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Charlotte NC-Uptown:Second
Ward:History and Plan
Thank you to the Charlotte Regional REALTOR
Association for giving AtHomeCharlotte.com Inc.
permission to reprint this story as it appeared in their magazine:
Realtor Reflections. |
| The consultants’
plan calls for 1,500 to 2,000 units of new multifamily housing over
the next 20 years.
"Martin (Cramton, planning director)
believes the destination concept has its place, but not in Second
Ward."
¾ Dan Thilo,
urban planning manager, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission
Proposed housing consists of mid-rise
buildings (six-to-eight stories) of apartments, condos and townhomes
an urban concept expected to be unique in the uptown market for its
diversity of price points.
"This is mostly government land in Second
Ward, and I would like see government officials make it difficult
for private developers to do things the city and county don’t want
them to do."
¾ Richard
Petersheim, LandDesign Inc. |
| Once the heart of the
African-American community in Charlotte, the Second Ward
neighborhood of Brooklyn was wiped out in the 1960s as part of
federal urban renewal. The neighborhood’s name came from the
borough of New York City.
Economically diverse, Brooklyn was the hub of
the black community from the late 1880s to the early 1950s,
according the city of Charlotte Web site. It was also home to Second
Ward High School, the first high school for blacks in the county
when it opened in 1923. Myers Street School, which had opened in
1882 in old tobacco barn, was once the largest elementary school in
North Carolina.
In 1961, the city council voted to clear the
eight blocks of the neighborhood at a cost of $2.4 million. Two
years later, demolition began.
Approximately about 200 businesses were
displaced, 1,480 homes were razed and 1,007 families had to move,
according to the book, Sorting Out the New South City, by
historian Tom Hanchett. |
| Key Goals for
Second Ward |
| When the Center City 2010 Plan
came out in 2000, the goals listed below helped define how Second
Ward would be redeveloped as a neighborhood. The more detailed
vision for Second Ward released in February addressed the issues
(see main story). |
- Housing¾
Varied
and distinguishable design, not a mono-stylistic, big project
approach.
- Neighborhood Parks and Open Spaces
¾ An organizing element that helps
create a memorable community.
- Urban School
¾
A catalyst and memorable landmark that the community uses after
school hours.
- Pedestrian Connections
¾ "Green streets" and a
linear park linking Second Ward to uptown and other neighborhoods.
- Neighborhood Services
¾ Retail and restaurants that serve
the neighborhood.
- Transit Connections
¾ Links with existing and future
transit to maintain the connection between Second Ward and other
parts of the city.
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Housing |
| "When Trade and Tryon first
developed, the wealthiest citizens lived there right next to
shopkeepers, and it (uptown) remains that way today."
— CCCP
Vice President Cheryl Myers |
| Uptown
Housing Keeps Growing, High-End Market Slow |
| Manhattan it isn’t, but uptown
Charlotte offers an urban lifestyle and level of excitement to its
7,500 residents that simply doesn’t exist outside the I-277 loop.
Charlotte Center City Partners (CCCP) estimates that the uptown
population grew more than 22 percent just last year. And while
Realtors® report high-end, center-city home sales are sluggish,
housing options, conveniences and amenities are growing and expected
to continue.
CCCP Vice President Cheryl Myers says each
ward is being developed with an eye toward economic and social
diversity. She points to Fourth Ward to illustrate the successful
mix of some of the area’s most and least expensive residential
properties. "That’s a testament to the attitude of this
community," she says. "When Trade and Tryon first
developed, the wealthiest citizens lived there right next to
shopkeepers, and it (uptown) remains that way today."
Currently, there are 4,413 houses, condos,
townhouses and apartments existing or under construction in the
center city (see chart). And nearly half of the housing is new.
Forty percent was, or will be completed, between 2000 and 2003.
A new pricey development is The Ratcliffe,
Second Ward’s first residential property (see cover photo). When
completed later this year, The Ratcliffe will offer 57 condos priced
from the low $200s to $1.3 million. But by early June, only 25
percent of the units had sold — a rate
slower than anticipated, and reflecting a current problem with most
high dollar homes uptown.
"Uptown Charlotte is flooded with
high-end product, and the market for it is dead right now,"
Cottingham-Chalk & Associates Realtor® Brownie Rogers said in
early June. "The only activity I’m seeing is well under
$500,000 — I’ve got a lot of first-time
home buyers wanting to live uptown."
Accommodating first-time buyers isn't as
difficult as it was a few years ago. First, Third and Fourth wards
all do now, or will soon offer affordable options. Bank of America's
Community Development Corporation is now building Sycamore Green in
Third Ward. The project is incorporating affordable-housing units
into its 190 apartments and 22 condos.
Lorraine Shalvoy
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