Selling Entire Neighborhoods?

[monsoon]

Less than a couple of weeks after it was announced the residents of the Sherbrooke community, a suburban ranch house neighborhood near SP, decided to sell their entire neighborhood to a single developer, there is word another neighborhood wants to do this near Mooresville. Apparently the developer will level the neighborhood and rebuild with something of higher density and possibly more pedestrian friendly. The residents get more for their homes.

This topic is for a discussion on what this might mean for Charlotte.

Pros

• Replace single use with mixed use.

• Gives developers options for new development within the city. Might reduce the demand for construction on the edges

• Increases density in mostly low density Charlotte. This will make future mass transit easier to implement.

• Could make it easier for people of more moderate means to live in the city

Cons

• History destroyed. While most of these neighborhoods are not considered historic, it completely eliminates neighborhoods and replaces them with something else.

• Density for density's sake is not a good idea. Traffic can increase dramatically in areas that are not equipped for it.

• Lack of involvement from the city could lead to a series of disconnected places that don't blend with the surroundings.

• Neighbors might not like it

What do you think?

[atlrvr]

I support it if along with the redevelopment, new street connections are added....otherwise, it's just density for density sake, and if you put 200 new homes where there were once 25, and have one way in/out, then we are just worsening the problem.

[charlotte_bon_vivant]

One other con is removing sound, well-constructed buildings for sub-standard buildings. The houses that are currently there have at least 30 years left. Whatever new building is built will most likely have 5-10 good years before it falls into disarray. What happens if the area falls out of favor with developers? How quickly will a once loved neighborhood become a slum?

[Jerseyman4]

Can the existening highway infrastructure support the additional traffic volumes once this project is complete? Also, the people who live there, do the majority work on/off along any proposed public transit corridors? Its common that people who live in neighborhoods commute allover the place for work and not all driving the same route.

Overall, if the neighbors are all down with this idea and are fairly compensated, im all for it.

[Arlyn15]

I think that selling Sherbrooke is a good idea. I would doubt that a developer would put in cheap housing. The houses that are there are being removed mostly because they don't fit in the Southpark market. When those houses were built 30-40 years ago, Southpark was not the affluent part of town that it is now.

[atlrvr]

Well...the deal is officially dead according to the Observer....I knew the wheels were coming off when Chris Branch withdrew the rezoning petition, but it seems now the neighbors are no longer working together.

But the deal fell apart. Now, more than two years since they first came together, many along Sherbrooke Drive are saddled with extra mortgages and homes in need of repair.

Some neighbors have moved out. Others are trying to leave. And some won't talk to each other, angry it didn't work out.

...

Then, they got a letter. The Boulevard Co. offered to pay $450,000 for each home -- a far cry from the $593,000 the neighbors had signed for -- if they would agree all over again to sell together. But many thought their homes sold alone would already be worth that much or more.

...

Finally, the neighbors held one last meeting together. There, they agreed to break the neighborhood covenant, formed when Sherbrooke was first built.

Under the new arrangement, they agreed to allow taller and bigger homes -- opening the door to the McMansions they'd once feared. It would make it easier to sell their homes individually.

And recently, a for sale sign went up in the Kings' yard, with an information sheet tucked into a box asking for $475,000 and touting: "LAND, Can be Subdivided"

[Raintree21]

I thought there was a thread about this somewhere. So it appears that the McMansions will strike again.

[Justadude]

From what I gather in the article, it sounds like a lot of problems sprang from the same old greediness that's infested the real estate industry with flippers, scammers, and get-rich-quick schemes. Even with this relatively organized effort there were still people trying to play games and make a cheap buck off inflated land values.