Cherry Neighborhood Projects and Gentrification Issues

[rooster8]

Something definitely changed the developer's mind between the initial site plan and the first revision. He (they?) still own the land where the townhomes were proposed to go. I wonder what he'll do with the property now.

[cyrusuncc]

Did he even try to rezone? my (limited) understanding of this is that the land is currently zone for single family/smaller sized dwellings. He would have to rezone to make townhouses

According to WSOC, the zoning passed for the old folks home

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/11057317/detail.html

Here is a good article originally in the observer about what *was* going on

http://www.topix.net/content/kri/234450245...204563290712593

[stephaniew]

Yes, it passed the rezoning. I live out in the area and see what is (or what is not) going on everyday. I have been to the neighborhood meetings. The building(s) they are planning on developing are not impressive at all, you are right. We were certainly let down. Unfortunately, neither of the partners have ever developed even a medium sized project. No matter what you see in the paper, remember that the ones that are voicing their opinion about how they don't want change does not reflect the majority of the views. We want positive change and a safe neighborhood. Honestly, I get cracked up that there are those people who seriously believe that change will not happen. It is just a fact and money talks.

I must say that we have been wondering why the CCO (cherry community organization) has been allowed to stay afloat for so long. They are a 503 ©(b). I believe that in order to sell properties, they were legally supposed to go through a bid process. That did not happen. Does anyone know anything about that process? not sure it matters now since the deal is done.

[cyrusuncc]

Yeah, i've driven through the hood recently and noticed that there have been several "larger" houses built, and currently under construction. Wonder how long it will take before more people start taking notice of this community...

[cyrusuncc]

The pancake house (on south blvd) is moving to Cherry!

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/296/story/74945.html

[dubone]

Will it be going behind the BofA branch or behind the Petro-express? I can't quite figure it out based on that article.

[cyrusuncc]

Will it be going behind the BofA branch or behind the Petro-express? I can't quite figure it out based on that article.

my guess is on the petro express side, but it doesn't really say.

[28202]

Unless they obtained the day care center site, it would not fit on the triangular sliver on the S. side of Ind.

Wells property with curbs across the street seems more likely... long land lease or build to suite is right in line with the usual MO for FMW

Edited April 9, 2007 by 28202

[JBGB]

The pancake house (on south blvd) is moving to Cherry!

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/296/story/74945.html

I ate at the Pancake house this weekend near Cherry. Same great food, horrible parking and wow lets make it smaller. Good Job. Same problems as the old one.

[Vitamin_N]

Resurrecting this thread...

So is anything at all happening with the land currently owned by Stonehunt? Their "Live in Cherry" sign ("coming in 2008!") is still up on Luther.

[atlrvr]

The senior Section 42 property (Affordable Housing) is almost complete. It is a single building along Baxter.

[Vitamin_N]

Yesterday I noticed that the "Live in Cherry" sign on Luther that used to say "Coming in 2008" now says "Coming in 2011". Anybody heard anything about this?

[sleightofhand]

Yesterday I noticed that the "Live in Cherry" sign on Luther that used to say "Coming in 2008" now says "Coming in 2011". Anybody heard anything about this?

 

Not related to the above post but Grandfather Homes is well under way on 4 large single family homes on Luther street in Cherry. The homes are slated to sell in the mid 600's. I can't talk about it just yet but I know of at least two other reputable builders who are going to be announcing projects in Cherry very soon.

[Vitamin_N]

Not related to the above post but Grandfather Homes is well under way on 4 large single family homes on Luther street in Cherry. The homes are slated to sell in the mid 600's. I can't talk about it just yet but I know of at least two other reputable builders who are going to be announcing projects in Cherry very soon.

Hadn't realized that, thanks. I live in the neighborhood but rarely drive down Luther. I've heard that a project was under consideration for the vacant lots on Ranlo, not sure if that's one of the two.

[mad_park]

Looks like some new construction houses are going up on Cherry St and about to get underway on Waco St.

[dubone]

So many houses were removed from this neighborhood, it hardly even seems like a neighborhood when you go through. 

 

I know there is a historical and racial component to this neighborhood, but at what point do we say that this is not a neighborhood anymore because there are no houses with neighbors in them.  Ror a multitude of complex reasons, the 'brand' of Cherry has been vastly superceded by the Midtown brand, and of course the Myers Park which it always should have been considered part of (except for the racism of 100y ago).

 

I wonder if this passes into history like the Brooklyn neighborhood brand, and we remember it properly in a historical context but not as a name of the current land area.

 

I am sure this will be considered a offensive, but it is just a thought experiment.   It is not only a shame on society that it is being 'gentrified', but rather that the gentry isolated their servants in a segregated and ghettoized neighborhood in the first place.    Doesn't the reversal of this historical misdeed into a middle class neighborhood (not the gentry) signal a positive thing in society, and ought to get a modern name as part of that modern trend? 

