Recent News

County to Purchase Charlotte School of Law Building

At the last FreeMoreWest meeting, we were fortunate to have three esteemed guests, County Commissioner Vilma Leake, Dennis LaCaria, Sr. Assistant to the County Manager and Rossana Seitter from the Public Information office. They came to talk to us about their recent investment to purchase the former Charlotte School of Law building off Wilkinson Boulevard, part of a broader plan to redevelop some County-owned properties including the Hal Marshall building in uptown.

The County will pay $16 million for the 100,000-square-foot law school building and 10 surrounding acres from Merrifield Patrick Vermillion.

Contractually, the County can’t close on the law school property until August and LaCaria told us there will be a period of time to get the property ready for move-in.

Mecklenburg County plans to move most if not all of the staffers of the County’s Land Use and Environmental Services Agency (LUESA) from Hal Marshall into the law school building. The building is big enough to hold 600 people, but since LUESA includes the code enforcement division, the County wants to build a spacious customer service center.

“We are trying to be thoughtful to develop a comprehensive master plan of assets, and trying to change the customer experience,” said Dennis LaCaria.

Mecklenburg wants to sell three valuable properties that include the 11-acre Hal Marshall property and the 5-acre Bob Walton Plaza on Stonewall Street and an acre near BB&T Ballpark.

The County says we can expect them to attend more neighborhood and business meetings and are seeking ways to gain input.