Developer Beauxwright has purchased another part of the Asian Corner Mall at the intersection of Sugar Creek and North Tryon. The developer already owns two parcels at the mall. That’s according to the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter. For more, WFAE's Marshall Terry talks to the Ledger’s Tony Mecia.
Marshall Terry: Tony, what portion of the mall has Beauxwright purchased, and what part did it already own?
Tony Mecia: Marshall, we're talking about the Asian Corner Mall, which is on North Tryon Street at Sugar Creek Road. It's been there for a while and sort of in disrepair. If you drive by, you'll see a bunch of potholes in the parking lot. There are some Asian-owned businesses in the mall still. But this is an area that's changing and developing in a lot of different ways.
Beauxwright owns about four of the parcels of the mall. The ownership is a little bit odd in the sense that the mall and the parking lot are about 12 parcels. I talked to some of the leaders of the company a few months ago. They were a little bit coy about their plans as real estate developers usually are when they don't have, they're not ready to announce it yet. But they said they see this area as a hot part of town. There's a lot going in over there. There are apartments and townhouses. There's that new independent movie theater. So certainly an up-and-coming area.
Terry: Is this shaping up to be the new hot part of Charlotte?
Mecia: I guess I'd say there are a lot of hot parts of town. I think we talk about every week, you know, other things going up all over the place. You know, FreeMoreWest, the Freedom Drive area, SouthPark, South End, this area that's becoming known as LoSo, Plaza Midwood.
I talked last week with Daniel Levine, who's proposed an apartment tower in Plaza Midwood. You know, some people are concerned about gentrification in Plaza Midwood and in other places. Levine told me, yes, that's a problem. But some of these neighborhoods have been changing for a long time. So, he has a longer view. But, yes, that's a long way of saying there are a lot of hot spots in town, but certainly the Sugar Creek area, I think, is one of them.
Terry: OK, so just in time for football season the new sports gambling room has opened at the Catawba Two Kings Casino in Kings Mountain. It’s one of only three places in the state with legal sports gambling. Tony, you went up there to check it out this past weekend. What did you find?
Mecia: It was the opening weekend of the NFL. Two hours before the kickoff, there were a bunch of people there in line for the kiosks. It's in a temporary building, so it doesn't have the feel of a big ritzy Las Vegas casino by any stretch of the imagination. To me, it felt more kind of like a DMV, but it's a temporary location. They had a bunch of TVs and kiosks. You are able to bet on sports, all kinds of sports. But I don't know if it's somewhere where people would want to go and hang out necessarily.
Terry: Alright finally. let’s get an update on Tim Newman, who was once a powerful uptown Charlotte insider. He was just released from jail in South Carolina where he’s been for about two-and-a-half years. Remind us what happened with Newman.
Mecia: Tim Newman was the head of Charlotte Center City Partners and as well as the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. And he ran into some trouble in the last few years, a number of harassment charges. He had some legal troubles, but it all sort of reached a head about two and a half years ago, in April of 2020, when he was arrested and charged with threatening to blow up a dam north of Charleston.
So, he's been in jail in South Carolina for two and a half years. The Ledger reported this week that he was released last week, that he struck a plea deal, pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor, and was sentenced to probation and time served. So, yeah, so he's out of jail now after two and a half years.
Terry: Now is this the end of his legal troubles?
Mecia: Well, he does still face some charges in North Carolina related to probation violations and harassment. These are charges that predated his two and a half years in the South Carolina jail.
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