Can Cherry, a century-old African American neighborhood of affordable housing, be preserved? It's beginning to look as if the answer is no. Unless city leaders step in, the neighborhood will almost certainly be lost to gentrification.

Cherry, which was named in 1891 but probably predates the Civil War, is a marvel of survival. For decades it offered black Charlotteans a place where they could own a small home and grow a garden. Meanwhile, all around it, farms developed into the Myers Park neighborhood, Independence Boulevard and the Midtown shopping area. Nearby property values have soared.

Cherry's land values haven't, though, probably due to the many houses in poor repair, plus lingering racism, which can depress property values in many black neighborhoods.

But unless it gets protection from relentless economic forces, Cherry will succumb. Over the years developers have bought and demolished houses on its fringe. That process will continue, with higher land values creeping farther into the neighborhood's heart. Rising tax bills will force landlords to raise rents and push low-income and elderly homeowners to sell out.

Or maybe Cherry becomes the next NoDa, with urban pioneers refurbishing its houses. That, too, raises property values. In either case, the neighborhood's low-income residents would eventually be displaced.

News came last month that the nonprofit Cherry Community Organization intends to sell at least 45 of the 90 properties it owns to developers, who would raze them and build condos. Longtime CCO president Phyllis Lynch told Observer reporter Michelle Crouch that units would be set aside for low-income residents and no one would be forced out of Cherry.

But even if the CCO and its developers can keep the project affordable -- a big if -- demolishing so much of the housing stock would dramatically change Cherry's historic fabric.

And can the condo project succeed in offering a stable supply of affordable housing and providing money so the CCO can help the neighborhood? The group's history makes us skeptical. It hasn't filed IRS documents required yearly from nonprofits since 1998. Audits in 1987 and 1991 found sloppy finances and undocumented payments. More than a third of its homes are boarded up. Code violations are common.

Affordable housing experts say trying to preserve low-income neighborhoods in high-value areas is among the toughest challenges they face. Mike Pitchford, a former Bank of America community development executive who was president of the National Housing Conference, said that in such cases, "Gentrification is almost a slam dunk if you're not careful."

If the city's leaders and housing advocates want to preserve Cherry as a historic oasis for those of modest income, they must act quickly. What's needed is a wide-ranging stakeholders' group that includes experts in urban planning, preservation and affordable housing. It should produce a strong master plan to preserve and lift Cherry, ensuring affordability, and a strategy to make it happen.

Without that kind of decisive action, the Cherry of old will almost certainly vanish into memory. That has been the fate of too much of Charlotte 's black history. It shouldn't happen to Cherry.

Link to wonderful history of Cherry: Click Here.

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