CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Tuesday, the new owners of the historic Excelsior Club put out a call for black architects to take part in the redevelopment and revival of the historic African American property.
The club, a mainstay in the African American community from 1944 until it closed in 2016, had fallen into such serious disrepair the property was named one of the nation’s 11 most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Earlier this year, California-based Kenwood Investments purchased the property with intentions of restoring the club. In a news release, the company said it wanted to build a “dream team” of black architects to develop concepts for the remodeling of the existing facilities, including the design of a boutique hotel to be constructed on the property.
Kenwood is also looking for creative black interior designers for the project.
The new team will work with Charlotte architect Darrell J. Williams, founding partner and the owner of Neighboring Concepts, one of the largest African American-owned architectural firms in the Southeast.
Interested architects and designers will be able to apply for consideration over the next several weeks.
They will be selected based on how their professional backgrounds are suited to this kind of preservation work, their vision for preserving history, how they would complement the local Neighboring Concepts team and how their concept for the new hotel would complement the historic building.
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