Brooklyn Village partnership deteriorated over a decade

MECKLENBURG COUNTY

Brooklyn Village, a housing and business development initiative approved by Mecklenburg County commissioners in 2016, has yet to start. The county is suing to fire the developer.

In 2016, the partnership between Mecklenburg County and BK Partners sparkled with promise.

New housing, businesses and amenities would pump new life into a dormant Second Ward neighborhood. The developer would pay homage to the past and provide an economic lifeline to small businesses. 

A decade later, the county wants a new developer for Brooklyn Village.

A lawsuit filed last week by Mecklenburg to dissolve its partnership with BK Partners, if successful, would dissolve a decade-long relationship for the 17-acre project, which is geared to bring new businesses and housing to an area that was once an African American neighborhood razed in the 1960s.

Before county commissioners signed off on the Brooklyn Village initiative, Second Ward was a sparse collection of municipal buildings, including the former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools headquarters, Bob Walton Plaza as well as Marshall Park. The county board chose BK Partners among three Charlotte-based developers for the mixed-use project of office space, hotels, housing and retail. BK Partners is backed by Black-owned Peebles Corporation of Miami Beach, Florida, whose portfolio includes more than $8 billion in projects in cities like Miami, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Brooklyn Village includes a pair of centerpiece parcels: One borders Brooklyn Village Avenue, South McDowell, and South Alexander streets and I-277. The other borders South McDowell, and East Third streets, East Martin Luther King Boulevard and First Baptist Church.

In August 2025, Mecklenburg County told Peebles his company was in default of its obligation. A month earlier, Peebles missed the deadline to demolish the empty Board of Education building in Second Ward. The building is still standing.

Peebles responded the building couldn’t be demolished because of asbestos on the site. County officials questioned why Peebles hasn’t built anything despite new projects sprouting across the city – including near Brooklyn Village’s barren lots.

Mecklenburg isn’t the only North Carolina municipality to take Peebles to court. Durham broke off its relationship with Peebles last year when the city and developer couldn’t agree to terms on a project downtown.

BK Partners’ plan was the most ambitious – and lucrative – of three proposals when Mecklenburg commissioners approved the deal in 2016. Peebles’ proposal called for 1,243 residential units, including 107 affordable housing apartments. Two hotels with 280 rooms combined would also be built along with 252,100 square feet in retail space and 680,700 square feet for offices. The developer proposed paying the county $50 million for the site.

“I think one key to all of this …is that Peebles is going to pay us over $50 million and still provide everything we want,” commissioner Bill James wrote in a 2016 email. “CitiSculpt (one of three competing bids) will only pay us $18 to $23 million and give us basically the exact same thing.”

Peebles said at the time: “I think our team offers the broadest benefit to the county, the city and the community as a whole. Unlike our two competitors, we’re not seeking any public subsidy or public funds. Both of them are looking for around $20 million from the county.”

Another pledge Peebles made was to involve historically underutilized businesses in the project. His company met with small business owners at participation workshops early in the process and pledged 35% of construction contracts would go to minority, women and small businesses.

“One of our key objectives is to provide access to equal economic opportunities which will result in minorities and women of Charlotte not only witnessing economic expansion but be active participants,” he said after earning the contract. “These opportunities will result in future major entrepreneurs who will surpass my success as an entrepreneur.”

Conformity would start immediately, Peebles said 10 years ago. The first building’s foundation has yet to be laid.

Brooklyn was a pillar of African American community for most of the 20th century. The United House of Prayer For All People – best known for massive parades led by founder Charles “Sweet Daddy” Grace – was based in Second Ward. The neighborhood was home to Second Ward High School, built in 1923 as Charlotte’s first high school for Black Students, was located on Second Street at the site where Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center now sits.

When the federal government made billions of dollars available to eradicate substandard housing in the 1960s, the entire neighborhood was razed by 1969, scattering an estimated 10,000 residents. County leaders were keenly aware of the project’s significance.

“It’s important that we acknowledge the history of Second Ward and reflect it in building a vibrant community,” Commissioner Trevor Fuller said in 2016. “We’re excited about its potential and it’s important that we get this right.”

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