Insite Properties, an experienced regional development firm located in Charlotte, announced $500 million in new development plans for downtown Kannapolis and the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC).
Approximately 236 acres in and around downtown Kannapolis will be part of the development plan. Included are most of the vacant properties surrounding the current NCRC buildings.
Insite’s preliminary plans for the properties include constructing 800,000 square feet of new office, research, and medical space; 47,000 square feet of new commercial/retail space; 1,200 residential dwelling units of different types; and accelerated buildout and lease-up of existing space for higher education, research, medical and office purposes.
“We are excited to join the city of Kannapolis community,” Jay Blanton, founder and managing principal of Insite Properties, said. “Our firm has seen the successful progress the city has made in charting a prosperous future and we look forward to being a partner in the next chapter of the city’s economic development journey. The potential to be a part of this transformative process in one of the state’s top cities is a key reason we want to be in Kannapolis. As we orchestrate the development of all the adjacent campus land, I would expect that the value of investment by us and others in building structures, parks, streets, and other improvements will be in excess of $500 million over the next 10 years; and that could be wildly underestimated.”
Castle and Cooke, the company that owns numerous real estate assets in Kannapolis, decided to sell all their North and South Carolina properties last year in order to support the continued growth and development of the downtown and the campus. Many of the properties located in Kannapolis are key to the successful economic health of the city, and city leaders said it is extremely important that the land’s future uses are developed in a “strategic and thoughtful manner.”
“This is a momentous time in preparing for the continued successes our city has experienced in recent year,” Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg said. “As the door closes on the role Castle and Cooke has played in Kannapolis, another door of opportunity is opening. We are looking forward to working with Insite as we have with other partners who are investing in our City to unlock the potential of these properties. This is a once in a lifetime legacy project for Kannapolis.”
Insite and Castle and Cooke have agreed to the purchase and sale of the properties in two phases with the initial acquisition anticipated to be completed by the end of September 2022.
Kannapolis leaders, Castle and Cooke, and Insite are working together to ensure the future development of the land will be as transformative and successful as the original NCRC investments and the Downtown Revitalization efforts.
“It is extremely important for us to be a partner in this process,” Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant said. “The city has a vested interest in facilitating the plans for these very valuable properties. Insite’s planned development will be complementary and supportive of our downtown revitalization project and it is our desire that the future uses of the land enhance the businesses and uses that have established a presence in our downtown and at the NC Research Campus.”
The growing research and commercial enterprise at the NCRC will be uninterrupted by the sale and transition to the new ownership. Castle and Cooke will retain ownership of the two university buildings and one of the Rowan Cabarrus Community College buildings on the campus until 2028 and 2030 respectively, after which the buildings will become state owned.
“We welcome Insite and their current and future development partners as we all begin the collaborative strategic planning process for the use of these properties,” Hinnant said. “It is vital for our continued economic health and prosperity that we succeed in working together.”
