Effort underway to save historic Dilworth building, but parking concerns remain
Two restaurant owners want to save a historic building in the Dilworth area by relocating it to an empty lot, but residents are worried about having less parking in the community.
A rezoning request was presented and discussed Monday by the Charlotte City Council.
Located at 1923 South Blvd., the Leeper & Wyatt building at the edge of Dilworth and South End is one of nearly 400 historic landmarks in Mecklenburg County. The 120-year-old building is the oldest surviving retail brick commercial property in Dilworth, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission. The grocery store served customers for more than 50 years.
But the now-vacant building faced threats of being demolished. Southern Land, a Nashville-based developer, is working to bring a high-rise apartment building to the corner of East Tremont Avenue and South Boulevard.
Jamie Brown and her husband Jeff Tonidandel want to move the 26-foot-by-61-foot building to a parking lot they own near the Bonterra restaurant at 1829 Cleveland Ave. Brown said they don’t mind giving up the space.
“That’s a big loss to us, but we feel like the reason to save a landmark is a lot bigger than the idea of keeping a parking lot,” Brown told The Charlotte Observer before the meeting.
The couple has experience in converting older buildings into restaurants. One of them is Supperland in Plaza Midwood, which was previously a mid-century church.
The plan is to move the top two floors of the Leeper & Wyatt building. It has a basement, but that would be too difficult to move.
Lack of space
Several residents are against the couple’s plan. One of them was Mark Allen, of the Dilworth Community Association’s land use committee. During his presentation, he said attempts were made to save the historic structure.
“We care about this building,” he said.
But while talking to council members, Allen and others opposed asked the council to uphold the unified development ordinance requirement for parking, based on the size of the property. Council members said they wanted to find a way to address the neighbors concerns.
Based on the rules for bar and restaurants presented during the meeting, 22 off-street parking spaces are required for the size of the buildings.
For the building to be moved, a proposal was made to have four off-street spaces, eight on-street spaces, and 10 other spots thought leasing parking agreements. There are 25 surface parking spots and 11 leased spaces near the Bonterra building.
Councilwoman Danté Anderson said there is a desire to preserve history, but also pointed out the challenges of parking in Dilworth, which has 18 active projects in the pipeline.
“We have to be good stewards and good neighbors, and make sure that doing something good for the community like preserving a building will not degrade the value of life and experiences that long-term Dilworth membership has always experienced,” she said.
Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston that many of the homes don’t have driveways, so many rely on street parking because of the area’s early history with mass transit.
“In one way, we tried to shoehorn in a type of culture into a place that was very intentionally built not to support that,” Braxton said. “I think we should ask ourselves, ‘what history are we trying to preserve?’ ”
’A pivotal time’
Southern Land said it wasn’t feasible to keep the old building around because of the city’s plans to widen South Boulevard. A company spokeswoman said they appreciate the couple’s efforts to move the structure.
“Charlotte is at such a pivotal time,” Brown told the Observer. “We’re growing so quickly and this is the time for us to be the most strategic that we can be.
“If local people can be mindful of how we grow, then we can end up with a very charming city that is able to preserve a lot of its history rather than just ripping everything down and starting anew, which is kind of the way things have been done in the past,” she said. “Looking at uptown as an example, where our charming city was just ripped down for skyscrapers.”
Ideally, Brown said moving the building will help retain some of the charm. There are no plans yet, but it could be a restaurant or event space.
She noted that it’s a timely matter since Southern Land wants to get started on its project later this year. Brown said they would like to move forward quickly to get approvals for site work to salvage the building.
The city council made a request to have another public hearing to learn more about the project and parking situation. Before a decision is made, the plans will be reviewed by the Historic District Commission.
This story was originally published September 18, 2023 at 10:01 PM.
