Renovation Report: Grier-Rea House

SOUTH CHARLOTTE – The Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission has owned the Grier-Rea House since 2002.

Dan Morrill, director of the landmarks commission, said his organization bought the 209-year-old house, at Providence and Alexander roads, to prevent it from being razed to make way for a shopping center.

Since the purchase, the house has been moved up Rea Road to its current home, restored to its 19th-Century glory and put up for sale more than once, Morrill said.

The Grier-Rea House, built in 1804, is for sale for around $500,000. Photo by Payton Guion

But the post-Revolutionary plantation home has yet to find a buyer and the property remains in the hands of the landmarks commission. Keith Thompson, a broker with Prudential Carolinas, is representing the commission on the search for a buyer.

For anyone interested in investing in what Morrill calls “by far the oldest house in that part of the city,” here’s a (very) brief history, according to the landmark commission.

The house was originally built around 1804 by the Rev. Isaac Grier who erected it approximately halfway between the Providence and Sardis Presbyterian Churches, where he preached. Grier died in 1843 and John Laney Rea Sr. acquired the house and property in the mid-1800s.

Rea passed the house down to his son in the early 20th Century and it continued to be handed down through the Rea family. The land was eventually sold to a commercial developer – who put in a Harris Teeter-anchored shopping center called Colony Place – and the house was to be demolished.

Before a wrecking ball could touch the house’s two-century-old frame, the landmarks commission bought land nearby and moved the house. It’s since been trying to find a suitable buyer.

The asking price on the Grier-Rea House is around $500,000, Morrill said, adding that the house is just about move-in ready.

“The house is in perfect shape as far as the mechanical systems are concerned,” he said. “We’ve put in new plumbing. It’s a new house in terms of mechanics.”

The walls still need painting and the bathrooms need fixtures, but only because those are the types of things that suit buyers, Morrill said.

Being such a historic house could turn off some buyers. Whoever ends up purchasing the Grier-Rea House won’t be able to make it entirely their own.

“Before they make a material alteration on any part of the house, they’ll have to get approval,” he said. “When we sell it, we will put in deep covenants that will assure the preservation of the house. We’re obviously not going to let someone come in there and build a completely new house.”

Property name: Grier-Rea House

Address: 6701 Providence Road, Charlotte

Owner: Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission

Listing agent: Keith Thompson

Year built: 1804

Asking price: Roughly $500,000

Square feet: 4,468 total; 3,325 heated