Long-vacant Dilworth property sold for $5.1 million, paving the way for redevelopment
A real estate company has purchased the long-vacant Epicurean Restaurant site in Dilworth for $5.1 million, bringing plans to redevelop it one step closer to reality.
A corporate entity affiliated with Selwyn Property Group partner and co-founder Grey Poole bought the 1-acre property this week from the family company that has owned it for years, property records show. The sale was first reported by the Charlotte Ledger newsletter.
The site once housed the renowned Epicurean Restaurant until it closed in the 1990s and was demolished.
Charlotte City Council approved plans late last year from Selwyn Property Group to build up to either 80,000 square feet of office space or 170 residential units. The zoning change also allowed for up to 10,000 square feet of retail space.
Poole told the Observer on Wednesday his firm is still putting the plans together, but is leaning toward building apartments. He said there’s demand for apartments because of the site’s proximity to retail and to major employers like Atrium. He also pointed to the uncertainty in the office market due to COVID-19.
“That gives us a little bit of pause,” he said.
Selwyn expects to start construction in the first half of 2022, Poole said.
The site, at East Boulevard and Scott Avenue, once housed the renowned Epicurean Restaurant until it closed in the 1990s and was demolished. More recently, pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms and food trucks were located there.
But it’s surrounded by a stretch of Dilworth that is changing rapidly. Across the street, the new Latta Pavilion owners announced improvements to the exterior of the site in 2019. And Winston-Salem developer Summit Healthcare Group plans to build a five-story office building on three lots it owns along East Boulevard between Scott Avenue and Fountain View Street.
The portion of East Boulevard from Kenilworth Avenue to Freedom Park has not changed much in the last decade or so, despite the growth happening around it, Poole said.
“I think it was logical that you would see some redevelopment, some more density added in that corridor,” he said.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 2:56 PM.
