Shopping center redevelopment to start next year in fast-changing Plaza Midwood
The new owners of a Plaza Midwood shopping center will begin the first phase of redeveloping it next year after Charlotte City Council voted Monday night to rezone a portion of the site.
Charlotte developer Crosland Southeast and investment firm Nuveen Real Estate purchased the 12-acre site in March for $50 million. The shopping center is at the corner of Pecan and Central avenues, a key intersection and one of the largest swaths of land left in the fast-changing neighborhood.
The parking lot surrounding the complex is infamous for its stringent booting policy, though the new owners say they no longer boot vehicles parked there.
The first phase will include 90,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a 150,000-square-foot office building and 383 apartments, according to a news release from the companies Monday evening. A new street, lined with retail, will cut through the property from Central and Clement to Pecan and Commonwealth avenues.
The firms will also make improvements to the existing shopping center and two older buildings in the back of the site.
Bobby Speir, senior vice president for Crosland Southeast, said the rezoning enabled the firm to preserve those buildings, which date to 1912, county property records show. It’ll allow for greater density on the 2-acre site the zoning decision covers, which will help make saving the structures financially feasible, Speir has said.
“I think the community certainly appreciates their sensitivity to those, I think, really beautiful buildings,” said council member Larken Egleston, who represents the area.
The site that was rezoned Monday will be part of the second phase of the project, expected to house more offices, “boutique hospitality” uses and ground-floor retail, the firms said in the release.
On either side of the historic buildings, the plans call for two parks, and another park is slated for along the proposed Silver Line light rail stop next to the site.
The companies will start construction on the first phase next spring or summer, according to the release.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Shopping center redevelopment to start next year in fast-changing Plaza Midwood."
