- [Jason Terzis] Time to strike up the band.

Charlotte's newest music venue is officially open.

♪ I got a friend with a boat The Amp, opening up in Ballantyne.

- This is a fantastic new amenity for Charlotte.

- It's really something for everyone.

It's gonna be really special.

- [Jason Terzis] Located behind the Ballantyne Hotel, just off Johnston Road and I485, The Amp can hold up to 3,500 people.

And will host a variety of scheduled musical acts, with plenty of tables, chairs, and lawn seating.

- But it's all family friendly, you know?

It's all good reason to pack up the car, bring the kids out, spend the day.

- [Jason Terzis] Among the scheduled acts at The Amp will be performances by the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.

- People need a healthy variety of things.

They're gonna continue to come to our uptown facilities for the big, flagship events.

But increasingly, people want these amenities close to home.

They want to have their kids have ready access to it.

So what they're doing here, to create these very publicly accessible assets is a major win for Charlotte.

- [Jason Terzis] It's all part of a massive redevelopment plan.

Transforming what used to be the golf club at Ballantyne into what you might call a downtown Ballantyne of sorts.

Or as they're officially calling it, Ballantyne Reimagined.

- It was just perfect to fill it in, have features like the amphitheater, the new stream park, the child play area, the little pavilions.

But to really activate it with great food and beverage, retail, and things that frankly don't exist in South Charlotte.

And to bring the type of quality that we're bringing in in terms of the best of class, local, regional, national, we're really excited about it.

- To be able to fill that void and really create a special place for people to come and congregate, enjoy live shows, support the local community through organizations and partnerships like Blumenthal Performing Arts, Art Pop, Charlotte Is Creative.

There's really going to be a wide array of programming.

And it's just, it's amazing to be a part of.

- [Jason Terzis] The Amp is just one of many new features recently opening as part of the project, joining Tower View Apartments and the six acre stream park, which sits directly behind the Ballantyne Hotel.

And under construction now, the Bowl at Ballantyne, featuring shops, restaurants, and anchor tenant, Old Mecklenburg Brewery.

It's all set to open in the first half of 2024.

- The brick is actually going up on OMB, so they'll have a two level brewery with a one acre beer garden.

That's really exciting.

So Ballantyne's first brewery.

- When you look at the job impact, here alone today and every day are 400 people working every day.

his was estimated to create anywhere from five to 7,000 jobs.

- [Jason Terzis] Sitting in the middle (crane sputtering) of it all, what will eventually become a 26 story residential tower.

And tying it all together are six new roads.

- Such a collaborative effort with the city, the county.

Had we not worked together, this simply would not have happened.

- [Jason Terzis] Seeing the scope of the project, as well as the area as a whole, it's kind of hard to believe that just 30 years ago, Ballantyne didn't even exist.

But once plans for the I45 outer loop were announced in the early '90s, Johnny Harris and Smoky Bissell set out to create a new area, one that included a corporate park, housing, and restaurants.

Ballantyne, as it would become known, would quickly grow to become one of the most successfully master planned communities in the United States.

In 2017, Bissell sold the development to Northwood Investors, for over $1 billion.

- And in terms of capital investment, right now we're currently underway.

We have over $350 million underway right now.

And for context, we paid 1.2 billion for it back in March of '17.

We love Charlotte as a firm.

- [Jason Terzis] Shortly after the purchase, Northwood announced plans for Ballantyne Reimagined.

The goal?

To transform the area into a more livable, walkable part of town.

- We started the process with an international master planning firm called Sasaki, out of Boston.

They did the Beijing Winter Olympics.

And then we hired Land Design locally in Charlotte.

They did the original rezonings for Mr. Bissell, back in the '90s.

We worked together, to formulate the master plan.

- [Jason Terzis] Getting the area rezoned proved to be challenging, with the city finally signing off on the project during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Literally thousands of hours of work went into it.

And our Ballantyne Reimagined team achieved one of the most complicated and largest rezonings in Charlotte history.

As I said on the stage, thousands and thousands of hours of work to get it approved.

Ultimately, in June of 2020, the City Council approved it over Zoom, which was pretty tough.

- [Jason Terzis] City leaders, including Charlotte Mayor, Vi Lyles, (crowd applauding) - Hey everybody, how are we all doing?

- [Jason Terzis] were recently on hand, as The Amp hosted its first ever musical act.

♪ Shot a ball of fire - Today was a big deal for our team.

Obviously, a lot of time, effort, resources have gone into making today happen.

And that's just the beginning.

- [Jason Terzis] Just the latest project, as the Queen City continues to grow and evolve.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Jason Terzis reporting.