[Windsurfer]

 

I am sure this will be considered a offensive, but it is just a thought experiment.   It is not only a shame on society that it is being 'gentrified', but rather that the gentry isolated their servants in a segregated and ghettoized neighborhood in the first place.    Doesn't the reversal of this historical misdeed into a middle class neighborhood (not the gentry) signal a positive thing in society, and ought to get a modern name as part of that modern trend? 

 

I had always heard that Cherry endured because of pride of ownership and familial ties, unlike other poorer sections. It was a place of pride for some....not necessarily a ghetto. (in the negative sense)

 

Interesting history on it: http://www.cmhpf.org/kids/neighborhoods/cherry.html

Edited June 18, 2013 by Windsurfer

[southslider]

I walked across Cherry just last weekend along Torrence between 3rd and Kings.  Every block had older houses.  Are there interruptions in the historic housing stock?  Sure, but no worse than Fourth Ward, which also has newer construction mixed in on nearly every block.

[dubone]

Baxter and Main have a lot of sections with no houses.    Certainly it is the obvious default to keep a historic neighborhood name.  The area is clearly being skipped by recent development activity, very possibly because the historic name does not have a good brand (I always thought of it as a sad mockery, that the only thing to be said was that it was built to house the servants of Myer's Park).   4th Ward did have many of its buildings torn down or burnt down, but the history doesn't reduce chances of a rebirth.

 

I used to live in the Garden District of First Ward.  That is a modern rebranding of the neighborhood known as Mechanicsville in the 1800s and Earl Village during the era of public housing.   Eventually, history changes and it is time for a rebirth with a new name to reflect a new personality.  NoDa seems hipper than North Charlotte, and became a hip neighborhood.  SouthEnd needed a name to reflect the divergence of character compared the rest of Dilworth.  The area just west of Freedom Park was known as something else but has slowly become park of Dilworth.   

 

To me, it is a shame that I think of Cherry as a segregation-era servants neighborhood, but clearly that is what a lot of people think when so many parcels lay empty while high-rises are planned a few blocks away.  At what point do we say, that era ought to be left in the past.

[Vitamin_N]

I live in Cherry, and my impression (which may or may not be correct, I don't know) was that a lot of people are sitting on vacant land there waiting for I-don't-know-what. I have a couple of vacant lots across the street from me owned by some dude who inherited it and does nothing with it.

 

The neighborhood real estate market is weird--it seems like there's plenty of demand but low turnover. The handful of new houses I've noticed on MLS the past year are priced from $300-$500K, with a couple more right by Myers Park going for more than that. I'm curious as to what happened with that big Live In Cherry project.

[dubone]

Maybe it will be like Wilmore, where investors silently wait and let their land stay empty until one day something clicks and it gets reborn and the houses all get aesthetically nice updates and the land starts getting appropriate redevelopment.   Being so close to Myers Park and the Midtown retail, both hospitals, downtown, the greenway, the streetcar, etc., are all huge plus and Dilworth is a huge pluses for this land.  There is just no sense to be made in the fact that it has only gotten an old folks home built in it in all these boom years for all of the surrounding neighborhoods.

 

Gentry will clearly continue to live in Myers Park and Dilworth, but there is really no reason that reasonable middle class housing should not be built in the neighborhood.

[tozmervo]

Ok, so after some mulling, my $.02:

 

Cherry has the potential to have some of the most whip-lash gentrification this city's ever seen. Just a couple of blocks from some of the worst CHA housing in the city is a street where new $400,000 homes are being built. CHA has been focusing on renovating it's high rises and West Blvd as of late, but they've got to have some plans for their properties in Cherry. Some of the duplexes are in decent enough shape and perfectly livable, but there are a couple of blocks of homes that look pretty wretched. 

 

I am absolutely positively not in favor of CHA being forced out, but those units are undoubtedly holding the whole neighborhood back in perception. People whine all the time about stupid things hurting their property values, but in this case I think it's extremely valid. 

 

As for the identity of Cherry, it's still there and it's still valid. It's just a small neighborhood in a city that likes big neighborhoods. As it's perception changes with new development, it'll become more well known, but I don't think the name should be dropped at all. 

[Guest]

I've actually been wanting to buy houses in Cherry and fix them up. There are some handsome homes, but they don't go on the market very often.

[Miesian Corners]

Large sections of Cherry are undeveloped due to the Cherry Neighborhood Association, which used to own the land and the structures on it.  And just as an FYI, Cherry pre-dates Myers Park by at least 20 years.

[Vitamin_N]

Does anybody know what they're building on Baxter St between Kings and Cherry?