Historic development near South End receives $4.1M for further improvements
The redevelopment of historic Brookhill Village just received a multimillion-dollar boost.
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Griffin Brothers will receive $4.1 million to extend and beautify roadways in the South End neighborhood enclave.
With the funding, the developer plans to improve connectivity between Brookhill Village and South End. That involves extending Dunavant Street across S. Tryon Street where it will run parallel to Brookhill Road.
Griffin Brothers will also build 8-foot-wide, ADA-compliant sidewalks; update curbs and drainage systems; and plant more than 300 trees throughout the development
The infrastructure improvements are long-awaited.
The Brookhill Village complex opened in the 1950s, and its roadways haven’t been improved since.
The infrastructure work also paves the way for the next phase of Griffin Brothers’ Brookhill Village redevelopment: commercial space and event venues.
Brookhill Village was developed in 1950 by the late C.D. Spangler Jr., a businessman and former president of the University of North Carolina.
During segregation, it was a 36-acre, 418-unit affordable housing development for Black Charlotteans.
By the 1970s, the neighborhood faced disinvestment, and the properties had deteriorated.
Part of the issue in redeveloping the site is the lease agreement.
There’s a 99-year ground lease on the site that ends in October 2049. The lease limits what can be built on the site. And when it expires, ownership reverts to the Spanglers.
With the construction limitations and the lack of ownership, there’s no true incentive to economically develop the site. The lease has changed hands multiple times and Brookhill Village has seen a number of proposed development plans.
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None came to fruition.
Griffin Brothers took over the lease in 2022 with a plan: create a mixed-use environment with new affordable housing, hospitality homes and commercial spaces.
The following year, the city and Mecklenburg County gave Griffin Brothers a combined $7 million toward reconstructing the affordable housing.
The developer rebuilt 89 affordable housing units, which are managed by the Harvest Center, a nonprofit focused on helping people experiencing homelessness.
Another 11 units are in the works, bringing the total to 100. Most are occupied by people earning 30% of the area median income. For a family of four, that’s an income of $33,650.
The Harvest Center is also constructing resource buildings that will house its corporate office and supportive services.
Griffin Brothers also broke ground this year on 74 townhomes for short-term rentals, rather than building a hotel.
Now, Griffin Brothers is focused on the commercial and event spaces.
About 3.5 acres of Brookhill Village will go toward event space. Griffin Brothers has already signed a lease with a music festival producer who will build a permanent venue space.
Sports and wellness facilities are also coming to Brookhill Village.
The developer has an agreement with a racket-sports group to build padel courts and a clubhouse on-site. Padel is similar to tennis, squash and pickleball.
And there are plans for a holistic wellness center from Oasis Wellness Sanctuary.
Council members applauded the plan Monday night.
“From an infrastructure perspective, those sidewalks, curb cuts and all the infrastructure there effectively looks the same way that it did when I was 10, 12 years old,” said Councilmember Dante Anderson. “Adding over 300 trees is going to absolutely create an environment there. I love that we’re maintaining some affordability in the history of the property while advancing into the future, trying to bring arts and culture and be creative about bringing vitality to that space.”
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