In a food desert, council vote pushes West Charlotte closer to grocery store
A west Charlotte nonprofit is one step closer to bringing a grocery store and affordable housing to its community with financial help from city council.
Historic West End Partners was granted a short-term loan for over $4.1 million to help the nonprofit purchase land for its mixed-income, mixed-use development near Five Points Plaza and W. Trade Street.
On Monday, Charlotte City Council approved the loan, which would come from the city’s affordable housing fund.
The project includes 145 units of affordable and market-rate apartments, along with office space and a small business incubator.
But the major, and perhaps most wanted, part of the project is the 13,000-square-foot grocery co-op store.
It’s a need Historic West End Partners has been working to solve for decades.
“I am elated that our city saw the value in what community can do. We can develop and solve our own problems,” said J’Tanya Adams, the partners’ founder and executive director. “We realize no one’s coming to save us… We’re leading this charge to make sure that community can develop its own grocery stores and its own housing.”
A grocery store in Historic West End
An area is considered a food desert when at least 500 people, or 33% of the area population, live more than one mile away from a supermarket or large grocery store, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The two closest grocery stores to Five Points Plaza and the development project, Aldi and Harris Teeter, are both over a mile away.
It’s been over 40 years since the Historic West End has had access to a traditional grocer, Adams said.
Adams started Historic West End Partners in 2010 to bring a grocer to the area. The nonprofit advocates for cultural preservation and economic development in the Historic West End.
Housing and food security in Charlotte’s Historic West End
To get the project started, Historic West End Partners needs to acquire the land, specifically five parcels along W. Trade Street.
The nonprofit purchased one piece of the puzzle in last March, when it bought the former site of a Church’s Chicken restaurant for $1.25 million, according to Mecklenburg County property records.
Now it’s looking to buy the rest of the vacant parcels.
The development will be anchored by the market which will be run by Weaver Street Market. The co-op owns four stores in the Raleigh region.
And the apartments will go on top.
Most of the apartments, about 116, will be for those making 80% of the area median income or less. For a family of four, that’s an income under $89,750.
About 29 of those units will be reserved for those making 30% AMI or less. For a family of four, that’s an income under $33,650. The remaining units will be listed at market rates.
What’s next for Historic West End Partners?
Once the land is acquired, the nonprofit will seek additional funding for the affordable housing develop through the city’s housing trust fund.
On Monday, city council members praised the plan and hoped Adams could recreate the development in other parts of the city.
West Charlotte, in particular, has large swaths of neighborhoods that lack a traditional grocery store. And food deserts disproportionately affect people of color.
Adams said she’s happy to take on the charge.
“In the entire west crescent, you can go from Center City all the way to Nations Ford Road and never hit a grocery store,” Adams said. “We’d love to talk to communities who have come together and that are ready to do the work, and it is some work. But it can happen.”
