The heart of Plaza Midwood will soon undergo major changes. Here’s the latest.
Plaza Midwood residents soon might not recognize a 12-acre site slated for development along the eclectic neighborhood’s main thoroughfare.
Developers on Tuesday released the first renderings of Commonwealth at the corner of Central and Pecan avenues, currently home to a vast shopping center parking lot once known for its stringent car-booting policy.
Charlotte developer Crosland Southeast and investment firm Nuveen Real Estate will break ground on the site this fall, according to a news release Tuesday. The firms purchased the 12-acre site in March 2020 for $50 million.
The first phase of the project will include 100,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a 150,000-square-foot office building and 383 apartments, according to the news release. A new street, lined with retail, will cut through the property from Central and Clement south to Pecan and Commonwealth avenues.
When completed, the project will include retail and restaurant space, a luxury apartment complex, a hotel and over 400,000 square feet of office space. The firms expect the first phase to wrap up by the spring of 2024.
It’s a far cry from the parking lot that stretches across the site today.
Two older buildings in the back of the site, which date back to 1912 and were once home to the Cole Manufacturing facility, will serve as the focal point of the project, the release said.
The buildings will be the “crown jewel” of the new development, Crosland Southeast senior vice president Bobby Speir said in the release.
The Commonwealth renderings are the latest development update out of a fast-changing neighborhood known for being uptown’s eclectic neighbor. The Plaza Midwood Dairy Queen on Central shuttered in 2019 after nearly 70 years in business. Just across the street from the to-be-developed site, an apartment building forms a horseshoe around the Thirsty Beaver, a longstanding dive bar whose owners have refused to sell to developers.
Will Plaza Midwood lose its quirky charm?
For one Plaza Midwood resident, the renderings paint a picture of a very different neighborhood.
Lesa Kastanas has lived in the neighborhood for six years. She and her husband have run Soul Gastrolounge, a restaurant and bar on Central, for over a decade.
The new development will “without a doubt” be good for business, she said. But she wonders if the neighborhood’s quirky charm can survive amid such growth.
“Plaza Midwood always felt like a small town in a big city,” said Kastanas, a lifelong Charlottean. The renderings show a neighborhood that doesn’t quite fit that picture, she said.
Kastanas also clarified that, despite the name “Soul” being included on a storefront in one rendering, the restaurant has no plans to move from its current location.
In their news release, the firms behind Commonwealth said they want to preserve the area’s charm.
“Our primary goal throughout the design process is for this project to be a natural extension of the surrounding neighborhood,” Speir said. “Our hope is that the finished product will feel like a nod to the past with a vision for the future.”
But Kastanas is still wary that the new development will look out of place in the neighborhood she and her husband call home.
“We moved (here) because uptown was becoming a little too shiny for us,” she said. “Now, Plaza Midwood is starting to get a little too shiny for us.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 5:25 PM.
