City Council approves changes to Brooklyn Village agreement

CHARLOTTE – City Council members on Monday night wasted no time in approving changes to the interlocal agreement on Brooklyn Village, with a motion to approve and a second before Mayor Patsy Kinsey could even finish reading the agenda item.

Council members said they were prepared, and said they knew all about the amendment to the agreement. They voted just as assuredly, with unanimous approval.

Despite sprinting through the vote for the amendment, the changes are likely to have a big impact on Brooklyn Village, the name of the future development at Marshall Park, which is an important swatch of the Uptown fabric.

The future of the park, which comprises 6.5 acres in Uptown’s 2^nd Ward, bound by Third, Davidson and McDowell streets and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard,  has been unclear for the last few months as the developer that was set to buy the land wasn’t able to do so.

Spectrum Properties, after years of negotiations, was supposed to pay $18.9 million for the park no later than June 1. Spectrum missed the deadline, which voided its contract to buy the property and caused Mecklenburg County to reconsider the future of the property.

With no developer stepping forward to buy the entire parcel, the county decided it had a better chance of selling the property if it were divided into separate parcels. Mark Hahn, the county’s director of asset and facility management, said he envisions a scenario in which the county sells to three developers: one who builds an apartment community, one who builds an office and condominium mixed-use building, and another who builds a condo building.

But, in order to make changes to the selling agreement, approval was required from all involved parties.

In a somewhat complex relationship, the county, the city of Charlotte, the Charlotte Housing Authority and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board all have a say in the future of the property. In order to negotiate with Spectrum, the city transferred ownership of Marshall Park to the county. The original agreement stated that if the county wasn’t able to complete the transaction, the park would be transferred back to the city. Under the new agreement, the county will still be responsible for marketing and selling the property, and has until 2019 to do so.

Now that City Council passed the interlocal agreement, approval is still needed by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, the Charlotte Housing Authority and the board of education before the changes to the agreement are final. The county has not begun negotiating with developers.

Also at Monday’s meeting the Council approved adopting a budget ordinance for $28 million to complete the first phase of financing the renovations at Bank of America Stadium. On April 22, City Council approved terms with the Carolina Panthers to fund improvements to Bank of America Stadium as part of a ten-year partnership. Since then, City Manager Ron Carlee has approved an agreement with Panthers Stadium LLC and Panthers Football LLC consistent with the approved business terms.

On Sept. 23, the City Council adopted a resolution to proceed with the financing of the first phase of the project. On Oct. 1, the Local Government Commission approved the financing, and the funding process was completed on Oct. 22.

Funding for the city’s investment is provided from the existing 1 percent food and beverage tax, and 3 percent occupancy tax.

Adoption of the budget ordinance will enable the money to be used for the first phase of renovations, which include escalators, and entry and lightning improvements, according to city documents.

According to the signed agreement between the city of Charlotte, the Panthers Stadium LLC and Panthers Football LLC, the proceeds will be placed in an escrow fund to be disbursed per the terms of the escrow agreement, city documents say.

The council also on Monday approved awarding a low-bid contract to Blythe Development Co. for utility relocations for the Lynx Blue Line Extension project. Blythe’s bid was $4.98 million. According to the city’s website, the contract is for utility relocation on the BLE project from north of the proposed Old Concord Road station to north of Stetson Drive. The work includes grading, installation of joint utility conduits, water and sewer installation, erosion control, and traffic control.