Olde Mecklenburg Brewery begins expansion, and will anchor new Ballantyne center
A familiar Charlotte brewery will open another location in south Charlotte, where Ballantyne residents will get a new mixed-use center focused on food, entertainment and shopping.
The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery will anchor The Bowl at Ballantyne when the complex opens next year, Northwood Investors LLC said Tuesday in a news release.
OMB will be the largest brewery in south Charlotte with 14,000 square feet of indoor space and a 7,000-square-foot patio dining, developer Northwood said. It also will have a second-level mezzanine balcony.
The stand-alone building will overlook a 1-acre, tree-canopied biergarten at The Bowl’s entrance.
And, like OMB’s lower South End brewery, it will be family-friendly with a family zone and playground at one end of the garden.
“When it comes to the local craft beer scene, OMB started it all,” said Jonathan Stewart, vice president of leasing at Northwood Retail. He said Northwood was looking forward to having the brewery in south Charlotte.
Dining and amphitheater at The Bowl
The Bowl’s “Epicurean Row” will offer diners garden rooms, covered sidewalk seating and rooftop decks with views of a central lawn, Northwood said.
The project’s 6-acre “Stream Park” will include outdoor rooms, activity zones and other programs, plus a 3,500-person amphitheater for concerts, food festivals and markets.
More about OMB
OMB is Charlotte’s oldest brewery, opening in 2009.
The brewery is at 4150 Yancey Road in Lower South End after moving in 2015 from its original location at 215 Southside Drive, now home to Sugar Creek Brewing Co., CharlotteFive reported.
Three years ago, Olde Mecklenburg Brewery purchased land for a second location in Cornelius with plans to invest $7 million to build a full brewery, taproom and beer garden, CharlotteFive reported.
Last year, OMB gained approval for another location in Mount Holly at 725 Elm St. — formerly a water treatment plant.
OMB beers are sold throughout the Carolinas.
More about Northwood
Northwood Investors is a privately held real estate private equity firm that owns and operates real estate across the U.S. and Europe. The firm manages about $8 billion of investor capital.
At Ballantyne, Northwood owns and manages 535 acres, 4.4 million square feet of office space, four hotels with nearly 600 rooms, a 212-unit luxury apartment building and 2.5 million square feet of LEED-certified space.
In 2017, Northwood Investors bought the Ballantyne corporate park for $1.2 billion from local developer the Bissell Cos., the Observer reported. Dubbed “Ballantyne Reimagined,” the 25-acre Northwood Office LLC development between Ballantyne and Aloft hotels will create an “urban, walkable” community.
Northwood has invested $100 million in infrastructure, including roads and stream, the company told the Observer on Tuesday.
More about Ballantyne
Ballantyne is a 2,000-acre community in south Charlotte.
It’s home to thousands of apartments, over 1,000 single-family homes, nearly 600 hotel rooms, 25 miles of walking paths and bike lanes, over 100 acres of parks and green space, plus dozens of restaurants, medical and retail amenities.
