CHARLOTTE — A major revitalization effort is now underway in Charlotte’s historic West End community. Leaders call it an effort to breathe new life along the Beatties Ford Road Corridor – an area they say hasn’t seen much change in 60 years.
The area along Oaklawn Avenue, and the historic Five Points West End Community is now ripe with new development — from the new City Lynx Gold Line Streetcar to the West Complex site. Local, minority-owned businesses are popping up all along the area near Johnson C. Smith University. Thursday, local leaders celebrated the opening of the new Chase Bank branch in the University Park neighborhood. They say this type of development is long overdue.
“Beatties Ford has looked the same for the last 60 years. So, don’t you forget it. And, it’s just the beginning,” says Mecklenburg County Commissioner Vilma Leake.
“We gotta make sure seniors are protected. We gotta make sure we rehab more houses for people who call Beatties Ford Road home so they won’t be displaced,” says Charlotte City Councilman Malcolm Graham.
The new Chase Bank is located one block away from where four people lost their lives during a Juneteenth block party last year. No one has been arrested.
Leaders say steps are already being taken to educate people living in this community. The City of Charlotte’s ‘Corridors of Opportunity’ Program was created to connect residents to affordable housing, workforce, and business development.