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When urban planner Michael Gallis and a partner had the vision to return Charlotte's Elizabeth Avenue into a Main Street-style urban community, they landed the one local developer they thought could pull it off.

Clay Grubb has a reputation for thinking - and building - on a grand scale.

"Clay Grubb was the only developer who had the scope, vision and energy to do it," Gallis says. "This is not Ballantyne or Birkdale or Phillips Place. This is to return Elizabeth into an actual streetscape built on the old urban fabric."

Grubb, the president of Grubb Properties, has assembled over 20 acres along Elizabeth Avenue, stretching from Central Piedmont Community College to Presbyterian Hospital.

With plans for shops, a movie theater, restaurants and high-rise condos lining the street, Grubb is engineering arguably the biggest makeover in Charlotte since banker Hugh McColl Jr. transformed West Trade Street around Gateway Village.

"It's not been the smartest thing I have ever embarked on," says Grubb, who has built innovative projects here before, including Dilworth's Latta Pavilion with its condos, apartments, offices and shops, and The Ratcliffe condominiums uptown. "In the end, it will be one of the things you are most proud of."

Grubb was born into a real-estate family. The family company built and financed more than 400 low-income homes in Lexington for minorities, making loans he says banks wouldn't touch.

From Lexington, Grubb ended up at Tulane University, where he met his wife, Deidre. After graduation and an internship with the Sierra Club in San Francisco, he earned a law degree from UNC Chapel Hill.

As environmentalists, Grubb and his wife make most of the green galas around town (sometimes in an old Rolls-Royce she inherited from her mother). "We want to do developments with an environmentally friendly focus," Grubb says.

Yet not all of his local creations have been applauded.

Grubb was hurt by criticism of the hulking Latta complex in Dilworth. "It was not finished," he says of those early reviews, predicting it will blend into Dilworth over the years.

Though Elizabeth Avenue is his grandest current project, he is also building a mixed-use development called Morrison Place near SouthPark, at Sharon and Colony roads. He plans a residential project similar to the Ratcliffe condos there.

As with his other developments, location is the key.

"We like to be on Main Street," he says over draft beers at an Internet cafe along Elizabeth Avenue. "The address is really important. Tryon Street. Colony Road. Here on Elizabeth."

And if Main Street isn't what it once was, as is the case along Elizabeth Avenue, Grubb isn't afraid to re-create it.

AGE: 37.

JOB TITLE: President.

COMPANY: Grubb Properties.

EDUCATION: B.S. Tulane University; J.D. UNC Chapel Hill.

HOMETOWN: Lexington, N.C.

PARTY: Democrat.

FAMILY: Wife, Deidre; children: Davis, 5, Rosalie 3.

Clay Grubb

PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT

The fact that Grubb Properties played such a pivotal role in the lives of hundreds of people in Lexington by enabling them to purchase their own homes.

HOW I GOT MY JOB

My last name is Grubb.

LAST BOOK READ

"Adventure Capitalist" by my friend, Jim Rogers.

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL GOAL?

To improve. Life is a journey, not a destination.

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

Marrying Deidre

HEROES

My assistant, Mary Haggerty, and my mother, Rochelle.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT CHARLOTTE

Its commitment to progress.

WORST THING ABOUT CHARLOTTE

Many decisions are still made in an old-boy network.

WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE?

1999 Lexus 300 ES.

WHAT DOES YOUR CAR SAY ABOUT YOU?

I don't give it enough attention. It's got a cracked windshield.

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?

I have it, but I have to re-earn it every day.

WHAT DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING IN 10 YEARS?

Same job, same town, same family - but a lot more to juggle.

HOW I'D SPEND MY LAST $10

Deidre will beat me to the opportunity.

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Reach Don: (704) 358-5703; dhudson@charlotteobserver.com