Charlotte agrees to buy a troubled shopping center once called an ‘open-air drug market’
Charlotte City Council on Monday approved the purchase of a West Boulevard strip mall that had previously been seized by the federal government for its high levels of drug trafficking.
The strip mall, located at 1527 and 1533 West Blvd. near Remount Road, will cost $1.2 million, according to city documents.
In an asset forfeiture complaint filed last year, Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Johnson referred to the property as an “open-air drug market.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police responded to nearly 1,100 calls for service between 2017 and April 2021, including 67 drug violations, 14 shootings, at least one homicide, and assaults and robberies, according to the complaint.
It is unclear what’s next for the 0.70-acre property, according to City Council member Larken Egleston, chair of the Safe Communities committee.
The city is always looking for ways to address areas that have become “chronic nuisances” in the community, he said.
“What it turns into, I think, is maybe not as much of the focus of the vote last night as making sure that it does not remain the way that it has been,” Egleston said.
The property’s future will be decided in partnership with those who live in that area, he said.
Closing on the property is expected to occur on or before May 16, according to the city.
The property includes a single-story building with eight retail spaces. The terms of the deal will require the city to terminate any existing leases “as soon as practicable,” according to a council agenda item.
Funding from the city’s Corridors of Opportunity initiative will be used to purchase the property. The initiative is an effort to revitalize six corridors in Charlotte to improve access to vital resources and businesses.
Jordan Brooks-Adams, executive director of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition, said the property is key because the West-Remount intersection is a high priority for the city’s West Boulevard Corridor Playbook, part of the Corridors of Opportunity.
“So whatever happens in this space ... we want to make sure that the community members, our neighbors, our residents, our small businesses along the West Boulevard corridor are a part of the creation of this next space, or the usage of the space going forward,” she said.
At this time, the West Boulevard site is the only property seized via federal forfeiture that the city is attempting to purchase, Lori Lencheski, with the city’s economic development team, told council members on Monday.
‘Open-air drug market’
A 44-page document filed April 23, 2021, by the U.S. Department of Justice details dozens of drug deals, shootings, and violent incidents on the property.
“Simply put, the Property serves as an open-air drug market,” Johnson wrote. “The drug-dealers who conduct their business there — many among them validated gang members — routinely do so in plain sight and with brazen impunity.”
Johnson wrote that the previous owners of the property did “little” to curb criminal activity, which is why federal forfeiture was necessary. The filing named Abdoulkader Bouche and Mikiyas Gebremeskel as the owners of West Blvd. Shop Inc.
“Few properties in the Charlotte area have had a greater history or volume of drug-related crime and violence than the West Blvd Property,” Johnson wrote.
The federal government succeeded in seizing the property, and the city purchased the two parcels rather than allow them to go through a foreclosure sale, according to city documents.
Since the federal filing last year, reported criminal activity has decreased, according to a news release by the office of U.S. Attorney Dena King on Thursday. Calls to CMPD dropped considerably, from thousands in years prior to 28 total after the filing, the release said.
A CMPD spokesperson declined comment Wednesday.
Hopes for the space
Brooks-Adams said the area saw less crime after the federal government seized the property, and the coalition hopes to see more progress as the city takes possession.
A timeline for the property is unclear, she said, but the coalition will begin to initiate community conversations to determine how best to use the space.
“I will say that we are really interested in a space that will accommodate the West Boulevard Merchants Association. We are interested in a space that will perhaps have small businesses or become a home for our grassroots, nonprofit organizations,” she said.
City Council member Victoria Watlington, whose District 3 includes the property, said the hope is to see some movement on the site by year’s end.
Revitalizing that area, focusing on nuisance abatement, and making it a safe place for residents to shop again, have been high priorities for her, she said.
Watlington said she wants the area to become one of West Boulevard’s cultural hubs as people enter the city. She said she hopes the space can provide room for small businesses and community gatherings.
“We’d love to see some community based retail,” she said. “We’ve got a food desert, here on the westside. So to the extent that we can support food security, we’d love to entertain that as well.”
For those who would like to have a say in how the property is used, Watlington suggests attending the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition’s bi-monthly meetings.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
