Ballantyne office building conversion plan targets 411 homes, reflecting broader south Charlotte redevelopment pressures

Office-to-housing conversion advances in Ballantyne

A proposal to replace office space with housing in south Charlotte’s Ballantyne area is moving through an early administrative stage, as developers and city planners continue to adapt to shifting demand for workplace real estate and persistent housing needs.

The concept centers on the Rushmore One site at 10840 Ballantyne Commons Parkway, where a sketch plan review outlines a redevelopment into 411 residential units. The plan describes five apartment buildings and seven townhome buildings. Sketch plan reviews are preliminary, non-binding meetings intended to identify issues before formal permitting and design work proceeds.

City officials have indicated the project is in the land development construction plan phase and, as currently structured, would not require a public hearing or a City Council vote. That path typically applies when a proposal fits within existing zoning and can be approved administratively through standard site-plan and permitting processes.

How the plan fits into south Charlotte’s changing land-use pattern

Ballantyne was built as a major employment center, but the proposed shift from office to residential aligns with a larger trend in Charlotte: adapting older or underused commercial properties for new uses. In the years since the pandemic reshaped office utilization nationally, Charlotte has seen a growing pipeline of office-to-residential projects and other forms of adaptive reuse.

Separately, City Council approved a major rezoning in early 2025 for the Esplanade at SouthPark site at 2101 Rexford Road. That entitlement allows up to 675 multifamily units alongside office uses, reflecting another approach to repositioning older office campuses as mixed-use environments rather than single-purpose employment sites.

Key development details under review

• Location: 10840 Ballantyne Commons Parkway (Rushmore One).

• Proposed homes: 411 total units.

• Building mix: five apartment buildings and seven townhome buildings.

• Process status: sketch plan review; administrative review path described by the city for the current phase.

What comes next

Even when a project does not require a rezoning vote, significant steps remain before construction: detailed engineering, stormwater and transportation analysis, utility coordination, and final site-plan approvals. Public impacts—such as traffic circulation, infrastructure capacity, and neighborhood compatibility—are typically addressed through these technical reviews, as well as through any required state or local permits tied to grading, environmental controls, and building code compliance.

Across Charlotte, the emerging pattern is less about a single project and more about how employment districts are being rebalanced—adding housing where office capacity once dominated, while maintaining or modernizing commercial space where demand persists.

If approved and built, the Ballantyne plan would add a sizable number of homes within a major activity center, reinforcing the city’s broader shift toward mixed-use redevelopment in areas shaped by earlier eras of office-first growth.