Developer holds meeting to discuss proposed Lagoona Bay project in Huntersville

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Developer Jake Palillo held a public meeting Wednesday evening to hear from community members regarding his proposed $800 million dollar mixed-use development in Huntersville.

It would include a 200-room luxury hotel and conference center, 250 custom single-family homes, luxury apartments, townhomes, and condos.

At the center of the development, there would be a private Lagoona Bay Club with a 10-acre freshwater lagoon. The proposed project would sit east of Interstate 77, partially along Sam Furr Road.

Neighbors like Violet Clark who went door to door and amassed nearly 2,000 signatures on an online petition, are against the project, saying it would clog up roads and be the wrong fit for Huntersville.

“It’s already really bad, it takes me 5-10 minutes to get out of my neighborhood now,” said Clark.

We already have enough traffic and infrastructure problems,” added another attendee, Lisa Saab.

“They don’t know anything about the project,” retorted Palillo.

“If I was going to build a gold mine in the middle of the town, there would be some people who would say I don’t want that, I don’t need the gold, it will be the traffic.”

Palillo filed for re-zoning under the company Bi-Part Development LLC, which he started in 2005.

State records show he also owns several other companies, including S&G Plumbing, LLC and Valeria Salon/Spa/Boutique, Inc., but he did not want to discuss any of them.

“I don’t want to get into that,” he said. “That’s my personal business that we do.”

He has developed several other properties in the area throughout the years, including the Bailey’s Glen active adult community in Cornelius, Riley Grace Senior Apartments in Huntersville and Symphony Park, which is still under development in Huntersville.

A Crystal Lagoon would be the first of its kind in the greater Charlotte area, and according to the website, there are 1,000 projects in different stages of development worldwide.

He says he hopes Huntersville residents keep an open mind.

“That after they see what the project entails, they get the facts, they’ll have a different opinion on it,” he said.

The Town of Huntersville will hold a public meeting in June and a final vote on the project in July.

Related: Proposed tropical-style lagoon concerns some Huntersville residents

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