$600M North Tryon redevelopment moves forward after affordable housing debate
The Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to move forward with selling public land uptown in an effort to revitalize what’s seen as the largest remaining opportunity for development uptown.
Commissioners also voted to allocate $14.5 million, using proceeds from the land sale, for affordable housing units on property next to the development and elsewhere in the county.
Commissioners voted 7-2 to approve an agreement with the developer for the project, which includes above-ground and underground parking, an office tower, a mixed-use building, retail and homes. Under the agreement approved Tuesday, the county, Bank of America, the city and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library would sell 3.1 acres to the private developer, Virginia-based Metropolitan Partnership, for $21.5 million.
The developer is expected to invest around $600 million in the project, said Mark Hahn, the county’s director of asset and facility management.
For years, leaders have promised the development, along North Tryon Street between 6th and 8th streets, would revive an area where development has idled compared to other parts of uptown.
But some commissioners and housing advocates have criticized the project in recent months after county officials initially said they could not afford to build affordable homes on the site. County officials have previously said that, based on the way the project is designed, putting affordable units within the development would require a high per-unit subsidy of taxpayer money.
The project has brought up a debate local leaders have long struggled with: Should affordable housing be built in uptown, where the cost is higher but it is closer to amenities such as public transit, or elsewhere in the county where it is cheaper?
Commissioners decided to give $6 million to Inlivian, formerly the Charlotte Housing Authority, for 110 affordable apartments at 8th and Tryon, one block over. The county will also give $8.5 million for affordable housing projects already underway elsewhere in the county.
Also on the table was a plan to use the entire $14.5 million to put 36 affordable units in the 7th and Tryon project itself, out of more than 300 proposed units, but it was ultimately rejected.
Commissioner Susan Harden read from a letter published in the Observer, written by clergy members and community members, entitled “A message for our black neighbors” in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Charlotte’s pledge to build affordable housing has been tied to racial equity.
“I’m looking at this project through a different lens now,” Harden said. “That letter in the paper, it said we will change our institutions in our community. Now that we’ve made this pledge, what about this project has changed?”
Affordable housing debate
Bank of America is also using $4.2 million from its land sale to fund 207 units off-site. In total, the county is helping fund 691 below market-rate units.
“I really like that idea of 691 units when we have so many thousands of people who are struggling,” said commissioner Pat Cotham.
Inlivian, formerly the Charlotte Housing Authority, is proposing to build 368 units as well as retail on the site it owns next to the 7th and Tryon project. Of those homes, 110 will be affordable.
One-third of the affordable units will be priced for households earning 30% of the area median income, another third for those at 60%, and another third at 80%. For a family of four, that’s $23,700, $47,400 and $63,200, respectively.
The six-story building would be located on the site of the Hall House, once the Barringer Hotel.
Some commissioners said that despite the high cost to put affordable units in the project, it was worth the endeavor. Two commissioners unsuccessfully lobbied for a proposal that would have still put 20 affordable homes in the 7th and Tryon development.
“I still don’t want to leave 7th and Tryon without any affordable housing,” said commissioner Trevor Fuller. “I’m not entirely satisfied with it, because I think we should be able to get more than 20 units in a project that will be over $600 million.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 10:18 PM.
