Big box stores and neighborhoods generally don’t mix. Most of us shop at large chain stores with their superabundance of goodies, but we rarely want them anywhere near where we live. In fact we usually oppose them fervently. That’s the story so far in the saga of the proposed Lowe’s home improvement superstore on a site in Charlotte’s South End, a fast developing district of creative small firms, art galleries, restaurants and higher-density housing, all sprouting up around the historic trolley and future light rail line.
Last week I reported on a recent meeting of the Dilworth Community Development Association where local residents made clear their opposition to the proposed store in typically vehement fashion. I noted how emotion, distrust, and rhetoric from residents overcame reasoned debate. As a follow-up, I am offering this more objective critique of the Lowe’s proposal.
On the face of it, fitting a 160,000 square foot superstore into 11 acres adjacent to an established residential neighborhood seems unlikely to work. Superstores are notorious for acres of asphalt parking, deliveries at all hours, and an overall barren flattening of the landscape. In this instance, however, Lowe’s is trying very hard to create a new image and a new prototype. They may never win over the neighbors, but they just might convince elected officials that their new design marks a breakthrough in bringing large-scale retail into urban centers. Lowe’s’ desire to build in this location demonstrates the market’s approval of the city’s vision for Uptown and South End, and for a city that values the opinion of the market over every other consideration this should be evidence enough.
But is it?
To fit into the edge of Dilworth, the project designers have screened the store by lining local streets (Magnolia and Lyndhurst) with condominiums, matching those in the neighborhood. On a third side, at the corner of Lyndhurst and Iverson Way, extensive landscaping masks the garden center, replacing the unappealing streetscape of barbed wire, brick sheds and scruffy trailers that currently characterizes the view.
The entry for trucks is on Iverson Way, directly accessible from South Boulevard. The designers have done a good job of planning the truck area so it can’t be entered from neighborhood streets: the turning radii for semis simply won’t work in any configuration except driving from South Boulevard. Surface parking is substantially reduced by locating most cars on the roof, and the whole development wears lots of fancy dress architecture. In almost every way, this design goes far beyond the norm.
The biggest weakness of the project is the main entry off Magnolia, creating a crossroads with Euclid Avenue. This places pressure on neighborhood streets and makes it more likely that some traffic from neighborhoods to the east will filter through parts of Dilworth rather than traveling to South Boulevard and entering from that direction. I think opponents overstate their fears of cars running rampant through Dilworth’s streets, but locating the entry on South Boulevard would largely resolve that perceived problem.
However, entering directly from South Boulevard is difficult. The street grid provides existing junctions at Magnolia, Meacham and Iverson Way, and Meacham is abandoned so cars can ingeniously ramp up to the roof. The site plan improves the two remaining junctions: it places a new traffic signal and extra turn lanes at Magnolia to control customer traffic, and restricts trucks to an improved Iverson Way intersection. It’s an elegant and logical solution — except that it brings local streets into play and stirs up a hornets’ nest of opposition. In this context, I think a main entrance directly off South Boulevard near Meacham has to be reexamined, using the line of that street to reduce the scale of the site by breaking up the “superblock.”
Some South End businesses will also be affected. Excellent small retailers like Ferguson’s Plumbing Supplies with their specialist Kitchen and Bath Gallery, Renaissance Tile and Bath, and Campbell’s Nursery will be direct competition with the Lowe’s giant on the next block. The only way they’ll survive is by marketing their expert technical assistance and personable service, standing out in contrast to the legendary scarcity and unhelpfulness of employees who end up working in big box stores.
Other local business owners cautiously welcome the new giant to the ‘hood. South End pioneer and businessman Gaines Brown suggested that local communities could benefit by making their approval contingent on commitments from Lowe’s to employ, say, 20 percent of their workforce from nearby neighborhoods, thus directly feeding dollars into local economies.
Charlotteans have bemoaned the lack of major retail in the city center for years. Now we have a proposal to reverse the trend; it would be perverse to turn away what we say we want. As a Dilworth resident, I’d vote in favor. One new urban Lowe’s means many fewer greenfields paved over at the city’s edge.
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2005.
