was located in Elizabeth, will re-emerge in NoDa Street Market and offer its coffee house/pub vibe with live music.

NoDa Street Market is being developed by Charlotte’s Bird Dog Group Inc. and designed by D3 Studio.

There is no timetable for project completion as of Dec. 4.

JJ’s Red Hots’ Dilworth location

JJ’s Red Hots will be serving up its tasty hot dogs and sausages from a new location at 400 S. Tryon next year.

The Queen City’s self-proclaimed “hot dog joint” signed a lease for 1,500 square feet of space in space across from Romare Bearden Park. JJ’s already has locations in Dilworth and Ballantyne as well as a food truck.

According to the JJ’s web site, the restaurant serves sausages and hot dogs from Sahlen’s, a brand that has been around since 1869. JJ’s offers a variety of house made toppings for its sausages and dogs, including homemade chili.

JJ’s will share space in the renovated 400 S. Tryon location with Rhino Market and b.good restaurant. The new space is expected to open somewhere between spring and summer 2017.

400 S. Tryon, which is owned by Trinity Capital Advisors and DRA Advisors, currently is under renovation. The 33-story building in the Third Ward recently opened its newly renovated lobby and fitness center. The building is currently 90% leased.

A loss for real estate developer Pulte Homes is a win for the Sedgefield neighbors who want to see the green space remain in their community.

Mecklenburg County commissioners voted in favor of asking Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to not sell the 3.7-acre plot of land for a townhome development, according to an Observer report.

In addition, the commissioners OK’d purchasing the land with money slated for the school system, should CMS decide to go against commission wishes and sell the land. The county has right of first refusal on any CMS sale.

The popular in-town Sedgefield neighborhood has seen rapid growth and density increases in recent years. Residents of the Sedgefield and nearby Dilworth neighborhoods were largely against the sale that would take away a large chunk of green space near Sedgefield Neighborhood Park and Sedgefield Middle School.

With the South Boulevard corridor also seeing exponential development due to added light rail service and residential construction, the 3.7 acres on McDonald Avenue south of Ideal Way, is one of the last green spaces in the neighborhood.

Pulte offered more than $3.8 million to buy the land for a townhome development of approximately 30 residential units.

Interested in some popular Sedgefield real estate? There are older and newer homes alike on the market in beautiful Sedgefield!

For more than a year, Hart’s has been whipping up tasty floats and sodas from its vintage VW Bus and popping up at food truck rallies and private events. Now, Kara and Greg Urquhart, the duo behind Hart’s have leased a space to plant roots in North Davidson.

The 908 E. 35th St. location, at the intersection of Whiting Avenue, is 700 square feet and fulfills the couple’s original dream of having a permanent location for them to support other local food sources in creating their own culinary concoctions. Hart’s inked a 3-year lease for the space.

The Urquhart’s, who use vanilla ice cream from Waxhaw Creamery in their floats, hope to support several more local businesses in their new location by offering coffee, baked goods and more ice cream flavors.

The trendy NoDa area of Charlotte caters to the eclectic and local with artists, local restaurants and, more recently, an uprising of local breweries. For Charlotteans with children, Hart’s will give them a destination in the neighborhood.

Not just a day-trip destination, NoDa has some fantastic real estate! Currently, there are 12 properties for sale in NoDa,  both renovated and unrenovated older homes.

Sites of proposed townhomes

Thirty-five new townhomes will share the block with Heist Brewery after the Charlotte City Council approved on Monday the Saussy Burbank plan.

The Charlotte-based builder submitted a rezoning petition with the city in April for 30 townhomes that will face North Brevard and East 33rd streets, flanking the block’s existing structures.

The final plan for the approximately 2,200-square-foot residences calls for 35 homes that will be one block from 36th Street LYNX light rail station when it opens, adding to the development surge toward mass transit-oriented development in the Queen City.

Prices for the new 3-bedroom townhomes are expected to be in the upper $300,000 range. Each residence will have 2-car garages as well as some recessed on-street parking spaces along North Brevard and 33rd streets.

