Demolitions In Older Neighborhoods
-Harrison Marshall (Coordinator, Smart Growth Initiatives, NCDOT), to Phil Poe
Regarding our discussion some time ago about tear downs predicted
for Boylan Heights and your neighborhood . . . the owner of the
apartment house on Boylan behind Moonlite Pizza evicted the
tenants and demolished the building. Historic Commission staff
had attempted to work with the owner to rehab the building (we'd
predicted all three buildings would convert to professional
office space once the rail stations were a go) but they have $ in
their eyes, thinking the property is worth a fortune because of
proximity to transit.
The owner of an apartment house at Florence and Cabarrus (which
is inside the BH Historic District) has evicted all the tenants
as well. The Commission denied the demolition permit but the
owner says he'll wait the year, tear down the house and build
"luxury condos." Again, this is due to proximity to the rail
station.
Luckily for Old Glenwood/Brooklyn, the connection with the
proposed north Downtown station is not as direct as it is with us
to the central Downtown station. Regardless, the pressure down
this way is already mounting. As we have a number of demolition
by neglect houses plus some poorly maintained apartment houses,
it is not clear what might happen over the next several years.
Historic Commission staff are concerned about tear downs of
multiple houses so that lots can be combined to make larger
yards. While the Commission can keep new buildings in context,
there is nothing they can do about recombining lots.
