Excelsior Club demolished in west Charlotte, as another historic building falls
The historic Excelsior Club is no more.
Demolition of the iconic Excelsior Club in west Charlotte began Wednesday, signaling the final chapter for a structure that has sat vacant and decaying for a decade. By Thursday morning, only the awning was still standing amid the rubble, as passersby gawked and cars slowed down to survey what had happened.
“Oh my gosh, they’re finally tearing it down,” said Kendra Byrd of Charlotte, a customer at Designer Beauty Clinic next door. “A lot of history there for sure.”
The demolition clears the path for an $8.3 million redevelopment project intended to resurrect the historic landmark, which currently sits with a collapsing roof and significant structural failure.
Once a landmark that served as Charlotte’s prominent sanctuary for Black nightlife during the segregation and civil rights eras, the Excelsior Club now stands as a lost piece of history after a decade without use. Despite failed plans and attempts to resurrect the club, along with debates about saving the building, the structure itself could not be saved.
.jpg "UNC Atkins (1).jpg")
The new Excelsior Club is expected to open in early 2028, once again serving as a “lighthouse on Beatties Ford Road,” the developer has said.
Owner Kenwood Investments filed the plans to raze the building at 921 Beatties Ford Road on June 18, according to city records. Because the site is a designated historic landmark, the request had to undergo a mandatory zoning inspection to ensure the demolition is appropriate under local preservation guidelines, the filing shows.
Founded in 1944 by Jimmie and Minnie McKee, the Excelsior Club was once a cornerstone of Black culture in Charlotte. During the Jim Crow era, it was a private club and listed in “The Negro Motorist Green Book” from 1963 to 1967 as a safe haven for Black travelers.
To honor that legacy, developer Shawn Kennedy held a “Celebration of Life” event in May at nearby First Baptist Church-West, allowing the community to reflect on the club’s historical significance.
What’s next for west Charlotte’s historic Excelsior Club
Kennedy of Kennedy Properties & Development, based in Charlotte, gained control of the site just over a year ago.
His vision with partner Tim Sittema of Crosland Southeast is to return live music and dining to the corridor. Unlike previous failed attempts, such as Kenwood’s boutique hotel, music venue and museum proposal that floundered in 2024 due to parking shortages, the current team has the necessary parking to move forward with the building in the same footprint.
Engineering assessments deemed the century-old structure unsalvageable, Kennedy has said. He plans to construct a near-replica of the building.
The new Excelsior Club will feature a restaurant and rooftop seating. In a nod to its community roots, the facility will offer live entertainment and free meeting space for local nonprofits, West Charlotte High School and Johnson C. Smith University.
The $8.3 million project is supported by $3 million in public funding, split evenly between the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The developers are contributing $2.3 million specifically for the restaurant operations.
Kennedy said last month that while most of the capital is secured, a $300,000 funding gap remains to be filled.
Concerns over demolishing the Excelsior Club
The decision to demolish has sparked tension with local preservationists and historians.
Organizations like the Charlotte Museum of History have argued for saving the original building. Museum CEO Terri White argued that the original building should be saved, citing Charlotte’s “horrible reputation of tearing things down” as a cycle that must be broken.
“I will ask Charlotte when is enough enough? We bemoan the loss of our local history, yet it seems every few months something else gets torn down,” White said. “We must decide if we truly want to save the scraps of historic architecture we have left.”
“You can’t cheer projects like the (refurbished) Carolina Theatre and not see the direct correlation between history and the soul of a community. When you see firsthand how amazing adaptive reuse and historic preservation can be, why allow everything to get bulldozed?”
The museum’s vision involved a $20 million to 25 million rehabilitation project to restore the existing two-story structure and add a connecting Black History Center focused on regional history.
However, the demolition project has received an endorsement from former owner Ken Koontz, who described the redevelopment as a “bold” and “right” direction for the property’s future.
Excelsior Club’s history in Charlotte and why it matters
After its founding during World War II, the club was a political and social hub of the community, with legendary musicians performing there like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole.
On Jan. 20, 2009, the club was packed as the Charlotte community gathered to watch the inaugural ceremony together on a wide-screen the inaugural ceremony for Barack Obama as the first U.S. Black president.
But in 2016 as business was declining, Excelsior closed for repairs and never reopened.
After Excelsior Club was added in 2019 to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of 11 most endangered historic places, Darius Anderson of Kenwood Investments in California purchased the club for $1.35 million.
Kenwood received $250,000 in funds from the city, county, Foundation for the Carolinas and Knight Foundation in funding for the project, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
But Kenwood, which still owns the property, needed 120 to 125 parking spots to move the plan forward, Anderson said in May 2023 during a community meeting. The project was still 15 to 20 parking spaces short, even after purchasing two lots behind the club in 2022 for $325,000.
Architecturally, the building was one of the last remaining Art Moderne-style structures in Charlotte.
Demolition typically takes about five days to complete, Kennedy said Thursday.
This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 10:50 AM.
