Should Charlotte preserve the “Eastland” name?

But as the city figures out how to redevelop the site, should we hold on to the Eastland name?

That seemed to be one of the central questions on Thursday as people gathered in the vast expanses of asphalt that used to be a premier shopping destination.

For years, Charlotte has been trying to figure out what to do with Eastland. They tried to make it a movie studio, but that fell through. There was something about an artificial skiing mountain.

But at this point, all we know for sure is coming here is a K-8 public school. The rest is up for grabs. And after several years, it looks like demand is low.

That’s why the city is going the marketing route. Charlotte will give it a name, bring in some food trucks and influential millennials, and then developers will flock to it  — right?

I’m not thrilled with any of the names on the table. Charlotte East? You just rearranged east Charlotte. Eastland Village? Maybe…

At the very least, it was exciting to be at Eastland yesterday with so many people and so much energy around the site. There’s so much potential here. Let’s not waste it.