James Craig is a founding Partner of Rebel Rebel Urban Retail Advisors, a group of real estate professionals driven to enhance Charlotte's retail and hospitality experience by creating important places in the city.

We sat down to discuss the current and future urban retail landscape of Charlotte...

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Branden Piks:

In that early-stage visioning process, when you're guiding developers through how their ground floor can act as an amenity, how often does their initial idea change once you help them see that? Do most developers come in with a clear concept, or are you often shaping that understanding from scratch?

James Craig:

When we’re being interviewed for a new project, we like to start by asking a simple but revealing question: What do you see as the highest and best amenity use for your overall development? Whether it's 30 floors of office or a major mixed-use build, we want to understand how the client envisions the ground floor—should it be a steakhouse, an entertainment concept, or something else entirely? What's the holistic role of that space?

We also emphasize that ground-floor retail is more than just a leasing checklist—it’s how the public experiences the entire project. Whether someone is a tenant or just walking by, it’s their first impression. That’s why we say the retail component is effectively the front door of your project. It’s cliché, but it’s true.

Early in my career I toured D.C. with a prolific developer who built much of the Shaw District. They shared a framework we’ve embraced ever since called the 20/20 rule:

That street-level presence—how it looks, feels, and connects to the urban fabric—sets the tone for the project. And that’s exactly the part we aim to take ownership of.

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Charlotte Defies National Office Construction Slowdown with Major Commercial Projects in 2025

"While the national office construction market continues its sharp decline, Charlotte is emerging as a bright spot in the shifting commercial real estate landscape." Read Full Article.​

How does this impact our region?

The southeast, in particular NC and SC, continues to be a destination for people and businesses with higher than average growth patterns since the normalized age of the hybrid work model. Of the top 20 fastest growing U.S. cities, 3 of them are in NC/SC and within the top 11 (Raleigh, Charleston, Charlotte).

The population increase has unfortunately resulted in a negative impact on infrastructure demand (especially for those commuting via I-77 in Charlotte), but a positive impact on development, in particular housing over the past five years. However, the slew of multi-family development lining the South End corridor has seemingly slowed and developers have begun dusting off the Proforma on office deals.

Over the past six months, we have been engaged by numerous developers who once solely focused on office/retail, switched to housing during the boom around 2020, and are now back strategizing the next office deal - we are currently working on corporate office interiors and medical office projects to name a few. I don't think this sector is going to roar back, as there are still several 100,000 sf of empty office space in Uptown Charlotte, but the thought that it is coming back (at all) would not have been a safe bet 24-36 months ago.

Projects like the Vanguard purchase of the University City Centene campus (nearly 700,000 sf!) is just one example of major players prioritizing in-office space and I think it should be a trend that continues to have staying power over the coming years.

We recently completed a first-time interior change of use upfit for Coffee Republic's newest storefront, located in Uptown Charlotte. At just over 2,000 sf of rentable space, the concept takes advantage of the abundance of natural light and views of the skyline - keeping it simple but creating a highly functional space.

Existing spaces always present a challenge, especially when it comes to overhead and below slab coordination. Our space is situated on the ground floor of a podium building with multi-family units stacked above and a fully wrapped parking deck to the rear of the space. Typically, we would anticipate a slab leave out for ease of below slab plumbing coordination on a first-time upfit but that was not the case here.

Our solution began with requesting existing building drawings from the landlord and Architect of Record for the initial project to identify the infrastructure run into and out of our suite. Along with our MEP engineer (Wilde Engineering) and the Contractor (Westroe Construction), we determined a layout strategy to minimize slab cut and overhead reconfiguration to ultimately reduce budget spend on sunken costs for the client. The project successfully finished within a tight budget constraint, due in part to some essential early stage planning and foresight by our design and construction teams.

We are proud to showcase this project and especially enjoy stopping in for a cup of coffee to experience the space we created. Next time you're in Uptown Charlotte, stop by 500 W Trade Street and check it out for yourself!

"A strength isn't just something you're good at, it has to give you energy. In turn, a weakness is something that, though you may be good at it, drains the life out of you." | Verne Harnish