If you have lived in 28277 for more than a couple of years, you already know the reflex. Someone asks what there is to do in Ballantyne and you list the Harris Teeter, the movie theater, maybe Gallery Restaurant at the hotel. That answer is now out of date by roughly a hundred acres and a dozen tenants.
The short version: the old Ballantyne Resort golf course is gone, and what replaced it is closer to a walkable district than an office park. Here is what to actually do with it this season.
The clearest sign of the shift is a disc golf course
The Ballantyne Resort golf course closed years ago. What Northwood Office did with the land tells you more about the neighborhood's direction than any press release. Roughly 100 acres of it became Ballantyne's Backyard, and last fall an 18-hole disc golf course called Crash Course opened on top of the remaining fairways.
A few things worth knowing before you go:
- It runs along Lower Avenue between North Community House Road and Ballantyne Commons Parkway.
- Open dawn to dusk, free to play, non-sanctioned par 3, averaging about 90 minutes.
- Restrooms and a water fountain sit between holes 11 and 16.
- Dogs are welcome on leash. No alcohol, smoking, or vaping on the course.
Bring the UDisc app. The course opened without tee signs or tee pads, and the walk from hole 10 to hole 11 is a fishhook that regulars complain about. First tee is behind the building at 11325 N Community House Rd, and you can park along Lower Avenue or in the adjacent deck.
If you have never thrown a disc, the terrain does most of the work for you. Reviewers describe it as a links-style layout with rolling hills and few tree obstacles, which is unusual for the Charlotte area, where most courses are tight and wooded. That is the "so what": it is one of the only open courses in the region, sitting inside a corporate campus, on land that used to require a country club membership to walk.
The Bowl is opening faster than most residents are tracking
The Bowl at Ballantyne is the dining and entertainment district that wraps The Amp. It opened in spring 2024 with Flower Child, North Italia, and Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, and the tenant list keeps expanding.
Here is where the openings stand for 2026:
| Concept | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| South Block | Open since Jan 17, 2026 | Acai bowls and cold-pressed juices, first Charlotte-area location, 14020 Stream Way |
| Brasserie Copain | Open | Full-service French brasserie |
| Postino | Open | Wine café in the anchor lineup |
| The Salty | Open | Second North Carolina location of The Salty Donut |
| Culinary Dropout | Coming this fall | 15220 Bowl St., 9,986 sq ft over two stories, live music stage, rooftop patio, second Charlotte location of the Sam Fox concept |
| Mister O1 | Coming later this year | Michelin-recommended pizzeria |
| Wegmans | Fall 2026 | 110,000 sq ft, the grocer's first Charlotte store, groundbreaking already complete |
The Wegmans piece is the one to underline. A 110,000-square-foot store is not a convenience amenity. It is the size that reorganizes grocery patterns for everyone within a fifteen-minute drive, and it lands next door to Harris Teeter and Publix, both of which currently offer free parking to Amp concertgoers.
Beyond The Bowl proper, the existing shopping centers are still doing their job. Ballantyne Commons East, Ballantyne Corners, Ballantyne Quad, Ballantyne Village, Stonecrest, Toringdon Circle, and Toringdon Market cover the daily errands.
The Amp's 2026 lineup, in one glance
TD Amp Ballantyne is a roughly 3,500 to 5,000 capacity open-air venue at 11115 Upper Ave. On-site parking runs $10, the Ballantyne Corporate Park deck 0.3 miles away is $8, and the Harris Teeter and Publix lots offer free parking with a purchase. That last detail matters if you would rather buy a sandwich than a parking pass.
The 2026 calendar as it stands:
- June 5 — Jamey Johnson
- June 16 — Les Claypool
- June 19 — String Cheese Incident
- June 20 — The Human League, Soft Cell, and Alison Moyet
- July 10 — moe. and Umphrey's McGee
- July 22 — Rick Springfield
- July 31 — Mo Money
- August 7 — Tell Me Lies
- August 15 — Jeff Foxworthy
- September 25 — Houndmouth with Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country and Molly Tuttle
- October 8 — Clint Black and Midland
- October 17 — Trampled by Turtles with Futurebirds
Two things stand out about the mix. First, it leans jam and legacy rock harder than most local venues, which fills a gap between Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre's larger tours and the smaller Uptown clubs. Second, the venue also hosts food and drink festivals like Tacos N Taps and Beer, Bourbon and BBQ, plus fitness classes and markets, so plenty of the weekly programming is not on the ticketed calendar.
What to do between shows and dinner
A few standing programs are worth adding to the mental map.
Markets at 11. The second Saturday of every month, Northwood Office runs an open-air market in Ballantyne's Backyard with more than 40 small-business vendors, live music, local food and beer, and family activities. It has been running long enough that it now anchors a real Saturday routine.
Topgolf Swing Suite at The Ballantyne Hotel. Simulator bays plus a social lounge, useful when the actual golf course is not the one you want to play.
Food trucks on campus, weekdays. Recent rotations have included International Truck of Tacos, Atlas Coffee Co, and Kabuto on Wheels. The lineup changes weekly on the Ballantyne calendar and skews toward lunch service, so it is worth checking before you commit to a takeout run.
Ice skating. The Bowl converts to an outdoor rink from November 22 through January 4, which is the first time the district has run its own seasonal rink rather than sending residents downtown.
Lower McAlpine Creek Greenway extension. The greenway now connects into Ballantyne, which is the piece that changes how you get around on foot or bike. If you have been driving from the north side of the neighborhood to reach a trail, that is worth re-checking.
A weekend that uses all of it
The point of listing all of this is not to name-check tenants. It is to notice that a Saturday no longer has to leave the neighborhood.
Start with an early round at Crash Course before it warms up, roughly 90 minutes if you keep moving. Walk to South Block on Stream Way for an acai bowl and coffee. If it is the second Saturday, wander through Markets at 11 in the Backyard on your way back to the car. Afternoon options: the greenway extension, the Topgolf bays at the hotel, or a nap. Dinner at Brasserie Copain or Postino, depending on how the day went. If The Amp has a show that night, walk over. If not, the food-truck calendar or a low-key evening at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery works.
None of that required a car after the first stop. That is the actual news about Ballantyne this year. The pieces have finally connected, and the campus is now a place you spend a day in, not a place you drive through on the way to somewhere else.
If you own here and are curious how these changes are affecting demand in the neighborhood, or you are thinking through whether now is the right time to reposition your home, TrustRush tracks this market building by building. Schedule a free consultation and we will talk through what the last twelve months have actually done to values on your street.
