Once upon a time, roughly the same area now known as Second Ward in Uptown was known as Brooklyn Village. This was an African-American neighborhood that came to be in the early 1900s and was named after the NYC borough. It fell into disrepair later and, as Charlotte often does, this piece of history was razed in the 1960s and ‘70s in the name of urban renewal.
Today, Second Ward is considered Charlotte’s “Government District”, but the Mecklenburg County Commissioners will be soon be considering proposals to revamp the 17-acre area and bring it back towards its roots.
In a recent article, Ely Portillo of The Charlotte Observer said: “The plans from three Charlotte-based developers differ in their details and specificity, but they point to a common vision: Changing Second Ward from a government-dominated quarter of uptown that’s largely quiet after business hours into a vibrant, densely built community with a mix of uses and income levels.”
According to Portillo’s article, this is how the plans play out:
- Each plan would add office buildings, shops, restaurants, as well as thousands of new residents, to this parcel of uptown.
- A plan from Conformity Corp. proposes 1,200+ residential units, two hotels comprising 280 hotel rooms, almost 700,000 square feet of office space and over 250,000 square feet of retail space.
- Two plans have been put forth from CitiScultpt – one more dense, one less. Both call for nearly 1,400 residential units along with hotels, retail space and offices. Both options have space dedicated to open plaza space and public park area.
- The plan from Crescent Communities proposes a mixed-use area. It would be made up of 200,000 square feet of office space, 1650 market-rate apartments, 60 affordable rental units and 65 mixed-income, for-sale townhouses along Stonewall Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Third Street.
A special meeting of the county commissioners is set for May 19 to consider all the developers’ proposals. Stay tuned, and hope a decision is made soon. According to Charlotte Agenda, all of the proposed developments are fully funded, so once a decision is made, things should be able to get rolling pretty fast!
Image: Mecklenburg.Legistar.com
