Atrium Health released renderings of its planned medical school and Innovation District. The district will be named The Pearl, a nod to the long-gone Brooklyn neighborhood and Pearl Street Park, Charlotte’s first Black park for residents.
Courtesy of Atrium Health
Real neighbors show up for each other and make sure everyone is invited to the block party. Atrium Health showed up to the neighborhood Rev. Dr. Janet Garner-Mullins grew up in with billions in annual profits and only offered a paltry 5% of units as affordable in its new luxury apartment tower. Our response: “5% inclusive means 95% exclusive.”
The building is planned for Charlotte’s former Brooklyn neighborhood, razed for so-called “urban renewal” in the 1960s. The hospital giant and its partners Wexford Development and Wake Forest University School of Medicine have been happy to borrow imagery from the legacy of the neighborhood for their medical school and technology campus. The larger development is called “The Pearl” after Pearl Street Park, the primary park in Charlotte that was accessible to Black residents during segregation. Atrium and their partners designed an attractive series of historic markers and photos that display the neighborhood’s history. These are nice gestures, and we recommend that every Charlotte resident go witness them. But the damage urban renewal did to Charlotte was not a lack of pictures. It was homelessness and instability and deep economic struggle placed upon Black communities. If Atrium wants to be a real neighbor, they should commit to at least 20% of units as affordable, half of them at 50% AMI and below, and the other half at 80% AMI and below. The affordability period on those apartments should expire after 50 years rather than 20.
Atrium CEO Gene Woods made showy presentations to both the Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg County Commission in 2021, touting the corporation’s $10 million investment to ensure the building includes 5% of units (19 units) as affordable. The commitment isn’t quite the jewel of good citizenship it’s been touted as when you consider that Atrium will receive a $75M tax increment grant from the City and County as part of this deal.
Through a clever deal with Inlivian, Atrium isn’t the one who will actually be paying for those 19 affordable units. Instead, Inlivian is covering the cost with housing vouchers. Atrium’s contract with Inlivian guarantees vouchers that will pay luxury rents of up to $2,500 per unit or more. Luxury rents for affordable apartments–that’s not the kind of deal a CEO would boast about before a public body.
These 19 units are guaranteed to remain affordable for 20 years, a period far below the national standard. The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency generally requires at least 30 years. In other cities around the country, 50 years is becoming more common.
Atrium Health is not a private, profit-seeking entity. It is formally known as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, a public hospital authority whose primary charge is public health in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
Atrium is responsible, first and foremost, to act in the public interest. The residents of Charlotte will have to hold them to that responsibility. To that end, the Redress Movement, the Brooklyn Coalition, and our partners are urging Atrium to make a commitment that will actually support our neighbors: 20% of the new apartments at The Pearl should be affordable, half of them at 50% AMI and below, and the other half at 80% AMI and below. The affordability period on those apartments should expire after 50 years rather than 20. Our city has had enough of exclusion papered over by clever marketing. We need real solutions from institutions committed to inclusion for every neighbor and every neighborhood.
Rev. Dr. Janet Garner-Mullins is a minister and educator focused on issues of justice, health equity, and community well‑being. Rev. Greg Jarrell is the Senior Campaign Organizer in Charlotte for The Redress Movement.
