Historic Plaza Midwood school demolished for Charlotte’s newest apartment tower
A former historic elementary school in Plaza Midwood will soon be turned into an apartment building.
Ares Management Corp., a Los Angeles-based investment firm, will be turning the Midwood Elementary School at 1817 Central Ave. into a seven-story apartment building.
The firm recently secured a $69.4 million construction loan to begin developing the site, according to a news release from JLL Capital Markets, which worked with Ares and United Bank on the loan.
The new building will feature 314 apartments with a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Each unit will be an average size of just over 790 square feet.
The building will also include a rooftop lounge, multiple courtyards, a library and 472 parking spaces.
The development will break ground by the end of the year and construction should be completed by 2028. The building is already being demolished.
According to JLL, the school and soon to be apartment building is in a prime location. Plaza Midwood, the release said, has seen a 43.4% increase in population from 2010 to 2025.
But the move to knock down historic places for the sake of Charlotte’s growth remains a trend around the city. That’s being seen from growing development in Steele Creek near Charlotte Douglas International Airport to possibly several historical Black neighborhoods as Interstate 77 plans for an expansion.
In a Reddit post, some users reminisced about the school’s different iterations. Others noted that it was a causality of Charlotte’s growth.
“It was about 50 years too old for Charlotte,” said one Reddit user. “Anything even remotely close to historic or having heritage value isn’t acceptable.”
Midwood Elementary School’s history
Midwood Elementary, which was previously called the Lawyers Road School, opened in 1935, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.
Residential development was slow along Central Avenue in the early 1900s because of lack of transportation. But by the 1920s, cars were cheap and residential development increased — so much so, a school was needed.
The eight-room school hit capacity immediately, and expanded to 10 rooms and an auditorium in 1942.
By the 1950s, Midwood had 1,000 students. But as residential development spread out in Charlotte, the school lost students, dropping to 300 before it closed in 1983.
From there, the school saw many different forms. The latest was the Midwood International and Cultural Center in 2013, which housed several nonprofits and local organizations, including the International House.
The building was designated a historic landmark in 2016.
But in 2021, Midwood was bought by Conformity Corporation and tenants were told to vacate. The last remaining tenants left in 2023, according to a WFAE story.
That same year, developer Eastern Federal Corp. filed a demolition permit with the city, the Charlotte Ledger reported.
That demolition was put on a one-year hold due to the building’s historic status. The hold expired last December.
Ares purchased the Midwood School in October for $18.5 million.
