Peebles Accuses Mecklenburg County in Brooklyn Village Dust-up

A stalled teardown and a dust-up over asbestos are holding up Charlotte’s $700M Brooklyn Village project.

Developer BK Partners, a joint venture between The Peebles Corporation and Charlotte-based Conformity Corporation, accused Mecklenburg County officials of withholding approvals for the project’s first phase over the demolition of the former Board of Education building, the Charlotte Business Journal reported.

The building is on a portion of the project’s phase 2 land that, according to BK Partners, the firm does not own and does not plan to acquire for at least eight to 10 years.

The development group says it agreed to demolish the building at the county’s request two years ago, expecting minimal environmental hurdles. But after commissioning an updated study, BK Partners found extensive friable asbestos, increasing demolition costs fivefold and extending the demolition timeline by as much as six to eight months, the company said.

The firm requested a demolition deadline extension from the county in April, citing force majeure conditions and asserting that hand-removal of the asbestos made a July 28 demo date unfeasible.

That request was denied, with the county’s legal counsel asserting that delays were due to the developer’s “lack of normal industry standard precautions.”

A company spokesperson told The Real Deal the county knew of the asbestos contamination but “wants BK Partners to pay for and perform an environmental clean-up of a building we do not own,” they said. “They are trying to shift the cost of extensive clean up to BK Partners,” they said.

The county has not publicly commented on the matter and has declined to comment to the outlet on the matter numerous times.

Peebles said the Board of Education building’s condition does not impact the schedule for Phase 1, which includes land BK Partners purchased from the county in 2023 for $10.3 million. The firm maintains it has the right to develop luxury apartments, retail, hotel and office uses on that site and intends to move forward when market conditions improve.

The original development agreement requires that 10 percent of residential units be affordable, though BK Partners says it has offered to build 250 affordable units upfront pending local subsidy support. The city of Charlotte “was insistent that the County contribute to their subsidy” but “the County refused,” the spokesperson said.

BK Partners has proposed proceeding with the affordable housing components while addressing demolition cost disputes separately.

— Judah Duke