Barnhardt Manufacturing, the family-owned cotton company that has anchored Hawthorne Lane for more than a century, is laying the groundwork for a major shift in Plaza Midwood. The firm has filed to rezone roughly 21 of the 35 acres it owns in the neighborhood, opening the door to a sizable mixed-use project in an area already buzzing with new development, even as the company says its manufacturing operations will stay put for now.
What Barnhardt Is Proposing
According to WFAE, Barnhardt has asked the city to shift zoning on about 21 acres from industrial use to Neighborhood Center conditional zoning. That category, which the company links directly to Charlotte’s long-range growth plan, could clear the way for apartments, shops and other mixed uses to replace some of the existing industrial footprint on the site.
Company Response And History
Company leaders are framing the move as the start of a long-range conversation, not a sign that bulldozers are about to roll in. In comments reported by WFAE, Chairman and CEO Tom Barnhardt said that “operations will continue as normal for now.” Barnhardt’s corporate site notes that the company has been supplying cotton and textile products from its Charlotte campus for more than 125 years and lists its address as 1100 Hawthorne Lane.
What "Neighborhood Center" Allows
Under the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan, a Neighborhood Center is described as a compact, walkable mixed-use hub, typically with ground-floor retail and housing stacked above it. The idea is to pull everyday services closer to where people actually live. Materials from Charlotte Future 2040 highlight why converting the Hawthorne Lane site from industrial use to Neighborhood Center would mark a significant policy shift for the property.
Rezoning Process And Next Steps
Submitting a petition is only the first official step in a rezoning. The city’s guidance explains that each case goes through staff review, includes a community meeting for conditional rezonings, receives a recommendation from the Planning Commission and ultimately lands at City Council for a final decision. Neighbors can track the case and sign up for meeting alerts through the City of Charlotte rezoning portal while details such as design, traffic impacts and buffering are hammered out.
What To Watch Locally
Plaza Midwood’s Land Use Group and neighborhood association have a long track record of weighing in on where projects go and how they look, and the PMNA land-use pages outline how those back-and-forth discussions typically unfold as proposals move forward. Local outlets, including Business North Carolina, have already spotlighted the filing. Expect community meetings, planning staff reports and early concept drawings as neighbors, Barnhardt and city planners sort through what redevelopment could mean for traffic, jobs and the character of Plaza Midwood.
