Major Providence Road housing, day care project gets rezoning approval from City Council
A major redevelopment in south Charlotte that will bring thousands of mixed-income homes, a grocery store, day care center, more retail and office space is now one step away from beginning.
Thanks to Charlotte City Council.
On Monday, council mermbers approved three rezoning requests that push forward the redevelopment of about 115 acres near the intersection of Old Providence Road, Providence Road and Sardis Lane.
Horizon Development Properties, Levine Properties and Northwood Ravin plan to revamp the area, turning it into a walkable mixed-use neighborhood while also preserving some affordable housing.
The rezoning requested by Levine Properties was unanimously approved. Councilmember LaWana Mayfield was the lone “no” vote in the requests presented by Horizon Development and Northwood Ravin.
The redevelopment is in Councilmember Tariq Bokhari’s district. He said all three projects, which started two years ago, provide needed changes for the area, including more housing and infrastructure improvements.
“It’s a unique opportunity to revitalize an area that was developed over 60 years ago with new residential uses and mixed-use neighborhood centers,” Bokhari said during Monday’s meeting. “It’s going to replace, in most cases, deteriorated older buildings and really enhance active open space around that… Improved connectivity from Providence Road to Sardis Lane, Providence Road… I think this is something that hopefully we can build upon.”
The next step in the project involves receiving financing from Mecklenburg County Commissioners.
Horizon’s plans
The developers own three separate parcels of land.
The first decision will be on the 8.55 acres owned by Horizon, a nonprofit developer and subsidiary of Inlivian, formerly known as the Charlotte Housing Authority.
The developer wants to change the zoning at the tip of the Old Providence and Providence intersection from multifamily to a mixed-used development district. The redevelopment is part of Inlivian’s goal to create new revenue streams by building mixed-income developments, as reported by WFAE.
Horizon will split the parcel, building up to 350 multifamily units on one side and up to 70 units on the other side. About 50 of those could be single-family attached homes.
There will be an affordable component to the new homes for those making 30% to 80% of the area median income. For a family of four, that’s an income between $31,800 and $84,800.
Levine and Northwood’s plans
Levine has the largest portion of the development with 85 acres on the east side of Providence Road surrounding Sardis Lane.
The rezoning request is also a change to a mixed-used development district.
Levine will split the parcel into five areas. Area A, B and E will bring over 1,000 housing options. The developer is looking to create 879 market-rate apartments, 125 town homes and 108 units of workforce housing for those making 80% area median income or below.
Areas C and D will include 80,000 square feet of retail and 45,000 square feet of office space, along with a grocery store and a day care center.
Northwood’s 20 acres are below Horizon’s and between Old Providence and Providence. The developer’s plan includes construction of 650 market-rate apartments and up to 95 town homes.
Cost and funding
The project is expected to cost about $500 million, the Charlotte Business Journal reported.
To help fund some of the infrastructure changes in the project, which include Providence Road corridor improvements and new traffic signals, developers asked the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to provide $19 million in tax increment grant funding.
That’s an economic development and finance tool that provides money for public infrastructure changes within a district where the money will be returned via that development’s expected property tax dollars.
Developers requested $6.9 million from the city and $12.1 million from the county.
City Council approved its portion of the deal last week. The county is expected to vote on its share of the funding next month.
This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 5:43 AM.
