Mecklenburg County NC offices, parks, and homes are among development and works or in planning stages. By Susan Shackelford Realtor Reflections Magazine

Beyond areas close to Downtown Charlotte NC Real Estate there are pockets of development activity on the west side that portend good things. For the purposes of this article the Westside is defined as the area bounded by North Carolina Hwy. 16 (Brookshire Freeway) to the north, Interstate 77 to the east, the Mecklenburg County line to the west, and West Blvd. to the south. The Mecklenburg area beyond Interstate 85 on North Carolina Hwy. 16 is included because it is generally considered a sphere of its own the Northwest. The pocket of activity that's well along is the remake of Freedom Drive and Ashley Road. Built in 1964 and one the first malls in Mecklenburg County, the site was mostly vacant by the late 90s as Target, Harris-Teeter and other stores left. Mecklenburg County bought the mall and 36 surrounding acres in 2003 for $6.5 million and is converting it into county offices. The county has redone the exterior and a blend of tans, deep greens, and reds, glass and metal. The materials combine from our local industrial flavor. The site is sustainable designed. Once it's complete, the county will seek certification through the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, best known as LEED. Green features abound, ranging from photovoltaic roof panels to power part of the building to ice created by chillers to help cool the building on peak days of electricity consumption. Rain gardens filter and clean surface water in the parking lot before it goes into the storm sewer, and the parking lot is made of a light colored fiberglass reinforced concrete designed to reflect rather than absorb sunlight. The first county employees moved to the site in February 2007, says Mark Hahn the County's Director of Real Estate Services. They consisted of the Department of Social Services and about half of the counties Information Services and Technology Department. Expect to move there this winter and spring are the rest of the IST department and Hospitality Services Group. Later, when real estate market improves, the county staff in the old Hal Marshall building on more trials she will move there. The Ha Marshall building is slated to be sold.

Just west off the old mall site of Freedom Drive is another big project that could bring hundreds of new homes to the area. We are going to be submitting for subdivision approval with the City of Charlotte the first quarter of 2009 months says Del Ratcliffe of Paradise Real Estate, the broker who worked with Adanac Developments to acquire the land. Led by principal Steve McKirdy, Adanac plans 298 apartments 76 town homes, and 77 single-family homes on nearly 60 acres that most recently were home to a mobile home park, Ratcliffe says. Tentatively named Freedom Green, the homes will be built around a par three golf course. The site is at 5035 Freedom Dr. between Interstate 85 and Toddville Rd. Because of the slow for-sale market, Adanac will likely develop the apartments first, Ratcliffe says. It's tough to judge the demand for single-family and town homes, he says. We expect to be moving forward with a multifamily sometime in 2009. We might sell the townhouse in single-family development off to another builder, or Steve may build himself. It depends on the market. Ratcliffe says the project is attractive to Adanac because it is accessible to Downtown Charlotte NC Real Estate, the airport and, most of all, the I-485 loop on the Westside. Eventually Freedom Drive will be four lanes to I-485 he says, based on the current government transportation planning. Another area where this away shortly getting a makeover in the coming years is long Billy Graham Parkway between West Blvd. and Morris Field Drive. Using bond money approved by the county voters in 2004, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation has acquired about 90 acres of Southwest Community Park that will be featuring walking, fitness, and mountain bike trails, one or two baseball fields and an expanded recreation Center, says park planner Brian Conroy with Parks and Recreation. In the design phase now he said in December to set 2008, and we hope to start structuring the summer. Parks and Recreation have been working closely with each other on these two projects to what put the park on the West Blvd. side.