Brooklyn Village developer gives update on long-awaited uptown project

CHARLOTTE — New York developer Don Peebles told a virtual Charlotte audience this week that his company’s long-awaited Brooklyn Village project will break ground within 16 to 18 months.

And he did so for good reason: Terms of the agreement with Mecklenburg County require construction to begin by February 2023.

Little has been said about the project during the years since the county selected BK Partners to convert the site into housing, offices, shops, restaurants, parks and other shared public spaces. It’s planned as a three-phase, 10-year development.

On Dec. 15, during a virtual meeting of the Black Political Caucus, Peebles was one of the featured guests as part of an economic development forum featuring progress reports on Brooklyn Village, the former Eastland Mall site, the River District and Atrium Health’s medical school and innovation district. The two-hour discussion included updates from real estate executives and economic development directors from city and county government.

Much of the discussion focused on increasing opportunities for Black-owned companies as part of public-private ventures like the ones mentioned above, all of which will receive some form of taxpayer incentives. Peebles pledged to allocate 35% of construction work to Black-owned firms, analogous with the county’s Black population.

“What I stand for is economic empowerment,” Peebles added.

He said that BK Partners will also nurture Black- and other minority- and women-owned businesses as tenants.

Peebles is the founder and CEO of The Peebles Corp., the lead firm in BK Partners. In 2016, the county chose BK Partners as the master developer to overhaul two uptown sites encompassing 17 acres across Marshall Park, the old Board of Education building and the Bob Walton Plaza in Second Ward.

Keep reading here

(Watch Below: Neighbors, city leaders against developer’s plan to build affordable apartments in northeast Charlotte)

Neighbors, city leaders against developer’s plan to build affordable apartments in northeast Charlotte

©2021 Cox Media Group