In north Charlotte, The Park Church expands affordable housing options again
The Park Church in Charlotte’s Sunset Road neighborhood plans to add more affordable housing to its sprawling property.
The church filed a rezoning petition with the city on June 13 to transform the 30 acres behind its sanctuary on Beatties Ford Road into more than 300 affordable residential units.
The church didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the project.
But this isn’t the first time The Park Church has used its land for housing. Nor is it the first house of worship in Charlotte to convert unused land into apartments or town houses.
It’s becoming a trend among religious organizations, one that the city hopes will continue to spread as the need for housing and affordable housing grows.
“There’s a need for continued collaboration and networking for us to address housing challenges,” city Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield,told The Charlotte Observer earlier this year. “When we look at the opportunities of where faith institutions come into play…we know land is the most expensive cost (of housing) off the bat, and churches have quite a bit of land…
“If that faith-based organization has under-utilized building space or land, what would that look like to identify funding and support to help them retrofit their space?”
The Park Church and affordable housing
For The Park Church, converting its unused space looks like several housing projects.
According to the recent rezoning request, the church wants to build 92 single-family homes, 95 town house-style units and 130 age-restricted apartments for an independent-living facility.
Units will be for-sale or lease and they’ll be income-restricted for those earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income, according to the rezoning application. For a family of four, that’s an income between $67,320 and $134,640.
Development plans also include a pocket park and several other green spaces.
The applicant listed on the rezoning petition is developer Prosperity Alliance, which is currently building affordable town houses on the former Economy Inn site in the Hidden Valley neighborhood.
The Park Church’s first housing project was completed in 2023.
Gilfield Park offers 80 units of affordable housing to seniors age 55 and older. The units were for those earning less than 80% AMI, which is $71,800 or below for a family of two.
The Gilfield project is by church development firm The Park Community Development Corp. in partnership with the city, Bank of America, LISC Charlotte and Laurel Street Residential.
Charlotte churches and affordable housing
The Park Church joins other religious organizations around the city in closing the gap on affordable housing. The latest Park Church news was first reported by The Charlotte Ledger newsletter.
In 2023, Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, alongside DreamKey Partners, built Sugree Place, a 51-unit complex in Sugar Creek for those in the 30% to 80% AMI range.
A rezoning request was approved for Newell Presbyterian Church and DreamKey last year to build 56 single-family attached town houses on church property. Those will be for-sale for residents earning 80% AMI.
DreamKey is also working with Caldwell Presbyterian Church to convert an on-site building into Easter’s Home, 21-units of permanent supportive housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
One of the city’s goals is to bring more faith-based organizations into the housing fold.
The Faith in Housing initiative looks to connect interested religious organizations with city officials, community agencies and developers to build affordable housing. The city has hosted several workshops on the initiative explaining to organizations about funding mechanisms, ways to add on supportive services and what the impact could be with building housing on their land.
As Mayfield said, it’s another way Charlotte is trying to bring in as many partners as possible to build affordable housing.
“This is not a government-alone conversation,” Mayfield said. “We can’t buy our way out of this situation without having corporate leaders, businesses as well as our faith community at the table to help address this.”
This story was originally published June 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
