by Charlotte Ledger and Michelle Crouch, North Carolina Health News
June 13, 2026

By Michelle Crouch

Co-published with The Charlotte Ledger

After months of scrutiny, Atrium Health announced this week that it has finalized a deal to fulfill one of the affordable housing promises it made in 2021 while seeking public support for The Pearl, its medical innovation district.

The agreement calls for the hospital to transfer nearly 14 acres at North Tryon, West 32nd and Poplar streets to Inlivian, Charlotte’s housing authority, for future affordable housing.

Conceptual plans for the site shared by Inlivian envision transforming the parcel and a nearby Inlivian-owned site into a 27-acre community with 1,200 apartments, 44 for-sale townhomes, retail space and robust community amenities including walking trails, a dog park and an outdoor amphitheater.

If built as envisioned, the project would be one of the largest mixed-income housing developments in Charlotte in recent years and could reshape an area that serves as the northern gateway to uptown Charlotte. The Atrium site is across 32nd Street from NoDa Brewing, in a former industrial area that’s seeing plenty of apartment and townhouse redevelopment, likely spurred by its proximity to NoDa and the Lynx Blue Line.

“Together, we are not simply developing real estate, we are creating communities where people can put down roots, build brighter futures, and experience the stability every family deserves,” said A. Fulton Meachem, president and CEO of Inlivian, in a statement to The Ledger/NC Health News.

Land transfer part of a three-way swap

Atrium Health CEO Gene Woods first pledged to donate the North Tryon Street land to Inlivian in 2021 while seeking $75M in public money for The Pearl. Woods also said 5% of apartments within the innovation district itself would be set aside for affordable housing.

When it opened a year ago, The Pearl delivered much of what Atrium had promised: the city’s first four-year medical school, a cutting-edge research building and millions of dollars in new investment.

The promised affordable housing, however, lagged behind. As The Ledger/NC Health News reported last fall, community advocates questioned when – and if – it would materialize. At the time, Atrium said it was fully complying with the terms of its agreement with the city and that The Pearl innovation district was still in its early stages.

Since then, hospital officials have announced a plan for an apartment building at the Pearl that would include the promised affordable units, and Atrium donated $5M to the city’s Housing Impact Fund, bringing the system’s total contribution of $15M. Hospital leaders also explained that the delay on the North Tryon Street donation was slowed by many factors, including “multiple iterations of the deal” and “multiple leadership changes at Inlivian.”

In a news release announcing the finalized deal this week, Atrium said that including the land donation, it has contributed more than $51M toward affordable housing and homelessness solutions in the Charlotte region.

“This agreement reflects our commitment to strengthening the communities we serve by investing in ways to expand access to safe, affordable housing,” said Steve Smoot, president of the North Carolina and Georgia division at Advocate Health, Atrium’s parent company, in the release.

The transfer of the North Tryon Street land is part of a broader land deal that also calls for Inlivian to receive a 3-acre Atrium-owned property on East Morehead Street for affordable housing, while Atrium acquires a similarly sized Inlivian-owned parcel near The Pearl for expansion of the district.

What’s envisioned for North Tryon Street?

The 14-acre tract between North Tryon and Poplar streets was previously owned by Mecklenburg County and donated to Atrium in 1990. Today, it has an estimated value of nearly $30M, and it houses a busy hospital distribution center.

Rather than demolishing the distribution center, Inlivian’s conceptual plans call for preserving part of the building for redevelopment. The preserved section would house 16 apartments on an upper floor and 24,000 s.f. of retail or commercial use on the ground floor.

As part of a land swap, Atrium is donating land for the right portion of the proposed development, which is a 14-acre tract between North Tryon and Poplar streets and across 32nd Street from NoDa Brewing. It was previously owned by Mecklenburg County and donated to Atrium in 1990. (Conceptual rendering courtesy of Inlivian)

Inlivian also proposes building four mixed-income apartment buildings on the Atrium land. Then, across the street on the site of its former Dillehay Courts public housing complex, it would build six more apartment buildings, 44 three-bedroom townhomes and another 28,000 s.f. of commercial or retail space.

A project rendering shows a variety of community amenities including walking trails, a soccer field, a dog park, community gardens, tennis/pickleball courts, a community amphitheater and a mural recognizing the area’s history.

An Inlivian spokeswoman said the project would be built in phases and emphasized that the plans are preliminary and subject to change.

Like other affordable housing projects, it would aim to use a mix of financing, including low-income housing tax credits, the city’s Housing Trust Fund, loans and other public funding.

Details in the fine print

Under the latest agreement between Atrium and Inlivian, at least 25% of the apartments in the community must remain affordable for at least 20 years, with half reserved for those earning 50% or less of the area median income. The contract says the units must be distributed throughout the community.

A review of the agreement, including four amendments since it was first signed in spring 2025, revealed additional details about the project:

Housing for public healthcare workers: Up to 50 units — or 25% of all affordable units, whichever is greater — could be set aside for qualified Mecklenburg County public healthcare workers, pending a separate agreement between Atrium and Inlivian. In exchange, Atrium would contribute $5M toward construction. The provision originally applied just to Atrium employees and affiliates but was expanded in a February 2026 amendment to all public healthcare workers in Mecklenburg.

Atrium will help pay for site cleanup: Atrium agreed to contribute $1M toward environmental remediation, asbestos abatement, the removal of underground storage tanks and other costs related to redeveloping the distribution center site.

Rental assistance for apartments at The Pearl: Inlivian agreed to provide housing vouchers to support the affordable apartments being built at The Pearl.

Atrium can stay until 2028: Even after the distribution center property is transferred to Inlivian, Atrium can lease it back and continue operating its distribution center there until Dec. 31, 2028, meaning some of the housing construction could be years away.

An Inlivian spokesperson said there is no timeline for the project to start.

The Charlotte Ledger’s Ashley Fahey contributed to this article.

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