More homes coming to Lake Norman? A Charlotte developer proposes a 98-acre mega village

Mooresville town planners gave their blessing to Charlotte developer Pappas Properties Tuesday night for a proposed 625-home mixed-use community where a four-lane highway is being built near Lake Norman.

The Mooresville Planning Board voted 6-2 to recommend a rezoning for the 98-acre Mooresville Village that also would include, according to the developer’s plans, a grocery store, bank, shops, offices, hotel, trails, open space and a multi-use path.

The Planning Board makes recommendations to the Mooresville Board of Commissioners, which has final say on rezonings.

On Oct. 7, commissioners will set a date for a public hearing on the project in the coming months, Mooresville Planning Department documents show.

Mooresville Village would sprout where N.C. 115 will intersect the $34 million East West Connector road that’s under construction off Interstate 77. That’s near Langtree Road, Exit 31, in southern Iredell County near the lake and a little over a mile north of Davidson Exit 30.

Housing would include single-family homes, townhomes, cottages and apartments, with many geared to adults 55 and older, according to the developer’s plans.

And 5% of the homes would be attainable housing offered first to firefighters, land owner Steve McLeod of Davidson told the board. McLeod said he’s owned the land since 2001 and once owned nearby property that became the Lowe’s headquarters when the home improvement chain moved from North Wilkesboro.

Pappas’ development highlights include Birkdale Village in Huntersville, Phillips Place in Charlotte and other Charlotte-area mixed communities. Mooresville Village will be his first such similar community in Iredell Countythe Mooresville area, he said.

Mooresville Village was formerly called Cadia Mooresville with 825 homes originally proposed, planning board documents show.

The community would have a total of 279,900 square feet of commercial-retail space.

The development’s first three of four construction phases would coincide with construction of the town of Mooresville’s four-lane East West Connector. The project has been under construction since January and will take three years to complete.

Ohio-based contractor Kwest Group is carving out the connector from N.C. 115 to Langtree and Transco roads near I-77 Exit 31.

The connector will have a divided median and multi-use paths, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Transit or traffic in Mooresville?

Pappas Properities hopes to complete the first three of four phases of Mooresville Village by 2028, including single-family homes, a grocery store building and a retail center.

The developer’s architect renderings also show an acre reserved for a transit station for Charlotte’s planned Red Line commuter rail.

The mayors of Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson recently endorsed a funding proposal to extend the Red Line through their towns, but Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney balked at having a station in his.

During interviews with The Charlotte Observer, Carney said only 2,500 people would use the station, per previous Red Line studies. Many would drive in from other counties, he said.

Compare that figure to the 48,000 cars of commuters who drive N.C. 150 into Mooresville from Sherrills Ford in Catawba County every day, he said.

“2,500 is such a drop in the bucket,” Carney said.

At the same time, transit stations are housing magnets, he said. And Mooresville has been saying no to apartments because the town already has so many, Carney said.

For now, the Red Line would end in Davidson.