More affordable housing for West Charlotte’s seniors is on the way.
On Tuesday, the West Side Community Land Trust broke ground on a $31 million project that will bring 120 senior affordable apartments to the West Boulevard corridor.
Dubbed the Historic Nathaniel Carr Senior Apartments, the project honors its namesake, a Black farmer and developer, who with his wife, Lizzie, established Carr Heights neighborhood in 1924 on West Boulevard for Black homebuyers.
“The ground we break today with speech and shovel was broken once before,” Jordan Brooks-Adams, a West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition member, said. “Soil turned over and watered by the sweat of resilient Black men and women.”
The groundbreaking also marked the first foray into multi-family housing for the West Charlotte nonprofit — its largest project to date. The group started in 2018 to combat gentrification and help West Charlotte residents age in place.
“We exist to be conduits of justice in and with communities that have long been overlooked, silenced, and often times erased,” Charis Blackmon, the land trust’s executive director, said.
In May, the land trust acquired the 4.5 acre site on West Boulevard off Tyvola Road for $1.1 million, WCNC reported. The nonprofit has leased the land to affordable housing developer The Paces Foundation and Soho Housing Partners to create the units.
The land trust previously has been recognized for its work to create affordable housing. Earlier in November, it was awarded a $600,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The groundbreaking represents the realization of what the community knows to be true: there is power in people, and that the community’s history, legacy and future are rich, Blackmon said.
A COMMUNITY EFFORT
The development comes as Charlotte remains in dire need of affordable housing. The City Council voted Monday to spend all the money left in its Housing Trust Fund to subsidize more than 600 affordable units.
Victoria Watlington, a city council member, said the Historic Nathaniel Carr Senior Apartments is a shining example of a community and collaborative effort. Watlington, a former West Boulevard Neigborhood Coalition member, added, the efforts of residents to come to the table and be involved should be championed.
“How we build this city and plan this city can not happen for us unless it’s done by us,” she said.
The one- and two-bedroom apartments on West Boulevard will rent between $474 and $1,516, for seniors 55 and older with incomes between 30% and 80% of the area media income.
