Resurgent area poised to resume expansion when the economy recovers.

When Brian Fincher bought a home in West Charlotte in the late 1990s, it was all about proximity to uptown and affordability. I was living in Elizabeth but couldn't afford to buy a house, so I looked in Wesley Heights another West Charlotte NC Real Estate neighborhood, he recalls. The houses were a little bigger and starting to shoot up in price so I went to the next neighborhood over. He bought a two bedroom, one bath home in the Camp Green neighborhood located between Freedom Drive and Wilkinson Boulevard. He loved the high ceilings plaster walls and hardwood floors. The 1940s neighborhood had crime issues at the time but being a single male, I didn't think anything about it, he says. I’ve lived in Chicago. I knew this area was going to change. He was right, and today areas of West Charlotte NC Real Estate close to downtown or hot or as hot as a cold real estate market can get. Before the economic downturn, the Westside near Downtown Charlotte NC Real Estate, with blazing renovations and new infill homes in Wesley Heights and near Johnson C. Smith University, the continued commercial redevelopment of West Morehead Street and the addition of the Charlotte School of Law on the former Radiator Specialty Co., part of a new area that officials are calling Bryant Park. Eventually the area would have new apartments, homes, and more office space. Driving the growth is the desirability of living in Downtown Charlotte NC Real Estate or near it. It's a spillover from uptown, says Tom Warsaw, Economic Development Manager for the City of Charlotte. We had people saying that they are priced out of downtown of many of the other close-in areas. Kent Main concurs about the uptown influence. As Planning Coordinator for Economic Development for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, he's played a key role developing city land-use plans for Bryant Park in nearby areas. I believe in changes radiating from the center city out he says. Perceptual changes also occur with the Westside, says Tom Davis, President of the Freedom Drive Development Association. There was time that the rumors tended to be negative, Davis says. Now they are positive. There is a big creative optimism we didn't even have five years ago. Wesley Heights has been the focus of most of the residential activity so far, a new portion of Wesley Heights with more than 140 single-family homes and townhome style condos, opened in 2006. It was just west of the Wesley Heights Historic District, whose original bungalow style homes were built in the 1940s and 1930s. A major infill homes have also been built in the community.

Nearby are the new Celadon condos, nestled among the trees near the intersection of West 4th St. and Tuckaseegee Road. Celadon is a cluster of 24 contemporary, eco-friendly condos with white exteriors. The homes have 10 to 20 foot ceilings, oversized windows, and lots of green features, from recycled insulation materials and highly efficient heating and air-conditioning systems to light-reflective roofs and paints low in Volatile Organic Compounds. Developers James Funderburke Jr. and Jim Hock III expect the development to be one of the first green certified residential projects in the state. We are participating in a pilot program in North Carolina, Funderburke says, and the LEED certification will be done once the project is done. All but two of the 24 units were scheduled to close in 2008, and construction was on track to finish in January. Our buyer demographics have been older than most people would think, Funderburke says. It's mostly people from 40 to 65 who are couples, though about 40% of our residents are single. Most want to live near uptown and work there or from home. In contrast, Lela Court has a more traditional look, borrowing design elements from the bungalow style of the Historic District. Most residents are in their 30’s estimate Roger and Marilyn Sarow who moved there in 2006 in the first wave of residents. Nonetheless the Sarows, in the early 60s, have felt at home. The fun part of it, Marilyn says, is that they invite us to their parties. A big reason for the Sarows moved from near UNCC was because they wanted a more urban lifestyle. We want to be a near uptown, our church is there, and so are a lot of our friends, says Marilyn, who is a professor of Mass Communications at Winthrop University in Rock Hill SC. The Sarows also wanted a community where they can easily walk or bicycle to nearby areas or travel by car to more distant points without running into gridlock. We are tired of being stuck on Harris Boulevard, Graham Street, or

Mallard Creek Road says Roger who is president and general manager of WFAE radio station.

