Kernersville is set to have a new tallest building after Tony Alford’s Gateway Apartments are completed just off of U.S. 421.

Alford, the developer of the Gateway Center on N.C. Highway 66 in Kernersville, has owned the property through the Tla Gateway LLC entity since 2013. Alford did not respond to Triad Business Journal’s request for comment.

The Gateway Apartments will be a five-story, 83,955-square-foot apartment complex that will include 65 wood-framed residential apartment units, Fourth Elm Partner and Co-founder John Martin said. Fourth Elm Construction has a building permit for $10.5 million out for the site, according to Kernersville’s Development Services Division.

The first floor of the building will feature a mix of retail space and self storage units, Martin said. He said the complex will also include a rooftop lounge that will feature a natural gas fire pit among other amenities.

The apartments will sit on a 1.72-acre parcel of land located at 512 Pineview Ct., just northwest of the intersection of U.S. 421 and Highway 66, in the Gateway Center development. The property is adjacent to residential and commercial uses including a Piedmont Federal Savings Bank branch and locations of Whit’s Frozen Custard and Zaxby’s. It is also less than half a mile from Fourth Elm Construction’s headquarters at 408 E Mountain St. in Kernersville.

Martin said the apartments, which are within walking distance of downtown, “will bring modern living and recreational space to the community.”

Erskine-Smith Architecture is the project architect, Snider Engineering is the structural engineer and Alamance Consulting Engineers is the MEP engineer for the project.

Fourth Elm was ranked the third fastest growing company in the region in the Triad Business Journal’s 2024 Fast 50 list. In August, it began construction on Buckhorn Business Center, an industrial center in Mebane. The company is also the ninth largest general contractor in the Triad with $90.27 million billings in the region in 2024.

Kernersville is also home to Mungo Homes’ Bell West subdivision. The homebuilder recently purchased additional lots for a second phase of the project.

In October, national homebuilder Lennar announced that it had acquired 2,194 homesites in Caleb’s Creek, a huge development located between Winston-Salem, Kernersville and Greensboro.