Charlotte’s Ghost Town Continues to Live in Darkness

Uptown has jokingly been called a ghost town as it struggles to attract residents and businesses post pandemic. With more people not returning to the office, Uptown maintains an 18.5% vacancy rate. Sadly, this joke isn’t much of an exaggeration. City leaders have acknowledged the dire situation with Mayor Pro Tem Dante Anderson calling it “bleak.” However, local elected officials turned down funding for a project that would have added hundreds of needed apartments and potentially stimulated Uptown’s economy.

Asana Partners and MPR Realty bought the former Duke Energy headquarters in Uptown for $35 million. They planned to covert the structure to 448 apartments and retail. Their plan included asking local governments for $19 million in property tax breaks that would be paid out over 15 years. They believed the city and county would see an increase in $10.6 million in new property tax revenue, even after the rebate.

A few months ago, City Council members were on board with converting empty office towers into multi-family housing and retail. City Council member Ed Driggs said, “I like the idea of creating the residential units. And I like the activation at that location.” He wasn’t the only City Council member who was on board. Council member James Mitchell chimed in with his support. “We hear over and over from our visitors who come to our great city that one thing we are lacking is retail and center city. So that checks a big box for me,” he said.

However, because the project didn’t include affordable housing units, the remaining support was withheld. Mecklenburg Commissioners voiced their concerns about helping a for-profit business that wouldn’t assist low-income residents. Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell said, “I just can’t even fathom. A group comes in with $7 billion in assets and wants to take taxpayers … to help create more wealth (for them). It’s not something that’s in our DNA.”

While it might have hurt their conscience to fund a for-profit business, the project would have added over four hundred apartments to an economically struggling neighborhood. Asana is unclear what they will do with the office building if the apartment conversion doesn’t move forward. Any rental housing project is a good housing project. As Charlotte continues to grow, city leaders must be creative about utilizing existing space to make room for new and existing citizens. If they want to bring life to a ghost town neighborhood and lower the vacancy rate, then adding rental housing is the key.