Commercial Confidential: Legacy Cornelius

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CORNELIUS – While the apartment construction boom has permeated nearly all areas of Mecklenburg County – some areas more so than others – one area that has felt little of that effect is this northern Mecklenburg town near Lake Norman.

Apartment developers haven’t exactly ignored Cornelius, but multifamily building in the town has been sparse compared to its rapidly-expanding southern neighbor, Huntersville, and other areas in Charlotte. Here’s looking at you South End.

But GCI Residential, an entity of suburban-Cleveland-based Goldberg Companies, has been permitted by Mecklenburg County to start on the second phase of its Legacy Cornelius apartment project, at Lake Pines Drive off Westmoreland Road.

Robin Miller, administrator in the Raleigh office of GCI, said work will start on the second phase of the project as soon as the contractor, GCI Construction, another arm of Goldberg, picks up the permits from the county’s permit office.

Since Nov. 1, the county has issued 15 permits for construction on the second phase of the Legacy project. Those permits, which were all for apartment-building construction, were valued at $9.3 million, according to county records.

Miller said the latest phase of the project is all about town houses. GCI is putting up 73 units in 15 buildings, which correspond to the 15 permits recently issued by the county. Construction will likely finish early in 2015, she said.

The county in November 2011 started issuing building permits to GCI for the first phase of the Legacy project, which Miller said is made up of 168 more traditional, garden-style apartment units. Those units were made available for lease as soon as they became available and the contractor is now finishing the final buildings.

In the first phase of Legacy, the square footages range from 905 for the smallest one-bedroom unit to 1,367 for the largest three-bedroom unit, according to the Legacy website. Rents in those units range from $995 to $1,370.

No information was available on the website for the second phase of Legacy, and Miller said Thursday she didn’t have that information. She did say, however, that as with the first phase, that the units would start renting as they become available.

Property name: Legacy Cornelius

Address: 8335 Lake Pines Drive, Cornelius

Developer: GCI Residential, an affiliate of Goldberg Companies

General contractor: GCI Construction

Project description: GCI is set to start construction on the second phase of its Legacy project

Buildings: 15 in Phase 2

Units: 73

Construction started: Set to start immediately

Expected completion: Early 2015