June 14, 2016
The three development teams vying for a county contract to lead redevelopment in Second Ward presented their plans at Tuesday’s Forum. On Wednesday, Mecklenburg County commissioners were scheduled to choose one of the teams. Going into the meeting, county staff had recommended the BK Partners team led by Peebles Corp., and by 5-3 vote the commissioners ratified that choice Wednesday.
Other groups in the BK Partners team are Charlotte-based Conformity Corp. and Stantec Consulting Services.
The unsuccessful groups were led by CitiSculpt and Crescent Communities.
Wednesday’s decision is to begin negotiations on a final contract with the Peebles group. All of the promises made and the details offered up to this point will now be subject to negotiation and may change. And if negotiations break down, the county could end talks with Peebles and open them with another of the groups.
During Tuesday’s Q&A, County Manager Dena Diorio, who was in the audience, answered a question raising the issue of a reduction of open space in the redeveloped Brooklyn Village. Diorio replied that no zoning or previous plan for the area contemplated keeping the full size of Marshall Park, about 5 acres, in open space. Then she said this:
“Whoever is selected to develop this, as they go out to do their community and stakeholder engagement, will need to take those concerns and those voices into account as we go through the development process.”
Steve Harrison’s report on Wednesday’s commissioners meeting for The Charlotte Observer is here, cached here. Patrick Escobar’s report for WBTV is here. Glenn Burkins’ report for QCityMetro is here, cached here. The Charlotte Post report is here.
A copy of the March 4 BK Partners proposal is here.
In the five video files below, Nakisa Glover captured on Facebook Live much of the presentations and the Q&A that followed. An even flow of audio is occasionally interrupted in the Facebook feeds, probably because of Internet transmission slowdowns. The Q&A was posted as a long single video; it has been split here because of file size.
Presentation:
Presentation
Presentation:
Q&A: Part 1
Q&A: Part 2