$600 million uptown project scrapped after county, developer break up
A $600 million project in uptown Charlotte years in the making was scrapped on Tuesday after the county and a Virginia-based real estate developer cut ties.
The county, which controls the nearly 7-acre site, couldn’t come to terms with the developer, Metropolitan Partnership, County Manager Dena Diorio told the Charlotte Observer. The firm’s exclusivity expired and the county chose not to extend it, she said.
The project was to be built between Tryon Street, College Street, 7th Street and 6th Street.
Plans for the 7th and Tryon mixed-use development included an office tower, apartment building, restaurants, retail and plaza in two square blocks of uptown. Now that the development is off, the county hopes to sell the land. Diorio said the land will likely be sold in chunks and not as one large parcel.
The next step for the county is to decide how it will sell the separate parcels. It plans on using the proceeds to fund multiple affordable housing projects off site, which was part of the original plan.
Diorio would not disclose the biggest disagreements with the developer. Metropolitan could not be reached immediately for comment.
What will the county sell first?
The now-unused parcels span two blocks, and the county will sell the land in pieces. The last bits of land to sell will likely be those planned for the office building because the county does not believe there currently is a market for office space.
“It’s not ripe for redevelopment now so we’ll focus on the two parcels (previously) owned by Bank of America, which are at 7th and Tryon and 7th and College,” Diorio said.
As for the use of that space, the county hopes to see apartments and retail, as in the original plan.
The Main Library project planned for part of the lot, which broke ground Tuesday, will be unaffected by Metropolitan’s exit, according to the Charlotte Business Journal, which first reported the news.
The development’s controversial plans
The real estate developer requested a public-private partnership at the outset of the project to fund $24.4 million in improvements such as parking spaces, an outdoor plaza, extended bike lane and street changes.
In 2020, the City Council allocated its portion of public funding to the developer, which totaled $27 to $30 million between the city and the county. The majority of that funding, $25 million, would be given through tax breaks for providing parking.
Affordable housing advocates had problems with the site’s plans because they believed local leaders had broken their promise to include affordable housing in the development. The county mitigated this concern by pledging to use the proceeds from the land sale to fund an affordable housing development next to the site as well as other units in the county.
Environmental advocates also opposed the plans. Charlotte Mecklenburg Climate Leaders wrote a letter to Mayor Vi Lyles and City Council members saying the amount of parking planned for the development should be reduced to mitigate environmental impacts.
The Observer’s Taylor Batten contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 15, 2023 at 6:16 PM.
