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While 2024 brought its share of challenges — including ongoing market uncertainty and the evolving landscape of renewable energy and infrastructure funding — the Southeast once again demonstrated its strength as a hub for opportunity and innovation. Steady job growth and continued population migration to the region spurred strong demand for mixed-use and residential development even in the face of challenging funding and higher interest rates. Investors and developers alike recognized the resilience of the Southeast’s markets and invested in diverse real estate sectors.
This year, we were honored to assist our clients on a variety of impactful projects. Highlights include the development of vibrant entertainment districts, thoughtfully designed master-planned and mixed-use communities, and cutting-edge life sciences laboratory spaces. We also supported restructuring and expansion of a minor league ballpark, advised on a large-scale wind farm project that advances renewable energy, and facilitated transformative public-private partnerships (P3) along with an education campus development. Additionally, our team provided strategic counsel to a major real estate investment firm as it restructured its ownership to prepare for future growth.
We were deeply grateful for the opportunity to partner with our clients, referral sources, and collaborators in 2024, and we look forward to helping you navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2025!
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We are representing the developer in the rezoning and development of 80 acres around the Lenovo Center to create a new sports and entertainment district in a growing area of Raleigh. The rezoning would allow for new shopping, living, eating, and music offerings around the former PNC arena, including up to 4,000 apartments, up to 3 million square feet of new commercial, entertainment, office, and hotel uses, with building heights up to 40 stories. The project includes a state-of-the-art entertainment venue and outdoor tailgate experiences that provide new ways for football and hockey fans to experience the space between the existing NC State Carter-Finley Stadium and the Lenovo Center. Our attorneys advised on securing entitlements, zoning, and site plan efforts, as well as related lease and development agreements. The complexity of the project requires working with the Centennial Authority, NC State, and the State of North Carolina to deliver this regional attraction. | |
We represent the developer of a 1,400-acre mixed-use, master-planned community that sits along the Catawba River in Charlotte. Once complete, the project will result in up to 8.6 million square feet of commercial and retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, 2,300 single-family homes, and 2,350 multi-family residential units. We advised the developer on drafting of residential master, commercial, and supplemental declarations as well as a cost-sharing agreement between associations. Over the past several years, we have assisted with the acquisition of land, right of way acquisition, and negotiations with utility providers and municipal authorities for the development of the property. We have transitioned to representing the developer in the disposition of parcels within the community, with each disposition requiring a supplemental declaration to incorporate the property into the master regime and apply additional covenants as needed. | |
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HAYES PARK
Location: Johns Island, SC
Lead Attorney: Megan Stevens
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We are representing the developer of a 17-acre mixed-use project comprised of for-sale townhome lots and commercial space on Johns Island, South Carolina, just outside of Charleston. The nearly complete development hosts 58 townhome sites along with retail shops spread out over five acres, including restaurants, a wine bar, high-end grocery store, butcher shop, and pharmacy. Representation of the client began four years ago with the acquisition of land and continued with advising the developer on contract negotiations, approvals with the City of Charleston for utilities and roads, negotiations with utility companies for water and sewer easements, and advising on HOA covenants and restrictions. The project has secured 14 retail leases, including some in recent months, in which we have assisted the client with both the leasing as well as advising on final outparcel conveyances. | |
We represented a charter school in the acquisition and development of its first owned location in Stonecrest, Georgia, about 20 miles southeast of Atlanta. The project involves the adaptive reuse of roughly 76,000 square feet of existing warehouse and office buildings into educational space. Moving to its new location in August 2025, DeKalb Brilliance Academy will ultimately serve over 700 students in grades K-8. The school is a nonprofit, tuition-free charter school that focuses on career-connected, project-based learning. Parker Poe attorneys represented the school in its acquisition of the property and compliance with state education agency requirements and advised the client on a pre-development loan and acquisition and construction financing. Our attorneys also advised on the tax-exempt and nonprofit aspects of the financing. Our work also involved attorneys assisting with entitlements, procurement and compliance, environmental aspects, tax, and construction. | |
We represented a community college in a unique campus master plan rezoning of a 129-acre portion of land for a new health and education campus. The rezoning involved 20 parcels, and was a partnership between Wake Tech, a major health care system, and a local municipality in east Raleigh. The master plan created five nodes within the campus, focusing on different community needs such as health, government services, and education and will give students the unique opportunity to study and work in a contained campus. Our attorneys also advised on several land transfers in multiple phases with various easements and cost-sharing agreements, and additional site plan related issues. | |
We represented the developer of a 98-acre mixed-use project that will add up to 600 apartments, 350 townhomes and duplexes, and 35,000 square feet of retail to downtown Garner. The project was described by local officials as transformative in that it will bring a new level of scale and energy to the town. We led the client’s rezoning and master plan approval and also negotiated a development agreement with the town to secure infrastructure and park improvements. We are now working with the developer to seek approval of the site plan and corresponding special use permits. The project is anticipated to break ground in late 2025. | |
We represented the investors and developers during the acquisition and development stages of a 10-acre site located in the Hayti area of downtown Durham. The initial phase of the plan calls for a 13-story residential building and an 11-story purpose-built laboratory/life sciences space along with retail and restaurant space. Our attorneys advised on all entitlements related to the project, including assisting on site plan and permitting issues, and are now pursuing a zoning change. We played a significant role in the community outreach, helping our clients navigate the political, social, and cultural implications of this project and future development in this area. We assisted our clients in achieving their goal to submit a by-right site plan while honoring the community that has historically lived and worked in this area and the historical character of the Fayetteville corridor. | |
