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Discovery Place is nearly $15 million in debt to Mecklenburg County. The long-running museum says it’s not able to pay that amount, and in a few weeks the county could declare it in default. For more, Tony Mecia of The Charlotte Ledger joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: Let’s back up for a second. Why does the museum owe the county this money, and why can’t it pay it back?
Tony Mecia: Those are very good questions. The answers to those are just kind of starting to emerge, and there are a few open questions. Discovery Place and the county partnered a few years ago to redo what used to be called the Nature Museum or the Charlotte Museum of Nature by Freedom Park. There were some cost overruns a few years ago. Discovery Place, a few years ago, went back to the county and said, “We need about $20 more million because this is costing more than we thought.” The county said, “We'll give you $10 million.” It sounds like they kind of punted on the decision on how to bridge the gap on that.
Well, now the building is done, and there’s a big gap, about $14, $15 million, and the county says, “Listen, why are we responsible for this? We shouldn’t be responsible for this. This is on you, Discovery Place.” And Discovery Place is saying, “Well, we don't have that money, and so we need to work something out.” So they're trying to work that out.
The commissioners were pretty angry about it this week. One of them said that the relationship with Discovery Place, she called it a “parasitic” relationship. So they're examining their options.
Terry: So what happens if the county declares Discovery Place in default?
Mecia: The county, it sounds like, under the terms of the agreement, would have the right to just go ahead and operate that building. It is a county-owned building, and so it could take that back, and it could operate it as a community rec center. It could turn it into offices. Or it could operate it as a nature museum. Now, that would create additional expenses on an ongoing basis. The county doesn't necessarily have a lot of experience running museums. That's not what its park and rec department does, but it has a number of options, and so commissioners just want to explore all of those, it sounds like. Commissioners said this week that they'd like to have a decision or at least some indication of where they’re heading by the end of this month.
Terry: It looks like a vacant warehouse in Charlotte’s Optimist Park neighborhood is about to be transformed. What are the plans there?
Mecia: Yes, the Charlotte Business Journal reported that Idlewood Capital is looking at a warehouse at 2025 North Davidson Street. It’s about 8,000 square feet. This is in the Optimist Park neighborhood. People are probably familiar with Optimist Hall, but it's the area between Uptown and NoDa, a fast-growing area. No word on what exactly the plans are, but it sounds like some sort of retail-restaurant operation, perhaps with a rooftop bar.
Terry: Finally, you report a new sign will grace the top of an uptown building soon. Is it going to say “The Charlotte Ledger”?
Mecia: No, it’s going to say “WFAE.” Just kidding, that’s if the results of the pledge drive work out. Actually, it's Huntington Bank. They have taken a bunch of space in One South at Trade and Tryon streets. They have a regional headquarters here. They're taking about four floors. So it's just another name, one of many on the Charlotte skyline.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates and the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.
