After a long delay, Brooklyn Village is back underway and expected to break ground after the new year. This large mixed-use development is projected to cost $683 million and sits on 17 acres of prime uptown real estate in the heart of the Second Ward. When completed, the project will consist of 1,200 residential apartments, 712,400 square feet of offices, 280 hotel rooms, 2.5 acres of park and open space, and 252,000 square feet of retail.
Back in Charlotte’s history, there was a neighborhood called Brooklyn. It was a predominantly black neighborhood that was hailed as a town within a town. Brooklyn was a self-sustainable community and was home to black community covering all socioeconomic backgrounds. It had homes, schools, and 14 different places of worship. The entire neighborhood was torn down in the 1960’s and 1970’s as part of the federal urban renewal program displacing thousands of residents and tearing down more than 1,480 structures.
Many of the current government buildings were built over the site of the original Brooklyn neighborhood. The Government Center, courthouse, jail and municipal buildings all sit on that historic site. The original residents were displaced and the community shattered so this project is meant to reflect back on that past and in some way try to bring that community back to the Second Ward.
The new project has been in discussion for a very long time and part of the stall was due to concerns about the number of affordable units for low-income residents, and over the amount of open space and green space. The affordable units will have a few tiers. 30% of the units will be available for residents who make 60% of the area median income. The remaining 70% of the affordable units will be available for residents who make 80% of the area median income. Only a fraction of the total units will be offered as affordable units.
BK Partners, made up of Conformity Corporation and The Peebles Corporation, will be the developer on the project. Their stated goal is to provide accessible affordable housing and to make the project inclusive for everyone. They expect to close the property deal early in 2023 followed quickly by groundbreaking.
This new project Brooklyn Village will be completed over at least 12 years with multiple phases. The first phase is located at the corner of S. Alexander Street and East Brooklyn Village Avenue. It will consist of 395 apartments, 100,000 square feet of retail, 530,000 square feet of office space, and 150 hotel rooms with a conference center and meeting rooms. This should be in the form of two residential towers with ground floor retail, and a hotel with ground floor retail. The offices will be two towers with parking below.
The remaining phases of Brooklyn Village will be located by S. McDowell Street and 3rd Street near Marshall Park. The hope is that black owned businesses will return to, and black residents will thrive once again in Second Ward.
