At Wednesday's land use meeting, the Dilworth Community Development Association will hear a revised plan for building a Walgreen's with a drive-thru and an office building at the corner of Morehead Street and Kenilworth Avenue.
The current plan calls for tearing down five buildings, including a Tudor-style, 18-unit apartment building originally constructed in 1927. The distinctive building sits at the corner of Morehead and Kenilworth. Four other adjoining houses would also be slated for demolition.
The rezoning request is expected to have a public hearing in September and go before City Council in October. The developer is Lincoln Harris, and the owner of all the properties is Edward Springs and his company, Edward H. Springs Interiors.
Neighbors have raised concerns about excessive traffic, especially with a drive-thru at an already busy corner. Using the property to build a pharmacy and office building by tearing down older homes with more neighborhood character has also raised eyebrows.
The land use meeting will be held Wednesday, June 27, at 7 p.m., in the Tom Sykes Recreation Center at 1501 Euclid Avenue.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Dilworth to hear updated Walgreen's plan
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12 comments:
thats how us americans do it. Forget about buildings with character and distinction. Instead let's smash it down and put up yet another boring box with a parking lot. Cause we need more of those.
Typical Charlotte. Tear down something old and with character to make a quick buck.
tearing down history to build a walgreens thats what charlotte has become so sad!!
Thank you Lincoln Harris for trying to turn Dilworth into another suburban strip mall. It makes no sense what-so-ever to tear down beautiful well-maintained buildings for another pharmacy (Dilworth already has 4). Not to mention, that intersection already has major traffic issues. As I drive through that area, I see lots of vacant office space. I can't imagine that there's that high of a demand for another office building. Developers must hate anything with history (probably because it proves how shoddy their work is comparatively).
Lincoln Harris you should be looking out for Charlotte. Is a Walgreens really worth ruining a Charlotte Road with some real character? A Walgreens really?
The Class A Vacancy rate in Midtown is 7%. CMC is building an office building, Duke Endowment is building an office building, and Morehead Place just sold to an international institutional investor. There are plenty of reasons not to build a Walgreens there, but your perception of the office market along East Morehead is not a very good one.
While I agree that this intersection is no place for a Walgreen's - the traffic is already bad and would only worsen, even if they don't allow left turns from Morehead - I would like to add a different perspective on residential properties that are "historic" or "have character." I disagree that older structures make new ones look shoddy in their construction. I have lived in 3 such "historic" or "character" places. They are the least energy-efficient structures you can find. You can either live with sky-high utility bills or spend tens of thousands upgrading them.
Like I said, this is no place for Walgreen's. But keeping an old building just because it's an old building isn't always the best option either.
I live in the Tudor building on the corner. We have a boiler and no a/c - I don't think we're the worst in terms of energy efficiency...
But I never know if people know - there are 18 units here - 18 places people call HOME. I think we hold up a great stake in this neighborhood, with a good chunk of the street having some vacancy...
If they're REALLY going to do something, I hope they follow through and not leave this another vacant corner.
Clearly a pharmacy across the street from one of the largest hospitals in the Carolinas will be incredibly profitable, and it's certainly within the property owner's rights to try to maximize the value of his land and cashing out. That being said, a drive-through pharmacy seems totally inconsistent with the surrounding neighborhood, and the owner should at least consider alternatives that might lessen the impact to the neighborhood. Sure, it's easy to slap up a drugstore to make some money. That's what developers do for the most part--the easiest and cheapest thing to make the most money without regard for anyone other than themselves.
Part of the reason the property is worth what it is is due to the decades-long efforts of the neighborhood to protect and preserve the area. It wouldn't be worth nearly what it is without those efforts, and for the owner to then do something so detrimental, just to squeeze the last penny he can out of the land, is unconscionable. Yes, it would take some time, effort and creativity to figure out other ways to maximize the value of the property, but it would be refreshing to see the owner and developer attempt to do something that would actually benefit the neighborhood. And maybe rather than making x millions of dollars, they "only" make 98% of x million dollars, while preserving the neighborhood. Pipe dream, perhaps, but stranger things have happened, and if you don't try, you'll never succeed.
Unless the "updated proposal" involves building on a different site with either vacant space or buildings that AREN'T beautiful and useful, and building in a more dense and urban manner, then I don't want to hear it.
If Walgreens builds, how long before CVS or Rite Aid build on the opposite corner. Ugh.
Rite aid has no money and CVS is too cheap to build new buildings plus they have a very profitable location on south and park. Charlotte is a relatively new market for Walgreens so I'm not surprised they are making a push for this location. However, with cvs and rite aid close by along with dilworth drug in the plaza on kenilworth I don't think dilworth needs another pharmacy especially an ugly box store like Walgreens
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