Vacant Drug-Raid Land In Line for New Life as Retail Center

CHARLOTTE, NC-Long an eyesore on the corner of West Boulevard and Remount Road, the 4.6-acre Westover Shopping Center may be seeing its final days as a rundown retail establishment.

The city council is asking the landowner, the U.S. Justice Dept., to transfer the land to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Development Corp. The agency would develop a $3.4 million-shopping center to replace the decaying Westover property

.The city will contribute $900,000 to the cost of the project. The balance will be in the form of federal grants and private loans. Community groups will participate in overseeing the project.

The land was seized in a 1991 drug raid. The transfer of ownership would end a decade of frustration to get the project under way. Redevelopment could begin in early 2001 and take two years to complete.

Three existing buildings on the land are to be demolished. Plans call for seven stores in a 27,000-sf building. Among the businesses that have signed letters of intent are Family Dollar, Simply Fashions, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and Centura Bank. A restaurant is also interested in an adjacent building.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Adam II district office will also relocate to the site from 3400 S. Tryon St.