A new plan for Brookhill Village in Charlotte — again
After taking over redevelopment of Charlotte’s Brookhill Village, a local businessman says he plans to not only preserve and build affordable housing but also commercial space for businesses facing rising rent prices.
Charlotte businessman Mike Griffin has taken control of the land lease for the South End-adjacent community. A Raleigh-area developer, Tom Hendrickson, announced Tuesday he’d transferred the lease after unsuccessful redevelopment attempts, according to a statement sent to the Observer.
The community, opened in 1951, is some of the last affordable housing in the area but badly needs upgrades.
The most recent effort encountered several failed funding bids and a complicated ownership structure that separated the land near Remount Road and South Boulevard, from the buildings atop it. News of the ownership change was first reported by Axios Charlotte.
“I have come to the regretful conclusion that we could not muster the level of public and private support needed to redevelop Brookhill Village,” wrote Hendrickson, of Zebulon-based Lookout Ventures.
“... The necessary public funding and support was not available to redevelop Brookhill Village in a manner that was financially viable and respectful of its heritage and current residents.”
Griffin, partner at Griffin Brothers Companies, which includes real estate, hospitality and waste management businesses, said Wednesday the primary goal is to provide quality, affordable housing for Brookhill residents.
“We’ve really got to take care of the families that need help, period,” he said, which include keeping rents close to what tenants are paying now. “That’s priority one.”
He also plans to develop commercial property that can be provide more affordable space for established companies as South End prices continue to rise.
He’s watched that growth for years — before South End was South End — dating back to his grandparents’ work at the Lance cracker factory that is now loft-style condos.
While that boom can be good for the city, he said, there are “great companies that were here and either get priced out, or the real estate’s gotten so valuable they can help themselves but sell.”
History of false starts
Attempts to redevelop the property while preserving affordable housing have been bumpy. Charlotte City Council in 2020 rejected a request from Lookout Ventures seeking a combined $13 million from the Housing Trust Fund and private Charlotte Housing Opportunity Investment Fund, a sum far greater than typical requests.
At the time, city staff told council members they weren’t confident in the developer’s ability to raise enough other funding and had concerns about the project’s long-term affordability prospects.
Lookout Venture’s plan called for a mixed-income development with 324 units, of which 164 would be affordable to households earning up to 80% of the area median income — currently $67,350 for a family of four.
The city has set aside $3 million from the trust fund for Brookhill if those concerns are addressed, but the development team would have to reapply, city spokeswoman Leslie Blaser said Wednesday. Griffin said he does not currently plan to reapply, but said that could change.
The persistent holdups left residents in limbo, many of them elderly, low-income or disabled. A UNC Charlotte Urban Institute report on residents’ needs shows about 120 households are still living in the community and are at great risk of displacement.
More than three-quarters of residents have called Brookhill home for at least six years, according to the report, with 1 in 5 living there more than 20 years. Three-quarters of residents are also extremely low-income, according to federal guidelines.
All respondents are low-income, and 38% or are retired or have a disabling condition, according to the report.
Residents are paying an average of $463 for rent, an unheard of amount for the area where nearby one-bedrooms in South End easily exceed $1,500. That makes relocating an extreme challenge, residents told the Urban Institute, with housing costs and limited incomes the two greatest obstacles reported.
And before Hendrickson’s redevelopment attempt, the complex had been plagued with other legal fights. A settlement with the federal government over longstanding issues with violent crime and drugs called for owners to substantially renovate the property.
Affordable housing
Historically, a key redevelopment challenge has been an unusual ownership arrangement for the Brookhill property.
While the group trying to redevelop the community owns the buildings, the land beneath it is owned by an LLC affiliated with Charlotte billionaire C.D. Spangler, the Observer previously reported. Spangler, a former president of the UNC system, died in 2018.
There is a ground lease in place, currently in year 72 of 99, between the land owner and interested developers.
That’s hindered financing options for past redevelopment efforts, including exclusion from the state’s low income housing tax credit program, one common way affordable housing developers finance projects.
The land was appraised at nearly $3.1 million in the 2019 county revaluation.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 3:35 PM.
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