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9 investigates why work at proposed grocery store site suddenly stopped

By John Paul, wsoctv.com
By John Paul, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The site of a proposed grocery store in South End seems to be abandoned, just a few years after the project was announced.

The discount grocery chain Lidl announced plans in 2015 to build on the South Boulevard site, not far from Clanton Road.

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Work to prepare the site was being done until mid-2017, when it suddenly stopped after the company spent millions of dollars.

Lidl sent Channel 9 a statement saying in part, "For this site in particular, I can tell you that we have not made any announcements about it to date."

Channel 9 investigated and found that grocery store was being built on what's known as a brownfield site. Basically, the land is contaminated.

[INTERACTIVE MAP: Brownfield Sites in NC]

Channel 9 uncovered paperwork that showed the soil has arsenic, lead and mercury. It may stem from the old auto repair shop, office park, or electric systems building that used to sit on the land.

Lidl was offered tax breaks in exchange for cleaning up the site.

"They disappeared. There were construction materials brought in, and those construction materials were taken out one day, and we haven't seen them since," said nearby business owner Jennifer Bowling.

Bowling owns the Press Club dry cleaning next to the site. She said work stopped about six months ago.

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"They did a lot of work here. They put hundreds of dump trucks in and out," Bowling said.

Channel 9 asked Lidl if the site was more contaminated that first thought. But the company hasn't answered that question.

As Channel 9’s investigation unfolded, we wanted to know how much of South End is built on brownfield sites.

We focused on the area from uptown Charlotte to Clanton Road on South Boulevard. According to the state, there are more than 35 brownfield sites in that area.

Apartments, stores and even the Publix, were all built on contaminated land that was cleaned up before development.

The big reason why is because if a company is willing to buy and build on a brownfield site, it gets a 90 percent tax break the first year, 75 percent the next year and down to 10 percent by the fifth year.

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