After months of uncertainty, historic Excelsior Club could soon have a new owner

The Excelsior Club, a historic landmark at the center of Charlotte’s black community for decades, could soon have a new owner.

Steve Robinson, a broker for New River Brokerage who is working with the building’s owner, state Rep. Carla Cunningham, confirmed in a text message that the property was under contract. Robinson declined to identify the buyer, other than that they were from California. He also did not provide the price.

The news, first reported by WFAE, comes after months of uncertainty over the fate of the club, which was listed for sale in April for $1.5 million. The building is in disrepair, and can be demolished at any point, though Robinson said that the buyer’s “primary inclination” appears to be to preserve it.

Placed on historic preservation list

The club, off of Beatties Ford Road, closed in 2016. It opened in 1944 and was a hub of African American social and political life in Charlotte for decades. Last month, it was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the country.

Dan Morrill, director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, said the list helped raise the profile of the club.

“In fact, the woman I talked to at the National Trust … she said well you know, going on the list, somebody in California might see it,” he said. “All the effort that we went to has paid off.”

[Related: Here’s a chance to revisit iconic music venues: Double Door, Excelsior and Tremont]

Commissioners rejected exclusive option

Previous attempts to save the club have faltered or been rejected by Cunningham. In October, Mecklenburg County commissioners rejected spending $4,000 on the exclusive option to buy the building. That option would have given the Historic Landmarks Commission a year to find a buyer or purchase the property. The commissioners found the asking price of $350,000 to be too high when combined with the more than half a million dollars needed to repair it, former commissioner Bill James told The Charlotte Observer at the time.

Minutes from closed session meetings show that commissioners, four of whom are newly elected, directed the county manager in March to negotiate with Cunningham for the purchase of the property. The offer was for $850,000, of which $150,000 came from The Foundation for the Carolinas, minutes from another meeting in May show.

Joel Ford, a former state senator, also gathered a group of investors to make an offer on the property for $1 million.

Both offers were rejected. Cunningham told the Observer that neither came close enough to her asking price of $1.5 million.

This article originally appeared in The Charlotte Observer.

This story was originally published June 20, 2019 at 9:52 AM with the headline "After months of uncertainty, historic Excelsior Club could soon have a new owner."