Now for an update to a story we brought you this summer that’s causing a stir in Ballantyne. Moments of Hope Church, led by longtime Charlotte pastor David Chadwick, plans to buy the popular Morrison YMCA for almost $43 million and move in next year. Residents and Y members are livid over the behind-closed-doors deal and loss of a community space. For the latest on the planned sale, Ashley Fahey of The Charlotte Ledger joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: A couple of things have happened since we last spoke about this in June. Let’s start with a letter signed by a group of business and civic leaders in support of the sale, and also a letter from the Y itself explaining more about why it’s selling. What are they saying?
Ashley Fahey: The YMCA of Greater Charlotte last week released a letter being pretty, I would
say, straightforward about the challenges they’ve faced since COVID-19. Basically, they detailed that, before the pandemic, they were generating about $100 million in annual revenue, had about 60,000 members across its network, and 90% of their revenue came from memberships and programs. Obviously, it’s recovered since the pandemic, but by 2024, annual revenue was approximately $74 million, which is still a quarter below where it had been pre-COVID-19.
On top of that, the YMCA identified more than $100 million needed in repairs and updates at all of its buildings. So the YMCA is still facing this huge financial gap, and so to fill that gap, the YMCA said in its letter, it’s had to explore other options. The offer for the Morrison YMCA obviously would help fill some of those funding and financial gaps that it’s facing. This week, we reported that a group of civic and business leaders released a letter in support of the YMCA’s decision, acknowledging, of course, how much of a loss this is for the community, but also recognizing that there are very specific financial challenges that the YMCA is grappling with and that it was a difficult decision.
Terry: And then, this week, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation said it’s grappling with the closure. How so?
Fahey: Basically, Park and Recreation Director Nick Walker, at the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Commission meeting this week, said this might leave a bit of a recreation gap for south Charlotte. South Charlotte certainly has lots of parks and green spaces, but the closure of the Morrison Y will leave a gap in recreational center-type facilities. The county does have plans to eventually add a recreation center, kind of similar to the Eastway Regional Recreation Center, in south Charlotte. That is a very long-term plan. It’s an expensive, certainly, kind of facility. So in the interim, they’re kind of looking at: Can we add things to existing parks in south Charlotte, like Elon Park or the Ballantyne District Park? Very preliminary, very early-stage discussions, but those are some of the things they’re currently looking at as far as, can we bolster some of the recreational offerings in south Charlotte?
Terry: Let’s stay with development but go to uptown. A luxury hotel is coming to South Tryon. What is it, and how does it fit into efforts to find new uses for older office buildings?
Fahey: This is one of the uptown conversion projects. It’s the 400 South Tryon building, the
gold-plated building on South Tryon right there, not too far from South End, not too far from Legacy Union and Bank of America Stadium. Spandrel Development Partners, which bought it about a year ago now, I think, they’re planning to bring a 200-room W Hotel to the property. There’s also going to be a multi-family component to the building. It is a conversion, which the City of Charlotte has been wanting to see more of these types of projects in Uptown to bring tax revenue back to the center city and activity back to the center city. I would say it’s a pretty significant thing because we haven’t seen a lot of new hotels in uptown since the pandemic.
Terry: Finally, Harris Teeter says it’ll spend about $250 million to renovate 60-plus stores in the Charlotte area over three years. What kind of changes are coming?
Fahey: According to the grocer, it’s going to be focused on the shopping experience. Some of it will just be things like decor and signage. Other things will be store layout as far as where certain departments are located. It sounds like they also might be looking at bolstering their prepared food section. You also might be seeing more of a focus on health and wellness. These will be rolling out over, I think, the next few years. So it might not be seen overnight, but the effort is seemingly underway, including at their new stores.
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