‘Complicated’: Development for affordable housing near South End runs into setback

CHARLOTTE — There has been a setback to develop a low-cost community near South End in Charlotte.

Brookhill Land Lease Ventures announced Tuesday it sold interest in the project after a yearslong funding battle for the property off Remount Road, near Interstate 77.

The goal was to build new affordable housing on the property for current residents at Brookhill Village, as well as market-rate units.

The developers said it could not secure public and private funding for the vision, so they wrote an open letter to the community that announced a transfer of ownership. The new owners are led by Brookhill Investments and Charlotte businessman Mike Griffin.

In part, the letter read, “My goal was to preserve the strong bonds of community, ensure affordable housing and honor the legacy of this historic site and its people. I have been assured that these goals will be front and center under the new ownership.”

>> Read the full letter here.

Channel 9 learned that about 100 people still live at Brookhill Village, including Robert Holly. Holly has lived there for nine years and has no intention of leaving.

“What I love about this neighborhood: It’s quiet, we don’t bother nobody. We have fun with a lot of people in Brookhill,” he said.

Holly pays around $300 per month to live there, and he said it’s all he can afford. But many buildings are in poor condition -- gutters dangle from roofs and siding is coming off the walls.

“They need to tear some of it down, but some of them look good,” Holly said. “They just need to fix them up.”

Over the years, there have been promises to redevelop the land for affordable housing. Ray McKinnon is with South Tryon CDC -- a group that supports the residents currently at Brookhill. He can recall at least three different owners of the property since 2016.

“Brookhill is so complicated,” McKinnon said.

In the letter, the developers said the company has, “come to the regretful conclusion that we could not muster the level of public and private support needed” and that “Griffin’s plan involves privately funded affordable units.”

McKinnon said he is “cautiously optimistic.”

“From what I’ve been told, it centers the residents who are there and contributing, making Brookhill the community it is,” he said.

McKinnon said this is all so new, so plans are still in the works. That’s a phrase that residents like Holly are too familiar with.

“I stuck through it for nine years and I’m going to still stick through it,” he said.

(Watch the video below: City leaders agree to provide Brookhill up to $3M from Housing Trust Fund)

City leaders agree to provide Brookhill up to $3M from Housing Trust Fund

©2022 Cox Media Group