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Charlotte Maintains
Redevelopment Momentum
Charlotte, North Carolina
An Charlotte, North Carolina, a Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration grant awarded by EPA in 1996 to target the city's
Wilmore neighborhood and South End Business District led to the
creation of nearly 1,000 jobs, and helped leverage more than $37.5
million in cleanup and redevelopment funding. This total is expected
to reach over $60 million once Charlotte's ongoing redevelopment
projects are completed.
The Brownfields Pilot's first major success was Camden Square,
a mixed-use development now home to the Design Center of the
Carolinas, a complex of three buildings that house architectural firms,
graphics production companies, interior design firms, and other design-
related endeavors. This project alone leveraged approximately $14.5
million in redevelopment investments, and that number will increase
as redevelopment expands to a separate project—Camden Square's
Village East and Village West. Investment at this project is projected to
reach $49 million and to create an additional 750 jobs. Camden Square
was the first project to fall under the state's Brownfields Property
Reuse Act, which uses land use restrictions, risk-based cleanup
standards, and liability protections to promote the redevelopment of
brownfields.
Another Pilot success is the Gaines Brown Design Project, which
focuses on a brownfield located in Charlotte's Wilmore neighborhood.
The operator of an exhibit design business in the neighborhood had
been looking to purchase this site adjacent to his property to renovate
and lease to design-related businesses. Once the site of a radiator
shop, the property was vacant for more than 10 years due in part to
unknown levels of lead contamination in the soil. The Pilot used
$25,000 in grant funding to conduct an environmental assessment and
design a cleanup plan. The assessment revealed that a portion of the
site was in fact clean, enabling the operator to purchase that area of
the property. The operator was later able to purchase the remaining
portion of the parcel, demolish the former radiator shop, and remove
the contaminated soil. Due to successful redevelopment of an office
building across the street as well as a nearby 5-story condominium
The Gaines Brown Design property prior to
cleanup and redevelopment.
JUST THE FACTS:
In Charlotte, an EPA Brownfields
Assessment Demonstration grant
awarded in 1996 has led to the creation
of nearly 1,000 jobs and helped leverage
more than $37.5 million in cleanup and
redevelopment funding throughout the
city.
The $14.5 million Design Center of
the Carolinas now includes more than
100 design-related businesses and 500
employees.
EPA-funded assessments of the Gaines
Brown Design property indicated that it
was clean, and in the future the property
will likely include a $3 to $5 million
redevelopment project.
The former Westover Shopping Center
is now City West Commons, which
opened in September 2003 and created
150 new jobs.
"/fs a great sign that outsiders are
realizing what the potential is,... My
concern is that a lot of folks might sell
without knowing what a gold mine
they're sitting on."
-City Council member
Patrick Cannon, The Charlotte
Observer, 7/12/98
continued
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complex, a $3 to $5 million redevelopment project is probable for this property.
Another success for the Charlotte Brownfields Pilot is the City West Commons property, formerly
the Westover Shopping Center. In 1991, the property was seized by the federal government due to
illegal activities. The Pilot used $20,000 to conduct an environmental assessment on the property,
which concluded that contaminant levels were low enough for redevelopment to begin. The Pilot
leveraged nearly $200,000 for assessment and cleanup of the property as well as more than
$3 million for redevelopment activities. After a decade of planning to bring new
development to the area, the newly constructed shopping center opened in September
2003 and created 150 new jobs. The new tenants include Family Dollar, Jackson-
Hewitt Tax Service, a division of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department,
and a Southern cuisine cafeteria that has live gospel music every month.
CONTACTS:
For more information contact
U.S. EPA REGION 4
(404) 562-9900
Thanks to EPA's Brownfields Program, Charlotte has returned these formerly idle
properties to enhancements for the city and provided much-needed employment
opportunities in an area where 27 percent of residents live below the poverty
line. As word of these successes has spread to the real estate and redevelopment
communities, there has been a dramatic increase in the Wilmore neighborhood's
marketability. Residents are now being inundated with offers
to sell their properties. The Pilot was also awarded a
$100,000 supplemental assistance grant, which allowed the
Pilot to expand its target area beyond the South End-Wilmore district
to include all the of city's distressed neighborhoods.
Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
The completed Gaines Brown
Design Building.
Brownfields Success Story
Charlotte, North Carolina
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA-560-F-06-233
August 2006
www. epa. gov/brownfields/
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