Author: Chris Martin

The protest petition, a tool used by neighbors to challenge rezonings in Charlotte, appears to be on its way out. During the rezoning process, neighbors within 100 feet of a property that is up for rezoning can file a protest petition in opposition. If the protest petition is valid, it triggers a requirement that a supermajority of Charlotte City Council members is required to approve the request for a rezoning. Earlier this year, for example, Cameron and Dee-Dee Harris and other commercial property…

York Development Group has started site work for a mixed-use development in the Ballantyne area that will include a new office building for Bank of North Carolina, a hotel and retail space. The project, called Colinayre, is planned for 12.5 acres at the southwest corner of Providence Road West and Johnston Road, across from the Publix-anchored Ballantyne Town Center. The bank’s office building will total approximately 25,000 square feet and will be on the north end of the site, while Matthews-based…

Commercial real estate company KDC has relocated its Charlotte office to the Rotunda Building, where it has leased 2,200 square feet. KDC previously leased space at SouthPark Towers, in the 6100 Fairview Road building. The Rotunda Building is at 4201 Congress St., also in SouthPark. “We are still in the same neighborhood, and this new space is designed to accommodate our growth and operations, as we continue to implement our business plan and expand our regional presence,” said Larry Wilson,…

Charlotte-based AddShoppers, a social marketing and analytics platform for e-commerce companies, has relocated to the 16th floor of the Charlotte Plaza building, where it has subleased 5,200 square feet from Chobani Greek Yogurt. The company had been operating out of roughly 800 square feet at Packard Place, the uptown entrepreneurship hub, but with 20 employees had outgrown its space, says co-founder and CEO Jon West. Last month, the company moved into its new space, which was occupied by Chobani…

Home prices in Charlotte were up 5.6 percent in April from a year earlier, according to a widely watched monthly index released Tuesday. That marks a slight slowdown in the annual growth rate, which lagged the 5.8 percent price increase posted in March. However, it's still greater than the rates recorded for the local area in January and February. The April figure also puts the city ahead of national trends, the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows. Charlotte’s month-to-month…

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is investing $1.5 million to help create a business-improvement initiative for the Historic West End neighborhood that will be led by Charlotte Center City Partners. The investment is designed to foster economic development in the area, located just west of uptown Charlotte and anchored by Johnson C. Smith University. The city of Charlotte will spend $20 million on public infrastructure improvements in the area over the next five years, and the CityLYNX…

I was out of town on vacation last week but was saddened to hear about the death of Allen Tate, the founder and chairman of residential real estate firm Allen Tate Co.

When I first heard the news, I thought immediately of a Q&A that I did with Tate back in 2010, when he was inducted into the N.C. Business Hall of Fame.

At the time, the residential real estate market was still reeling, and Tate, who could not have been nicer, talked about the advice he was giving his Realtors in that challenging…

Allen Tate learned to sell by peddling bananas.

He was a young man growing up in Gaffney, S.C., working at his father’s grocery store. One day, his father bought a pick-up load of bananas, so Tate moved the truck out front and sprayed the bananas with water to keep them looking fresh.

That marked his start as a businessman.

The banana story was one of many shared at a memorial service for the life of H. Allen Tate Jr. on Friday at Myers Park Baptist Church, where hundreds gathered.

“I suspect…

H. Allen Tate Jr., the founder, chairman and CEO of real estate firm Allen Tate Co. and a prominent leader in the Charlotte business community, has died at age 84.

The company said Monday evening that Tate died at his home in Charlotte, noting that he had been in “failing health for a number of years.” Still, he had continued to work at the residential firm’s SouthPark headquarters.

“This is a great personal loss for me,” Pat Riley, president and chief operating officer of the company and Tate’s…

Levine Properties announced it has hired Steve Smith this week as chief operating officer, a newly created position at the company. Smith will oversee business operations, management and redevelopment of the company’s real estate properties as well as development of Levine’s land inventory.

That inventory includes roughly 24 acres in the First Ward neighborhood in uptown Charlotte, where Levine is working on a park with Mecklenburg County and has started building a parking deck at 10th and Brevard…