- Paul, let's look at one of the big highs in the front.

- [Paul] I've never put on a bee suit and Robert and I we're out here in the middle of the summer and he said, "Here, grab this frame of bees."

And here I am holding a frame of I don't know how many thousand of bees.

♪ Be my little baby bumble bee ♪ Buzz around, buzz around, keep a-buzzin' round ♪ - This acre has been a phenomenal collaboration with Northwood.

Northwood is very supportive.

They're very focused on outreach to their customers and they're focused also on sustainability.

- One of our cores is our open space in green space.

We have pocket parts sprinkled around the park.

What we are standing is Valentine backyard is about a hundred acres of green space.

(puffing) About three or four years ago, I made a call to the Mecklenburg Beekeeping Association, got in touch with Robert.

- [Robert] Puff, a smoke in the entrance.

- [Paul] Coincidentally, he is a tenant of our park.

- [Robert] To me, it was the perfect fit.

It gives me the ability not only to bring pollinators into this large space and pollinate a radius of up to three miles with my bees, but also allows me to outreach the community, teach beekeeping, and teach 'em about what's going on with our pollinators.

- [Paul] I think with all the open space for Northwood, it further enhances our environment.

There's no better way to show sustainability than and than seeing honeybees which are struggling globally.

(mellow music) - [Robert] What's happening with colony collapse is that there are diseases that the bees are getting and that is causing the bees to die out.

And so where beekeepers can help in that process is that we increase the population, we manage bees to keep them healthy, happy, and productive.

- [Paul] From a sustainability standpoint, it's becoming more and more of a topic from our Northwood investor team to understand what we are doing from a sustainability standpoint.

One of our major goals obviously was the community outreach and the educational aspect.

And we've actually heard of some of our local property management groups in the surrounding areas following our example and adding a apiaries themselves.

- [Robert] That's a drone.

- [Paul] We added a second apiary.

Our tenants are very interested and reach out frequently about purchasing honey or how do we get involved?

♪ Busy, busy, buzzy bee - [Robert] So where regular people can help, there's several ways.

One is to plant flowers that pollinators like, to plant flowers that bloom at different times of the season.

So the pollinators always have something to eat and to collect nectar.

And this is not only for honeybees, this is also the indigenous, the leaf cutters, the mason bees, all of those are very important to pollination within the US, so we need to support all of 'em.

Another thing is make sure to read the labels when you're using your insecticides, you're using your herbicides to make sure that you're not endangering accidentally the pollinator population.

Valentine and Northwood have been incredible partners.

They've supported me in every way you can imagine.

- [Paul] It has really been a great partnership with Robert.

He's an incredible beekeeper and his passion for education.

- [Robert] So there's a tremendous amount of outreach, and that's one of the reasons I like this area.

I have Girl Scout troops come by.

I've had a dinner club that has come out and learned about the bees.

And as I continue to go around Charlotte, I tell 'em about the apiary and invite them to come learn about the bees.

(upbeat music) This can be replicated.

I actually have hives at the Western Hotel and have hives at Camp North End.

In metropolitan area we need to support a bee population.

We're losing pollinators and we're seeing it in our backyard gardens.

We're seeing it in our community gardens.

They're actually folks that farm still within this area and bees are important to keep that active.

- [Paul] This has been a win-win all around.

Never imagined that they would grow this quickly.

We started with just one apiary with three hives.

We have 11 hives and now we have a second apiary.

The stories will continue and I think the word is getting out.

- [Robert] Because it's in Valentine Backyard high exposure, and how better to support sustainability than to have a bee yard in your backyard?