Charlotte City Council OKs long-awaited plan for Eastland Yards. Here’s what’s planned
The Charlotte City Council voted unanimously Monday to back a new proposal for the long vacant land at the former Eastland Mall site and pledge $30 million to help make it happen.
With the vote, the council endorsed a plan put together by the previous finalists to develop the final piece of the Eastland Yards puzzle that includes indoor and outdoor sports facilities, dining options and more.
The saga of the land’s future has dragged on for months, leading to frustration from some in the community and on the council.
“This was very hard,” Councilwoman Majorie Molina, whose District 5 includes the site, said. “I’ve never seen anything for as long as I’ve orbited politics as hard as this, as seemingly divisive as this initially started out. And to see where it’s landed, I think that’s the most important thing.”
At-large Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera said she was “super excited” to see progress made and hopes that the project can move quickly forward.
“It might be a tall order,” she said.
The City Council had given the developers behind the two final ideas for the hotly contested 29 acres — a soccer academy, esports hub and amphitheater dubbed QC East and and the Eastland Yards Indoors Sports Complex — 45 days to work together on a combined plan rather than choosing between their two plans.
The compromise measure was first proposed by Molina at an August City Council meeting. That meeting, where attendees expected a decision on the site, featured almost 30 people sharing a mixture of desires during a public comment period before the vote.
The compromise was approved by the council unanimously at that meeting.
“We will deliver,” Molina said at the time.
Both teams had touted support from the community.
Charlotte EAST in June announced a petition in favor of the indoor sports complex proposal. That petition grew to more than a 1,000 signatures by August, including representatives from the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association, the Latin American Coalition, coaches and public school officials.
The team behind QC East had a petition of their own supporting its plan with more than 950 signatures, according to an email to the City Council and Mayor Vi Lyles obtained by the Observer.
New Eastland Yards plan
At Monday’s City Council meeting, assistant city manager Tracy Dodson said the two teams “had made a lot of progress” in the 42 days since the council directed them to collaborate.
And their new plan, dubbed “The Complex,” incorporates a number of the features from the two previous proposals.
The proposal — led by EDGE Sports Global, Charlotte Soccer Academy and Southern Entertainment — includes a 120,000 square foot-indoor sports complex that would include multi-purpose courts, an ice rink, a fitness center, a STEM education and esports center and a community learning center, according to Monday’s presentation.
The indoor facility would also have leasable space and concession stands, bars and restaurants.
Outdoors, there would be six artificial turf fields that could be used for soccer, flag football, lacrosse, field hockey and more. There would also be additional space for food and beverage options.
It will not include an amphitheater or a hotel, Dodson said.
The plan could bring in $169 million in annual economic impact, according to the presentation.
Councilmembers said Monday they’ll be eager to hear more details about the plan and the financing for it moving forward, and city staff said they’ll likely have another update for the council before the winter holidays.
“The devil’s in the details,” a “cautiously optimistic” Councilman Malcom Graham said. “There’s more work to be done.”
How much will Charlotte contribute to Eastland Yards?
The City Council, as part of Monday’s vote, agreed to spend up to $30 million to help cover the project it’s backing.
But, city staff said in their presentation, it’s possible that more public funding could be requested as the newly approved plan progresses. And that would require another vote by the City Council.
Councilwoman Lawana Slack-Mayfield said she would be hesitant to back such a request if it came.
“We need to see exactly how these funds are going to be allocated,” she said.
Eastland Yards decision timeline
It’s been a long road for East Charlotte residents eager to learn the fate of the Eastland property.
The council’s economic development committee voted 3-1 in early August to rank the QC East development ahead of the indoor sports complex proposal, with Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera the lone vote against it. If the council waited further, it could delay grading and utility work on previously approved sections of the former Eastland Mall’s redevelopment, Tim Sittema, Crosland managing partner, said in August.
That committee vote led to the late August council meeting where East Charlotte residents awaited a vote between the QC East project and indoor sports complex and were instead presented with the compromise proposal.
The fate of what remains open at Eastland Yards has been up for debate since Tepper Sports and Entertainment pulled out of plans to build a youth academy and soccer fields at the site in July 2022.
Three other possibilities for the land — a Target, an aquatics center and a publicly owned recreational facility — were previously eliminated from contention by the city.
The city finalized its purchase of the property in 2012, and the mall was demolished in 2013.
A skatepark that emerged at the site after the mall’s demolition was closed in 2022. The Charlotte Skate Foundation announced in April a plan to work with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department to build a new skatepark near the site, Observer news partner WSOC reported.
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This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 8:59 PM.
