Neighbors concerned about ‘piecemeal’ development at Eastland

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The Charlotte City Council’s intent to develop the former Eastland Mall site prompted concerns from neighbors Monday night about the lack of specifics in the plan and how piecemeal development might not be the best approach.

Council members responded that few private-sector developers have shown interest in taking the 80-acre site and converting it into a project compatible with the surrounding development.

“Eastland has been a pretty big priority for council,” Councilman Kenny Smith said. “We all have a vested interest in its success.

“The issue today has been the lack of private sector willingness to step forward and develop the site. At some point, we have to figure out something to get some bulldozers moving to try to create some positive energy out there.”

At a public hearing on rezoning 12.5 acres of the former mall site, Interim Planning Director Ed McKinney said the city wants to rezone the portion to a residential zoning district, which is one of the uses identified as appropriate.

The land is on the east side of Wilora Lake Road between Justin Forest and Hollyfield drives.

The current zoning is business shopping center, conditional; office, conditional; and mixed-use development, optional.

Resident Della Grier, who lives near the former mall site, said that she was concerned about a “piecemeal” development approach.

She noted that city officials are taking strides to talk to outside experts about development around SouthPark.

“I wonder if that same diligence” is being used for the Eastland Mall area, she said.

“I’m very concerned about seeing a piecemeal approach,” Grier said. “I see this overall plan of it going back to multifamily, but I really didn’t even hear exactly what’s going to go on this site. Is it the school I’ve been hearing about on the news? Is it something else? I don’t know.”

Council members have deferred action on the sale of 11.4 acres of the former Eastland Mall site to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education until the city’s economic development committee can review the proposed sale.

The Board of Education has submitted an offer to purchase the 11.4 acres of city-owned land at the former mall site for $650,000. The board also would contribute $400,000 for the planning, design and construction of the Hollyfield Drive extension. The city would reimburse the board for the remaining costs of the road.

The city has submitted an application to rezone the property to allow for a school.

Darrell Bonapart, a resident speaking on behalf of neighbors who live next to the Eastland Mall site, told council members “the whole neighborhood is wanting to know, ‘What does this mean?’”

Mayor Jennifer Roberts told Bonapart that no developer has made a proposal for an overall plan.

The city bought the property in 2012 for $13.2 million with plans to have a single developer propose a large, multi-use project, and demolished the mall in 2013.

However, it could not come to an agreement with Studio Charlotte Development, which proposed a $300 million phased-in project that would include a movie studio, sound stages, a film school, a cinema, a hotel, apartments and shops.

In 2014, the City Council unanimously rejected Studio Charlotte Development’s request for a five-month extension on exclusive negotiating rights for the project.

The only other proposal was from ARK Ventures, which in August 2013 pulled its proposal for a $154 million recreation and entertainment complex that would have included an artificial ski slope and a skate park.

Council members now are considering a vision for transforming the site into a transit-oriented, mixed-use hub with parks.

The magnet school, the first phase of the redevelopment process, would be at the northeast corner near Wilora Lake Road.

The planning committee voted 6-1 last year to recommend the city not sell the land to CMS, citing concerns about whether a school is the proper venue to attract further economic development and whether the property could accommodate portable classrooms, should the need arise.

The site could include one of Google Fiber’s “huts” that act as main switchboards along its network, McKinney said.

During a dinner briefing before the zoning meeting, McKinney told council members that planning staff members since 2014 have been in a series of “partnership” discussions with various businesses and organizations about development at the former mall site.

Some discussions related to public open space and civic uses such as a school, McKinney said.

Others related to infrastructure such as Google Fiber, he said.

“To implement Google Fiber in Charlotte, they have to put a bunch of parts and other infrastructure throughout the city,” he told The Mecklenburg Times. “They worked to identify a number of sites and this (Eastland Mall) was one of them.”

City officials have been working with the company to find a location at the former mall that is best  “both for them and for us,” McKinney said.