Manager’s Notes

Lloyd Wm. Payne, Jr. Concord City Manager

Paving the Way for Enhanced Downtown Experiences

HELLO CONCORD. WE ARE slowly exiting the winter months and preparing for spring. The flowers and trees are blooming and our city is booming. As we all ride around our city, we see the multiple construction projects. As the 10th largest city (out of 540 cities/towns) and the 6th fastest growing city in North Carolina, Concord continues to be a thriving community that is desired by current and future residents and businesses. Team Concord continues to look for ways each day to enhance your live, work, and play experiences.

Our Downtown exemplifies a tremendous variety of public-private partnerships to this end. LMG continues their work on the Novi Lofts, Flats, and Rise projects.

Novi Flats is a mixed-use project with 48 residential units and commercial space on the ground level. It is adjacent to the County parking deck and will be completed later this spring. Novi Rise is another mixed-use project going up behind City Hall and will rise to seven stories. It will have 167 residential units with commercial space for dining and shopping on the ground level, and parking underneath the structure for residents. Novi Lofts is a mixed-use project as well with 89 residential units and commercial space on the ground level. The Lofts is currently under construction and will have store fronts on both Union and Market Streets. The project also plans for a rooftop restaurant overlooking Downtown. Together, the Novi projects are over $80M in private investment resulting in 300 residential units in our downtown. The Streetscape project is well underway and will result in 22-foot-wide sidewalks that will further enhance pedestrian travel, outdoor dining, and social gathering. All of the utilities will be replaced, new landscaping put in, and new smart light poles will be installed to enhance the downtown experience. Yes, the current improvements have and will create some minor inconveniences for our businesses and patrons but will be worth it when the project is completed. Currently, we anticipate the project to be complete by the end of 2024. City staff continue to work with business owners and tenants on the construction timeline and ways to maintain communication at a high level during this time.

The Annex (at the corner of Barbrick and Union streets) continued on page 16