Record number of historic landmarks in Charlotte face possible demolition at once

Cue the wrecking balls. The owners of four historic landmarks in Charlotte have applied to demolish the buildings, most of which are at least a century old. Local preservationists tell the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter it’s the highest number of historic buildings facing demolition at once they’ve ever seen. The Ledger’s Tony Mecia joins me now to talk more about what’s driving this, for our segment BizWorthy.

Marshall Terry: So, where are these historic buildings? And what’s the reason for possibly tearing them down?

Tony Mecia: We’re talking about Midwood school in Plaza Midwood on Central Avenue. We’re talking about the Atherton Millhouse in Dilworth; the Grier House, south of the airport and the Steele Creek area; and then the Thrift Mill, located near the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

Preservationists say that there have been demolition applications submitted for each of those. The reason they say is really having to do with Charlotte’s growth — that as Charlotte grows and it’s harder for developers to find undeveloped land, they’re turning to land that’s already been developed. And, in some cases, that includes buildings that have been recognized for their historic character. Some of these buildings are in disrepair, and the owners say maybe there’s a better use for them.

Terry: Well, let’s switch over now to a 100-year-old building that’s not being torn down, but you report is actually being renovated instead. Which building is that, and what’s the plan?

Mecia: There is an office building on South Tryon Street in uptown called the Johnston Building, also sometimes known as the Midtown Plaza Building. It’s 17 stories was built in 1924. It’s an office tower, and it’s not full. But the owner of it, KHP Capital Partners, this spring announced plans to turn it into a hotel. Some new information came out this week that said that they would like to have the top floor become a ballroom, that they wanted to add a rooftop lounge and patio — maintain a lot of the historic character of that building, and it would become a hotel called The Beckworth.

Terry: This week you looked at the heights of luxury and amenities being offered at new apartment complexes in Charlotte as a competition for tenants heats up. One of them, maybe, could be where we tape this segment, yes?

Mecia: Well, it is true that there is an apartment tower going up in Ballantyne — Oro Ballantyne that lists as one of its amenities a podcast studio. So I don’t know if we want to move this show down to Ballantyne. I remember one of my first apartments a few decades ago, didn’t have any of these kind of amenities.

But nowadays in Charlotte, these apartment buildings, they’re building speakeasies, rock-climbing walls, golf simulators. Some of them have onsite baristas. It’s a whole new level of luxury. There’s even one (that’s) going to have a 24/7 concierge that when you’re out of town, they’ll come in and they’ll feed your cat.

Terry: Yeah, I had none of that with my first apartment — just pool and a gym. That’s it. That’s all you got.

Let’s switch over now to something that we talked about a lot on this program, which is flying. People get really passionate about their frequent flyer mileage credit cards, but they’ll only have one option now with American Airlines. Tell me about that switch.

Mecia: Yes. For a number of years, American Airlines has had two frequent flyer rewards credit cards — one from Barclays Bank and one from Citi(Bank). American announced last week that it’s actually now getting rid of the Barclays relationship. It’s going all in on Citi.

These are popular cards in Charlotte since Charlotte is the second-largest hub for American Airlines. American says that if you have the Barclays card that you don’t really have to do anything (and) you’ll be transitioned over into the Citi card in 2026.

Terry: Finally, it’s been 10 months since Plaza Midwood began Charlotte’s first social district where people can walk around with alcohol. And organizers say they’ve sold $25,000 worth of reusable cups. Just how many cups is that?

Mecia: (It’s) 3,200 cups, Marshall. They say that’s about what they expected. They said that social district, which started in March, has been going very well and that some people actually buy the cups as souvenirs — that they don’t use them, necessarily, to walk around repeatedly from bar to bar. They say one of the unexpected benefits is the increase in community spirit — some tangible, as well as intangible, benefits of the social district in Plaza Midwood.

Marshall Terry
Marshall came to WFAE after graduating from Appalachian State University, where he worked at the campus radio station and earned a degree in communication. Outside of radio, he loves listening to music and going to see bands – preferably in small, dingy clubs.
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