Brooklyn Village redevelopment is years behind schedule
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Rendering: Courtesy of Mecklenburg County
The team chosen to revive a razed Black neighborhood has yet to start constructing its first buildings because of the challenging real estate development market.
Why it matters: The first phase of the Brooklyn Village redevelopment was originally supposed to be finished by 2021. But like most private-public partnerships happening in Mecklenburg County, it's delayed.
The big picture: Descendants of Brooklyn, the once prominent Black neighborhood destroyed years ago, have waited decades for restitution — though many argue that the Brooklyn redevelopment doesn't come close.
- The 17-acre construction project will create jobs for minority-owned businesses. Also, 10% to 12% of housing units are being set aside as affordable.
Driving the news: BK Partners — a partnership between New York-based The Peebles Corporation and Charlotte-based Conformity Corporation — wrote in a May letter to Mecklenburg County that it had decided not to commence vertical construction at this time, WFAE's Steve Harrison first reported.
- "We had to deliver the county a technical notice of delay based on what we're seeing in the market today," Donahue Peebles, of The Peebles Corporation, tells Axios.
Zoom out: Construction is slowing due to high interest rates and inflation. Many announced development projects, especially private-public partnerships, have stalled or are moving sluggishly; for example, Centre South in Dilworth, Seventh and Tryon and Charlotte Gateway Station.
- Plenty of multi-family projects, however, are still happening around the city.
Between the lines: The contract between Mecklenburg County and BK Partners requires construction on the multi-family buildings to start by August 2025. Peebles says work will begin "as soon as possible."
- "As rates decline later this year and the next year, we're going to be pushing forward in earnest," Pebles says. "We're continuing to move the site forward through the pre-development phase. And you know, we've gone to the capital markets, and at this particular time, they're constrained."
Yes, but: The contractual deadline is "conditioned upon a favorable financing and marketability climate," a county spokesperson tells Axios.
- Asked what the recourse is if vertical construction doesn't start next summer, the county stated: "The developer's ability to commence with other phases of the redevelopment plan is conditioned upon the developer meeting the requirements of Phase I of the redevelopment plan."
Catch up quick: Brooklyn was razed in the 1960s and '70s in the name of urban renewal. Family homes and Black businesses were lost.
- In 2016 Mecklenburg County selected BK Partners to honor the neighborhood through redevelopment. The long-term plan includes office, retail and hotel.
- The first two buildings — a 20-story tower and an eight-story one — will have more than 500 housing units combined.
- So far, BK Partners has demolished Walton Plaza and completed most of the major infrastructure needs, Peebles says. There are still a few more months to go on sewer and utility-type work.
- BK Partners is marketing a 1.56-acre parcel at the site. Peebles told Axios earlier this year that the buyer of that land, which is slated for office, would help execute the Brooklyn Village vision.