The two parcels that cover more than 9 acres is adjacent to Heist Bewery and within walking distance to the heart of the Arts District, Cabo Fish Taco and Johnston YMCA.

Even though Charlotte-area home sales dropped 3.3% for June over year-ago figures, it was not all bad news for the Charlotte area, according to the most recent report from the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

Year-over-year sales dropped, but compared with sales figures for May 2016, sales were up 9.9%.

The average sales price of a Charlotte home increased 8.2% to $280,499 from $250,137 in June 2015. Median sales prices also were up more than 8% to $225,000 from $208,125 a year ago.

The average list price was up 10.1% to $302,371, bringing the percent of original list price received to nearly 97%, a jump of 1.1% over June 2015.

Though inventory is still low for the area and was down more than 23% from year-ago figures, new residential listings rose 7.7% in June 2016 over June 2015.

According to CarolinaMLS President Maren Brisson-Kuester, lowered sales were to be expected.

“With the prolonged low inventory the region has faced, some cooling in sales was to be expected. However, the June report is still mostly positive, and with new listings continuing to increase and strong pending sales counts, the outlook for future sales is still favorable,” she said.

The entire CMLS area closed out June with 3 months of market inventory, a drop of nearly 32% from the same period in 2015. The City of Charlotte closed June with 1.9 months of inventory, and Mecklenburg Co. closed out June with 2.1 months of inventory.

Across the entire Carolina MLS region, home sales rose 5% to 4,026 properties sold compared to year-ago May figures and rose 11.4% from April 2016.

For Uptown, the average sales price rose 16% to $292,620. Inventory from year-ago levels took a major hit and dropped nearly 27% to just 2.7 months of inventory.

Average sales prices across the entire CMLS region saw a slight increase of 3.2% to $257,866.

Already-low inventory in the CMLS region was down from year-ago levels to 10,880, a 25% decrease. This brings inventory levels to 3 months for the entire CMLS region. In May 2015, inventory levels were at about 4.4 months, slightly closer to a balanced market.

The change from April 2016 inventory levels was a 3.5% increase, which is a good sign, however, inventory levels are still incredibly low across the region.

Six months of inventory represents a balanced market, where neither the buy or seller is at an advantage. Such low inventory levels puts the ball fully in the seller’s court, so to speak.

As such, the average list price is up from year-ago levels to $321,223, an increase of 10.7%.

Mecklenburg Co. inventory is at just 2.1 months, a drop of more than 34% from May 2015 with only 3,308 properties on the market in May. City of Charlotte inventory dropped by a third to 2,403 properties listed, which puts inventory levels at just less than 2 months.

Not surprising, days on market and days from listing to close both dropped from May 2015, as inventory continues to decline and demand increases.

“The CarolinaMLS region continues to post steady sales, despite challenges buyers face with limited inventory, price increases and shortened days on market. We are reassured by the small but steady increase in new listings over the past four months, which should help to improve the inventory picture as we head into summer,” CarolinaMLS President Maren Brisson-Kuester said.

This market trend is mostly being seen in new construction, where the average square footage is up to 2,687. Thirty-one percent of newly constructed homes are 3,000 square feet or more.

The NY Times, citing Census Bureau statistics, reported nearly half of new homes have 4 or more bedrooms, while more than one-third have 3 or more bathrooms.

In the mid-1980s, it was the norm for new construction homes to have 2.5 bathrooms. Now the demand dictates at least 3 baths.

Wealthy Americans are driving the new-home market and are choosing to have more space, at least 17% more space, according to the report.

Although these statistics apply to new-home construction, evidence of the trend can be seen throughout the Queen City in older neighborhoods such as Madison Park, Sedgefield and Barclay Downs.

Many of the older homes in those neighborhoods are being renovated, added onto or torn down and rebuilt to larger sizes. The original 3-bedroom, 2-bath homes are making way for the 5-bedroom, 3-bath properties.

Working and family trends have changed since the 1960s. Many people are working later into life, and it’s common for both parents to be working, some from home. A home office/workspace is a common occurrence these days as are rec spaces, home gyms and home theaters.

Whatever your reason for wanting to sprawl, builders are happy to accommodate the trend.