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Each week, WFAE's "Morning Edition" hosts get a rundown of the biggest business and development stories from The Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter.

Yet another Eastland Mall proposal

Julie Rose
An undated photo of Eastland Mall.

There have been many different proposals for what to build on the former site of Charlotte's Eastland Mall. Recently, they've included a Target, an aquatic center and a tennis facility. At one point, they also included a soccer academy and even a movie studio and artificial ski slope.

Well, the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter reports there's another proposal to add to that list. And we turn now to The Ledger's Tony Mecia for more in our segment BizWorthy.

Marshall Terry: So, Tony, what does this latest proposal include, and how realistic is it?

Tony Mecia: Well, Marshall, as you mentioned, there have been a lot of plans for Eastland Mall over the years. It's now known as Eastland Yards. A portion of it is being developed. If anybody has driven by there lately, probably seen they're preparing the land. There's plans to put up apartments and some senior living, some office and retail. But we're talking about another 23 acres that was originally envisioned as the home of Charlotte FC, a training facility. The latest proposal is to build a concert venue that also includes an e-sports site, soccer fields and some sort of educational component to it. We talked to a few different sources familiar with this latest proposal. Some of the details are still a little vague. I expect we would see more on that proposal maybe today. There's a city council meeting on Monday where the city council is going to discuss some of these options. You'll recall that the other options in the mix are a Target, an aquatic center and a tennis facility. All of these except for the Target would require some substantial taxpayer money.

Terry: Well, are we getting close to the end of the Eastland development saga now after more than a decade?

Mecia: I think it's really hard to say. Certainly a lot of residents on the east side and a lot of city council members for that matter, are hoping that the answer is yes. I think there's a lot of skepticism because the land has been vacant for so long that until something actually starts coming out of the ground, that it's actually going to happen. But certainly there are some options the city council is discussing it, and that's going to be a question of: Is there public money available for this? How much? But it certainly looks like things are heading that direction. But with Eastland, I think we've thought that before, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Terry: All right. Now, well, let's move on now to the latest banking crisis. Big banks reported deposit gains after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year. Smaller banks, though, lost billions. But you report that in North Carolina those small banks are doing fine. What's happening there?

Mecia: Marshall, you'll recall that after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March (it) made a lot of depositors, a lot of consumers nervous. They moved a lot of deposits around. A lot of them took their deposits and put them into big banks, thinking that there's no way the government is going to let big banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo fail. The question was what happens to the smaller banks? And there's been some pressure lately on smaller banks and regional banks because there's, according to the Federal Reserve, been an outflow of deposits from those banks. In The Ledger, we had Hannah Lang, a banking reporter, talk to a lot of the banks and credit unions in North Carolina that are smaller financial institutions. And they told her that while they did see a little bit of movement in deposits and there was some anxiety among their customers, that they didn't really see very much of an effect, and that they're getting back to business as usual. They said that they offer superior customer service, a hometown feel, a personal touch, and that they are involved in lending to areas that maybe big banks aren't as interested in. So as far as they're concerned, the banking crisis has passed and they are not seeing any trouble on the horizon. I would point out some economists and business experts are saying, 'Well, we might not be completely out of the woods on everything yet.' But the indications right now look OK in North Carolina.

Terry: Finally, Blue Cross, NC, the state's largest health insurer, is pushing state lawmakers to allow it to operate more like a for-profit business. What would that change mean, especially for customers?

Mecia: Yeah, there's a bill going through the General Assembly that apparently has bipartisan support and support of Republican leaders that would allow Blue Cross to operate more like a business. And it gets a little bit complicated, Marshall. This is insurance regulations we're talking about and health care, but it would basically allow Blue Cross to have some of its money freed up that it could use for other business purposes. Proponents say would make Blue Cross a little more competitive. Right now, Blue Cross is a nonprofit, subject to certain regulations by the state. This would alter those. It's a little bit unclear what it might mean for consumers. The insurance commissioner, Mike Causey, came out against it, said it would be bad for consumers. But that's being debated right now in Raleigh.


Support for WFAE's BizWorthy comes from UNC Charlotte's Belk College of Business, Sharon View Federal Credit Union and our listeners.

Marshall came to WFAE after graduating from Appalachian State University, where he worked at the campus radio station and earned a degree in communication. Outside of radio, he loves listening to music and going to see bands - preferably in small, dingy clubs.