Frequently in BizWorthy, we've heard about how churches are presenting new real estate opportunities. One such case is in Elizabeth, where Caldwell Presbyterian Church is turning part of its property into apartments for the chronically homeless. For more, WFAE's Marshall Terry is joined by the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter's Tony Mecia.
Marshall Terry: So this project, which is set to open in the spring, is meant to help address Charlotte's housing shortage. Caldwell's pastor, Rev. John Cleghorn, talked about it in a book he recently wrote. Cleghorn, who I should note is a WFAE board member, spoke with the Ledger this week. How does this project work, and how is the church paying for it?
Tony Mecia: Yeah. So what the church is doing, Marshall, is they're taking a building that they used to use, and they're just converting it into 21 housing units for the members of the homeless community. Affordable housing is a problem in Charlotte. It's really just part of the solution where you have, you know, government is doing some things, private organizations doing some things and churches are doing some things. So in this case this is a $6 million project, about $800,000 of that comes from the church and they've raised the rest of it from grants and from other sources.
Terry: Are we likely to see more of this as a possible solution to Charlotte's high housing costs?
Mecia: I think so. I mean, it's sort of an all-hands-on-deck kind of an approach. Twenty-one units in a city that has a shortage of thousands and thousands of units — you know, you might say, well, is it really doing that much? But I think collectively if you have enough people trying to address the problem, I mean it, it certainly would help.
Terry: Another housing project is a bit bigger — 2,200 housing units on Providence Road in south Charlotte. What's the latest with that?
Mecia: It's three developers coming together — Northwood Ravin, Levine Properties and Horizon Development — and it's a section of Providence Road near the intersection with Old Providence, just south of the Lansdowne neighborhood. They're proposing to redo some housing that's there, and then add a bunch of additional housing, as many as 2,200 units. That's a lot of units. The land needs to be rezoned. That's starting to work its way through the process. City staff have recommended in favor of it. Last week, a committee of the Planning Commission recommended it. So it looks like it's on track. There are some neighbors who are concerned about the effects on traffic — particularly on Providence Road, which they say is already overburdened. But that sort of argument has been applied to other rezonings and Charlotte wants to create more housing. And so this is something I think that's likely to go through.
Terry: Let's move over now to books. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library recently gave a presentation to county commissioners outlining plans for new buildings. I thought for a while the discussion was on how libraries were in decline. That doesn't seem to be the case in Charlotte.
Mecia: Well, they're certainly moving ahead with building some additional libraries, renovating some. You know, you have obviously the big project they have in University City, there's the main library branch uptown, there are a number of others. I will say, if your conception of the library is that it's just a place to go in and check out books, that is definitely sort of an old-school way of looking at it. I think Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, like a lot of libraries, has been working to reinvent itself, give more digital options, do connections with the community forums, things that really bring people in. The traditional view of the library is definitely changing.
Terry: Finally, Charlotte Douglas just opened three new drop-off lanes on the departure level just in time for the busy holiday rush, right?
Mecia: That's right. You'll recall last year, Marshall, around the holiday season, there was a lot of traffic there, a lot of complaints about how long it took to get to the airport. This could help alleviate some of that. It's three new lanes on the departures level, the upper level. They're the three lanes closest to the terminal. They will be reserved for shuttle buses going to onsite parking. That lower level gets congested a lot. This maybe could help shift some of that burden, And, I guess, fingers crossed to help alleviate some of that congestion.
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