We’re getting another update on a story we’ve been following for a few months. The YMCA of Greater Charlotte announced over the summer that it plans to sell the Morrison Y in Ballantyne to a church for $42.5 million. Residents and Y members say they’re upset because the deal was handled behind closed doors and would mean losing a community space. For the latest, Tony Mecia of The Charlotte Ledger joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our BizWorthy segment.
Marshall Terry: Before we get to the latest, did I sum up the background there? What else would you add?
Tony Mecia: It’s a pretty notable site. A lot of fondness for the Morrison YMCA down in Ballantyne. It's been there for more than 25 years. They're selling it to Moments of Hope Church in a $42.5 million deal. The pastor there is David Chadwick, a fairly well-known pastor. Some people just don't like that this is a community space that is now going to be — it’s under contract, or there's a deal to sell it to this church. So it's going to restrict some of the access there. So that's kind of what's driving a lot of the frustration.
Terry: OK, so do opponents have a plan to stop this? Can they do anything?
Mecia: That's kind of been the big question. People have asked me that, and I think privately people wonder, well, you have this opposition, but this is two private parties in a land deal. How does the public stop that? It was a little bit unclear, and up till now the strategy seems to have been, ‘well, let's try and put pressure on the YMCA trustees to stop this. Let's highlight the importance of the Y.’ It didn't seem like there was much of a strategy that might have succeeded. That is starting to change. A number of the opponents of the sale appeared before county commissioners this week and outlined a legal strategy for blocking it.
They said that they plan to file a lawsuit in the next couple of weeks that draws on a fairly obscure portion of North Carolina law that says that because there were a bunch of charitable donors that gave money to build this YMCA 25+ years ago, they can enforce a provisional law that says that when charitable donors give something, you have to abide by the wishes of those donors. It's a seldom-used law, so who knows how successful it might be.
Terry: Let’s go now to another story The Ledger has been following: Discovery Place and its debt to Mecklenburg County over the construction of the Discovery Place Nature Museum. Does it look like we're going to get a nature museum open anytime soon?
Mecia: It's not really clear. If you walk by that space — and this is right by Freedom Park in Myers Park, Dilworth area — there are fences around it. There are people inside the building working. It sounds like it's just about ready to go. Except the holdup is sort of what's going to happen there because Discovery Place owes Mecklenburg County about $14 million for the construction of it, and Discovery Place says it can't afford to pay that. So commissioners are trying to figure out what their options here are.
There was a meeting of the park commission, which is an advisory panel to the county commission. At that meeting, the Park and Recreation Department said that it would be quite costly for the county to operate it. They estimated about $8 million to $10 million a year. They said that they have the expertise; they just don't have that kind of budget. I think commissioners are trying to figure all this out. Some of them are very upset about the idea that they're on the hook for this extra money that they didn't anticipate. They're kind of considering their options, whether the county wants to run it or work out a deal with Discovery Place.
Terry: Finally, another reminder that one of Charlotte's biggest sports stars, LaMelo Ball, has left town: His uptown condo is for sale. Where is it exactly, and how much is it going to set someone back?
Mecia: The asking price is $2.6 million. It's about 3,500 square feet and it's on the third floor of the Trust building, which is on the 100 block of South Tryon Street. Four bedrooms, 4.5 baths. So Marshall, if you're in the market for a new spot, it'll set you back $2.6 million.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates and the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.
