No hurry in Second Ward
Bea Quirk
When the Second Ward neighborhood plan was adopted by local officials last August, Charlotte Planning Director Martin Cramton said the area wouldn't be redeveloped overnight. He said it could happen as soon as 10 years or as late as 20, but was optimistic about an accelerated timetable.
But almost a year after the plan won approval by the City Council and Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, there's no sign of momentum.
City officials are wrapped up in construction of the uptown arena. The committee that's supposed to oversee the plan's implementation has only met once; few of the recommendations have been acted upon; and the major players -- city and county governments, the school board and private developers -- are at odds about their varying roles.
They also disagree about the strength of the uptown housing market, the health of which will determine the success of the plan.
Second Ward encompasses 114 acres bounded by Third and Brevard streets and Interstate 277. It's dominated by a few large users: the Charlotte Convention Center; the government district, including the government center, county courthouse, jail and Marshall Park, the Metro School, the Board of Education administration building; and the Adams Mark Hotel.
The Center City 2010 Vision Plan recommended a plan for a new Second Ward. It was written by LandDesign after several community meetings. The plan calls for transforming Second Ward into a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with 2,400 residences of varying styles and price points. According to the plan's vision statement, the redevelopment would "welcome and support a diverse population with varied ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds." It also calls for 150,000 square feet of retail, parks and other amenities needed for a livable community.
The plan makes the assumption that because 45 of the 82 developable acres in the ward are owned by the public sector, land costs can be controlled to ensure that affordable housing will be a large part of the residential mix. "We can set the price of the land based on the plan," Cramton said last summer.
But the county, which owns most of the land in Second Ward, is in no mood to subsidize development.
Mark Hahn, director of real estate services for the county and a member of the Second Ward implementation committee, says, "If we were to go to the county commissioners and ask them to take a loss on the land to subsidize lower density or affordable housing, I don't think they would go for it. They want to see a return.
"It's fine and good to project what you think development should be in terms of density and price points," Hahn adds. "The strategy was that the market was ready. But the economy sucked the wind out of that. The market isn't ready to do housing right now. We need indications the market isn't so soft."
That view is curbing enthusiasm for a rapid launch of the plan's execution. But veteran urban housing developer and architect Dave Furman doesn't agree with that assessment of the uptown market. "That's bunk," he says. "There's grumbling in the development community -- they're wondering what's happening in Second Ward. Some projects have not done well, but I don't buy into the assumption that the residential market is slow."
Neither does Frank Martin, whose company, Landcraft, has developed uptown condominium projects. "There's a softness in the $250,000-and-up market, but the market is solid in the $150,000-to-$250,000 price range," he says. "I'd like to see the land priced in Second Ward so developers could build townhomes in that range."
Martin worries that if the county is determined to let the market dictate the cost of land, the only profitable housing will take the form of high-end high rises, the weakest segment of the market.
"It doesn't make public-policy sense to make the land so expensive that all you get are high rises," he says. "A mix of housing costs and styles is achievable. If land cost is the problem, that's in the county's power to solve."
If the county were to offer land at $15 per square foot, mid-rise towers or townhomes could be built, currently the strongest market segment. But the Second Ward Plan calls for a higher density, Hahn says, noting land on McDowell Street across from the courthouse has been priced at $50 per square foot.
"If your goal is to promote housing uptown to create a vital center city, that's good for the whole region. But you have to ask yourself what is the cost," Hahn says.
"You also have to add to the equation that we are not only selling land, we are relocating and replacing facilities, and that ups the ante," Hahn adds. "If we don't, we're asking taxpayers to pay the brunt."
Part of the desire for a high sales price for land is the need to relocate government offices and facilities. "The city does this kind of thing quite often in the name of economic development, but they are just dealing with raw land, not moving people," Hahn says.
Developers would like to see local officials take steps to make Second Ward a priority. "I hope they could get a little more aggressive and do something to make things happen," Furman says. "The government controls the price of the land, and they could create more diverse housing opportunities and more affordable options."
John Palmieri, economic development director for the city, agrees Second Ward isn't yet a high priority. He chairs the committee to implement the plan. "The market has been flat, and government can't create the market," he says.
But Second Ward has not been ignored, Palmieri adds. "We have time to plan what public investments we can make to encourage private investment."
He hopes two road projects recommended by the plan -- converting Stonewall Street into a landscaped, pedestrian-friendly boulevard and extending Davidson Street to Stonewall -- will be among the city's capital improvements next year.
"Our budget has been tight for the last couple of years," Palmieri says. "We have to be more careful and strategic about where we spend money and how much. Before we can harness the energy of the private sector in Second Ward, we need to work out the infrastructure issues."
While the city contemplates the best use of its resources and the county and private developers squabble, it's Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools that is taking the first steps in the plan. A two-year project to renovate and expand the Metro School begins later this year. The changes at Metro School will free up about 5 acres for redevelopment.
But that's about as far as the school board will go at this point toward implementing the plan, which also calls for relocating the Education Center on Second Street to make way for residential development.
"The board's preference is to stay put," says Guy Chamberlain, CMS assistant superintendent for building services. "But if a compelling reason can be made for moving, the board would consider it. But they want their own building and they want a replacement facility."
Chamberlain estimates construction of a new education center would cost up to $18 million. "If we had that kind of money, we'd spend it on schools," he says. "Our business is education, not real estate speculation."
Furman realizes the agencies are not developers. "It is cumbersome to get these agencies together because they have other things to do besides sell real estate," he observes.
All parcels are interrelated, causing a domino effect through the government agencies owning the land. The reconfigured Metro School site will permit development, but Chamberlain suspects a developer would also want the adjoining land occupied by the Mecklenburg Aquatics Center. That would require Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation to build a new one elsewhere.
Likewise, the Walton Plaza building, a 6-acre site that borders Dilworth, has been designated for residential development. Yet that would require government workers there to find new space.
Until local government decides how to accomplish those tasks, developers fear Second Ward will need all of two decades to be reborn.
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