Market watch.

• Position: CHARLOTTE REGION

A Whole Foods Market store slated to open in 2017 will be the centerpiece of a mixed-use project on downtown Charlotte's southern edge, promising to accelerate the area's rapid development. "The holy grail for urban neighborhoods is grocery service," says Michael Smith, CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners. In the supermarket trade, it does not get much holier than Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods, which has grown from 145 stores in 2003 to 411 now, including 12 in North Carolina. Charlotte-based developer Crescent Communities plans to start this year on the Stonewall Street project that will include a 47,000-square-foot Whole Foods, 450 apartments, a parking deck and two hotels. It will be within two blocks of the Charlotte Convention Center and a 27-story office tower planned by Crescent.

The development is promising because of the increased density of downtown, where about 100,000 people work...