Developer, claiming NoDa officials are blocking her project, vows to kill mills project

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CHARLOTTE — A developer who said she has struggled to get her own project off the ground in NoDa said she will try to kill efforts to renovate the Mecklenburg and Johnston mills.

Marguerite Arnold, who owns Charlotte-based green-development firm Freedom Riders, said she is “100 percent” committed to stopping Boston-based The Community Builders, which wants to turn the former textile mills into work force housing.

According to Arnold, who sent the media an email this morning with the subject line “Investigative Story,” the community board that represents NoDa has “blacklisted” her for trying to build a manufacturing facility for vehicles that run on compressed natural gas in the 2300 block of North Davidson Street.

NoDa officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Arnold also has posted to greentaxisnow.com an “open letter” to the Charlotte City Council on the NoDa mills project. In the letter, she claims the NoDa board is “only interested in falsely re-inflating real estate values in this area.”

In an interview with The Mecklenburg Times Monday morning, Arnold questioned the request by TCB from the city for $2.35 million to help finish the redevelopment of Mecklenburg Mill. TCB, in asking for the money, said the mill is more damaged than the company thought when it bought it and Johnston Mill from the city last year.

“They (TCB) talked about only having flashlights to inspect the mill when they were doing their research in 2011,” she said. “If you do any kind of development you know that ,when you go to a building that has been boarded up for more than five years, you take along cameras and infrared systems to be able to see in the dark and check in the walls.

“There could be tons of dead rodents inside the walls and make this into a hazmat situation. Why would they not have the equipment to check for that?”

Arnold said she plans to speak against the TCB project at next week’s City Council meeting, where council members are expected to vote on whether to give the $2.35 million to the company.

At a Sept. 24 council Meeting, TCB representatives said it would cost around $15 million to turn the former Mecklenburg Mill into housing for those who make 60 percent or less of the Charlotte-area’s median income.

Arnold said those redevelopment costs seem too high for that kind of housing.

“They’re only talking about somewhere around 40 units of affordable housing in this project,” she said. “That works out to somewhere north of $300,000 per unit, which is ridiculous for our community.”

Scott Baugman can be reached at [email protected].