Fairfield Residential returns with 307 units in opportunity zone

A California developer that took its chips off the table in Charlotte’s multifamily market just before the pandemic is back with a 307-unit project underway in the Lockwood neighborhood north of uptown.

San Diego-based Fairfield Residential filed a building permit two weeks ago valued at $4.12 million with Mecklenburg County, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Michael Gribble, vice president of Fairfield’s Carolinas region, declined to disclose the total project cost.

The company expects to deliver a first phase of units, at 2300 North Tryon, late next year, with completion some time in 2026. 

Fairfield is the general contractor, with Dwell Design Studio on board as the project architect, and Bolton & Menk as civil engineer.

Fairfield had been an investor in Charlotte, where it previously owned and managed several multifamily complexes, including Canopy at Baybrook, at 6609 Reafield Drive. Fairfield acquired the property in 2014 for $34.5 million, and sold it for $45.5 million in 2019, according to the Business Journal.

The project’s location in an opportunity zone near Charlotte’s NoDa district — north of Davidson — was a key to pursuing the project, Gribble said.

Fairfield paid $9.15 million for the 3.6 acres on Tryon Street nearly in October of 2023 from Charlotte-based Flywheel Group. The Charlotte City Council approved rezoning the tract from industrial to mixed-use development in November 2022.

“The amount of investment driven by the opportunity zone is really interesting to us,” Gribble told the outlet. “You can see that investment on the single-family and multifamily sides, but also the commercial side. Camp North End is a great example. The area is poised for continued investment and growth, and that’s what got us excited about the location.”

Fairfield’s project is part of a larger trend that has seen more than 14,300 apartment units come online in the Charlotte metro area over the past 18 months or so, with another 10,000 units expected before the end of the year, according to MRI ApartmentData.

That supply is keeping rents down, according to Apartmentlist.com, which pegs the current metro average at $1,445 per month, down 3.7 percent from a year ago.

“We were able to take a longer term view with this project and believe we’re going to be delivering on the other side of the current supply wave into the area’s continued growth,” Gribble said. 

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