Development

The iconic Eastland Mall ice skating rink on opening day, July 30, 1975.

DEVELOPMENT EASTLAND’S FUTURE, AT LAST

A decade after the mall closed, the city finally lands on a concrete plan for the east side’s anchor

EASTLAND MALL—with its million square feet of retail space, four anchor stores, and beloved skating rink—was the crown jewel of Charlotte commerce and the heart of the east side from its opening in 1975 to the mid-1990s, when high crime in a declining area began to repel shoppers and merchants. Sears, the last major anchor, shuttered in 2009, and the nearly empty mall closed for good the following year.

The city bought the 80-acre property at Central Avenue and North Sharon Amity Road in 2012 and demolished the mall in 2013. For years, city o cials entertained one eccentric proposal a er another for the site: a lm and television production studio; a skate park with a wave pool; a mixed-use idea from an architect in Chile.

Nothing took root until November, when the City Council unanimously approved a proposal from the real estate investment company Crosland Southeast. The mixed-use project includes features that residents of surrounding neighborhoods like Winter eld and Wilora Lake said they wanted: retail and o ce space for jobs, shopping, and community services; sports elds and buildings the local community could use; housing; and public and park space to encourage residents to spend time there. The second act of the Eastland site “has literally been a decade in the making,” council member Matt Newton, whose District 5 includes the property, said in November.

This seems like a good opportunity to review Eastland’s history and reorient ourselves toward a plan that’s nally in place. “This project, I believe, will provide the kind of impact necessary for that community to thrive,” council member Malcolm Graham said a er a presentation in October, adding that he has fond memories of working at a menswear store at Eastland during the mall’s heyday. —Greg Lacour

KEY DATES:

1972 1975 1997 1998 1999 2002 2007 2008 2009

The city and Mecklenburg County approve a rezoning of the property for development as a mall.

July 30:

Eastland Mall opens at 10 a.m. “In shoppingcenter-crazy Charlotte,” The Charlotte Observer notes, “the event was something like a Woodstock for the suburban set.” Firstyear sales are approximately $65 million. A tenant sues mall ownership, claiming a 40% decline in sales: “(B)eginning in 1992 and continuing therea er, numerous criminal incidents at Eastland Mall occurred and the general unacceptable behavior of people at the mall was allowed to exist and grow.” Eastland Mall Associates sells to Glimcher Realty Trust for $54 million. Concord Mills opens. Northlake Mall opens. J.C. Penney, one of Eastland’s four anchor stores, closes.

Eastland’s Belk anchor closes. The Urban Land Institute, which the city has asked to assess Eastland’s future, recommends demolition and redevelopment of the site as a mixed-use urban center. Dillard’s Eastland anchor closes. Glimcher Realty Trust defaults on its $42 million mortgage.

Sears’ Eastland anchor closes.

2010 2012

June 30:

Eastland Mall closes. The city buys 80 acres of the mall property and issues requests for proposals for a lm and TV production studio, then enters negotiations with a local production company.

The city selects Crosland Southeast as the site’s master developer. Crosland begins to examine the site and consult local residents. Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper announces plans to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Charlotte. Included in Tepper Sports’ deal with the city is a proposed $110 million in city hospitality funds for the team’s headquarters and practice elds at the old mall site. The city approves an altered plan to reserve the eastern portion of the site for Tepper Sports to lease for its MLS youth program headquarters and elds, and the rest of the property for housing— including a ordable units—a community atrium, a park, and o ce and retail spaces.

2013

Mall demolished. 2014

The city scraps the lm and TV studio plan. 2016 2018 2019

The city sells 11 acres to CharlotteMecklenburg Schools for a K-8 partial magnet school. 2020 2022

Projected completion.

So what happened to the MLS headquarters plan? City o cials blanched at the proposed $110 million public outlay and negotiated with Tepper Sports for a more modest commitment: $35 million—$10 million for the Eastland site, $25 million for soccer-related improvements to Bank of America Stadium and parts of uptown. Also, under the original plan, “You were ending up with a lot of land that wasn’t necessarily open to the public,” Tracy Dodson, an assistant city manager and the city’s economic development director, said in October. “So this, in my mind, is a bigger win for helping Eastland come to fruition in the vision that everyone has.”

Why did Crosland Southeast sign on as the project’s developer? Since the 2014 Chetty study that ranked Charlotte 50th of 50 large American cities in upward mobility, the company has sought to develop real estate in ways that make sense economically and bene t the city, too, says Tim Sittema, the Crosland Southeast managing partner who’s overseeing the Eastland development. The 80-acre Eastland site is large enough, and in an area projected to grow enough, to hold community assets like green space, small businesses, and a ordable housing units even as it o ers a return on the company’s investment. Those factors “gave us the con dence to pursue that site,” Sittema says. “It’s a call to action: How can the business community lean into some of these intractable social problems and make a di erence here?”