Optimist Park

The blocks around Camp North End, the 76-acre former factory campus now full of studios, food and offices. Cottages and new townhomes side by side.

Optimist Park is the mill village just north of Uptown, between North Tryon and the Blue Line, from about 12th Street to the Parkwood station. It was built in the 1910s for workers at the mills along the rail line and sat in the shadow of the interstate for decades. The light rail’s northeast extension made it the closest almost-affordable neighborhood to the center city.

Where it is

• North Davidson and Brevard streets, where the new apartments went up
• The Parkwood station, three stops from Uptown
• Optimist Hall, the converted gingham mill, now a food hall
• Camp North End, the former Ford plant and Army depot, to the west
• The 12th Street end of the greenway’s NoDa section

If you’re moving here

Since 2016 this neighborhood has seen more new construction than almost any in the city: apartment buildings on the main streets, townhouses on the side streets, and a handful of restored mill cottages in between. You’ll pay less than in NoDa or South End for a comparable apartment and you’ll be three train stops from work. It suits someone who wants new construction, a short commute and a food hall as the kitchen.

If you’re visiting

• Eat at Optimist Hall, then walk to Camp North End for the shops and the record store in the vinyl guide
• Walk south on the greenway toward Uptown or north to NoDa
• Read the mill village guide for the history under your feet