So has the moved been what they hoped? Absolutely, Marilyn says. They’ve even seen marked appreciation in their house in just two years, she adds. They were somewhat concerned about crime but knew data showed uptown was one of the safest areas in town. They were less sure about just west of uptown. We've had some safety issues, Marilyn says, but the police have been good and we don’t think it’s been any more than any other community. To the west of Lela Court, where Thrift Road splits off from Freedom Drive is the site for the new Wesley Village Apartments now under construction. The 20-acre development will be a major addition to the area. Not only are units going to be Class A luxury apartments, they are going to be a lot of them. The first phase calls for 300 units, and developer Wood Partners has zoning for up to 500. We should deliver our first units next fall says Carter Siegel, regional partner for the company. Siegel says Wesley Village will be gaded and feature a range of amenities: granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, a two-story clubhouse with a cybercafe gymnasium in your studio, an outdoor kitchen, a mineral pool, and pocket parks, small areas of green space tucked into the development. Another community amenity is the Stewart Creek Greenway, which runs between that Wesley Village and Lela Court and by Celadon. While Lela Court backs up to the greenway, Celedon and Wesley Village are oriented to it. We're putting in a pedestrian bridge that will connect to the greenway at about the midpoint of our project on that side, Siegel says of Wesley Village. Eventually, the Greenway will cross Freedom Drive and West Morehead and extend down to Wilkinson Boulevard, near the Charlotte School of Law. The revival of Wesley Heights in early 2000’s gave Wood Partners the confidence to develop Wesley Village, Siegel says. Wesley Heights has the DNA of Dilworth, and similar architecture and there are 100-year-old oak trees. The attractiveness of the area and the continued growth of West Morehead St. made me a believer. What's happening over there? He estimates rent for a one-bedroom will be $850.00 to $1000.00, two-bedrooms for $950.00 to $1200.00, and three-bedrooms for $1200.00 to $1400.00. Plans for Wesley Village also call for a small retail center near Freedom Drive. We we have a crying need for a coffee shop and bakery, notes Roger Sherrill of nearby Lela Court. More restaurants are also needed. Commercial Broker, John Nichols expects a bar and grill to open in the old Volkswagon Repair Business known for the VW on its roof, located at the corner of W. Morehead St. and Freedom Drive. He and partner James Welch own the building and are working for a local restaurateur to lease the space.

Since plans for Wesley Village and two other nearby properties emerged several years ago the city has also been playing a role in the area. Working closely with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, the city has tried to make sure the projects work well together. To make it all to come together, we've been working with the developers to get them where they need to be to serve the needs of the wider city as well as theirs, to make new things happen, says Kent Main of the planning commission. The city is also providing connector roads, traffic lights, and other infrastructure improvements. Beyond Wesley Village, there are two projects known collectively as Bryant Park, named for the small city park in their midst on W. Morehead St. One is on the former will Radiator Specialty site between W. Morehead and Wilkinson Blvd. and where the Charlotte School of Law is now located. The other is between W. Morehead St. and Berryhill Road, and is slated for residential development. The Charlotte School of Law opened on the old Radiator Specialty site in August 2008. The 102,000 square-foot building fronts Wilkinson Boulevard. It is the first of several office buildings that are planned on a 30 acre site, says George Macon, a partner with the developer, Merrifield Partners. Merrifield is a Crosland Company developing the site in conjunction with the Blumenthal family, which owns the former Radiator Specialty land. We are now trying to market space for another office building that fronts Wilkinson, Macon said. Merrrifield also plans to seek rezoning in the first quarter of 2009 for 300 apartments on a portion of the site that overlooks Bryant Park, which is targeted for improvement and construction with the extension of the Stewart Creek Greenway. Macon anticipates the units will be four and five-story woodframe buildings. Eventually, Merrifield would like to bring condos to the area, but as of early December 2008, he dubbed the preliminary because the market

conditions.

The other portion of Bryant Park land-use plan is a 36-acre tract wedged between the West Morehead St. and Berryhill Road. Most of the 30 acre site was home to the Westwood apartments, a notorious Crime Center. Developers Latham Grimes and Frank Martin bought the old apartment site in summer 2006. They held a job fair to help residents relocate, Grimes says, then demolish the structures. We have zoning and subdivision entitlement for up to 600 units, Grimes says, noting that that would include single-family homes, townhomes and apartments. The zoning is flexible, so we can slice and dice it a number of different ways. Like most people in this economy we are sitting and waiting for the economy to pick up. Speaking in case early December, he said, our plan is to get through 2009 and then stick our toes back in the water and see what the temperature is. He anticipates the homes will have a similar feel to Lela Court developed by his partner Frank Martin