We represented the City of Gastonia in the negotiation of a new operating agreement and lease for the city’s FUSE stadium with the new minor league baseball team owner. Following a bankruptcy filing by the prior operator and tenant, we quickly negotiated a new deal with the new operator and tenant in time for them to hold the April 2024 season opening game. The negotiations resulted in agreements with the new team owner to operate the stadium and field a team in Gastonia for 15 years. The ballpark is part of the city’s FUSE district, a major redevelopment project that involved underutilized parcels that had previously held a factory, warehouses, and mills. | |
We represent the developer of a 108-acre mixed-use project in Statesville, located about 40 miles north of Charlotte. The project will add 300 residential units, including a mix of single-family detached homes, townhomes, and live-work units. It also will include 32,000 square feet of retail space. We assisted the client with the acquisition of the property as well as negotiating various development and sale-related documents, including agreements to provide for horizontal development of the project, purchase and sale contracts for the sale of the project’s phases, and easement and cost-sharing agreements. The project is anticipated to break ground in the first quarter of 2025, with an expected completion date of early 2028. | |
We represented two developers of a 40-acre mixed-use project in Fuquay-Varina. The development will add up to 464 apartments and townhomes and approximately 142,000 square feet of grocery-anchored retail space. We advised the clients on the rezoning and master plan approval, and negotiated an accompanying development agreement. The development agreement covered a wide range of issues important to the developer and the town, including plan approval modifications and construction phasing to allow for a more expedient delivery of the project. This project is now in the construction drawing phase with construction slated to commence in 2025. | |
We represented a developer in the successful rezoning of an 18-acre mixed-use project near Midtown Raleigh that allows for 20-story towers, including over 1,000 apartments, 500,000 square feet of office space, and 150,000 square feet of retail. The developer envisions redeveloping an existing aging office park and revitalizing it into a destination that includes not only office space but places to shop and eat. This development will complement other growth in the North Hills area by providing appropriately scaled retail and new residential opportunities inside the beltline. We guided the client through public hearings with the City of Raleigh and multiple meetings with neighbors and community groups to reach a favorable outcome. | |
We are advising the developer of a $46 million, 233-apartment complex on a former site of a historic mill. Located across the street from the thriving gathering space of Hampton Station, the $46 million residential project will add to the mix of uses to this growing part of Greenville. Our attorneys advised on securing tax credits that provided the developer with additional capital to help support the project. The apartments are complete. | |
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PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS P3
Location: Prince George's County, MD
Lead Attorney: Tom Bridenbaugh
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We advised the development and design-build team involved in a $797 million public-private partnership (P3) to construct eight new schools over the next three years in Prince George’s County, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC. The total development will result in more than one million square feet of new public school space, with groundbreaking starting in 2024 and phased construction continuing through summer 2028. Our client is responsible for all development activities such as entitlement and land use approvals, permitting, coordination with local utilities, design, and construction. We advised them on negotiating the joint venture agreement and related documents between the other P3 members and the various agreements between the parties that allocate the development risk. We also oversaw local land use counsel and negotiated agreements with the design team and key subcontractors. | |
We represented a real estate investment and development firm in the entitlement, annexation, and acquisition of an assemblage of approximately 74 acres in Knightdale, outside Raleigh. The property will be developed into a master-planned residential community with a mix of 302 for-sale and build-to-rent townhomes and single-family homes. We advised the client on a complex rezoning with various development conditions as well as on the negotiation of a utility allocation agreement for water and sewer. The acquisition occurred in multiple phases and involved negotiation of complex agreements to take assignment of existing purchase agreements with multiple underlying landowners from two different original developers and the sub-division and recombination of existing parcels. The title work and closing documents involved complicated issues and non-standard agreements related to joint ownership by numerous heirs, continued use agreements with grantors, and drafting of a declaration of restrictive covenants for future development of the community, with common elements to be shared by build-to-rent and for-sale occupants. | |
We represented a Virginia-based independent power producer on the development of a 189-megawatt project that finished construction and began operations in 2024, becoming North Carolina’s second utility-scale wind farm. Our attorneys advised our client on state and local permitting, real estate, state and local tax and economic incentives, construction contracts, and supported the developer on financing. We also provided counsel on the successful application for a wind siting permit from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, a first of its kind. Over the past seven years, more than 20 Parker Poe attorneys have advised the client on the project, which represents a $500 million investment, and will result in approximately $33 million in tax revenue for Chowan County, North Carolina. | |
We represented a prominent Charlotte and Atlanta-based real estate company on the restructuring of its 13.2 million square foot industrial portfolio and sale of a majority stake in a 21-building, 4.3 million square foot subset portfolio to a real estate investment trust (REIT) buyer. The transaction had a total value of $575 million and resulted in a joint venture in the 21-building portfolio located in Charleston, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. Our client retained a minority stake in the portfolio and will continue to manage and lease the properties. In the sale transaction, our attorneys advised on the term sheet for the deal, and negotiated a joint venture agreement, the purchase agreement, and loan documents for the portfolio. The complex nature of the deal also involved REIT tax-related issues. | |
Development Services Team Members | |
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Jamie Schwedler
Leader
Development Services
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Jamie Schwedler leads Parker Poe's Development Services Industry Team. With 50 dedicated attorneys in eight offices across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, our deep bench of experience helps us achieve desired results for our clients at any stage of the development life cycle. We represent residential, commercial, office, and mixed-use developers, owners, buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, and lenders – we have seen every side of a deal and serve as a go-to, full-service firm in the Southeast.
Learn more about the team here.
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