CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The property that’s home to a 100-year-old Charlotte school building sold last week to a developer, county real estate records show.
The Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education on Feb. 19 transferred the historic Wilmore School to Historic Preservation of NC, who then sold the property to Lakemont 77/85 LLC for $8.16 million. The 3.2-acre West Boulevard property was approved for an adaptive reuse development last spring.
The primary building will be converted into apartments, but the addition built in the 1970s is not required to be saved, under the sale conditions. New three-and four-story buildings will be added behind the existing structure, with below-grade parking.
The plans have been approved by the city’s Historic Districts Commission and renovation will occur in coordination with the HDC and Historic Landmark Commission.
The rezoning allows for creating up to 250 multi-family units, 3,500 square feet of retail and 4,300 square feet of office or community center-like uses. The agreement requires 5 percent of the housing to be affordable units at 80 percent of the area median income (AMI).
The vacant property also has been the site of several intentionally set fires over since January. Earlier this month, a suspect was arrested on arson charges for his alleged connection to setting four fires, the last coming Feb. 13. It’s last usage was as a CMS staff development center.
Preservation North Carolina is a nonprofit that aims to find solutions for troubled downtown buildings, abandoned historic schools, empty industrial factories and mill villages, and smaller (and more affordable) houses in urban working-class neighborhoods.
At the rezoning approval, City Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield was relieved to see encroaching gentrification staved in a historically Black neighborhood.
“(Transit-oriented development) is coming further and further into the community,” she said. “People who have been there for generations are being pushed further and further away. I appreciate the fact that they are preserving the school and the history of Wilmore. Wilmore is its own area. It is not LoSo or Hi-So or whatever new name. It is Wilmore. I appreciate that it is being maintained for future generations.”
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