Here’s how much the next step to redevelop the Eastland Mall site will cost Charlotte

Charlotte is nearing a deal with a development team to transform the long-vacant Eastland Mall site, and city staff said Monday that the next phase of the project will cost up to $600,000.

The city would split that cost with a private development partnership, and the total bill for taxpayers would come out to $250,000, staff members told the City Council’s economic development committee. That money would cover due diligence tasks, such as testing the soil, studying stormwater and runoff issues, and coming up with a detailed plan for what should go where on the 69-acre tract.

“There’s a host of items we’d like to do with the development team,” said Todd DeLong, of the city’s Neighborhood & Business Services Department. “We really haven’t done a detailed process.”

In August, the city council committee voted to recommend a partnership led by Charlotte-based Crosland Southeast, architecture firm Odell and Eastland Community Development to redevelop the site. It’s been empty for more than eight years, on Central Avenue near Albemarle Road, since the mall closed and the city purchased the land.

The full City Council is expected to vote on the redevelopment deal Oct. 22. Pre-development activities and due diligence are expected to take about seven to nine months, with plans done next summer.

A previous conceptual plan for the site showed a mixed-use project that would feature an FC Barcelona Soccer Academy facility, 1,000 “millennial style” residences, a community center, a “millennial brand” hotel, 500,000 square feet of office space and a multicultural market called “Taste of Eastland.” But it’s unclear what the final redevelopment will look like, as the city and developers will be coming up with a new master plan for the site.

Previous attempts to redevelop Eastland have fallen through, but council members said they’re confident the new plan will work, now that there’s a private developer on board who will be spending money on the project.

“I appreciate the frustration,” said council member Ed Driggs. “It was never a case of thinking that part of town is less urgent than other parts of town.”

The city of Charlotte bought the shuttered mall in 2013 for $13.2 million and demolished the buildings. Under previous plans, the city had planned to spend up to $400,000 on a consultant to figure out the next steps for Eastland, then finding a developer. Lowering the costs by partnering with a developer up front makes the current plan more viable, council member Matt Newton said.

“We have, in the past, ponied up,” he said. “This is more than reasonable.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2018 at 2:43 PM.