CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Despite concerns over airport-related noise and a state lawsuit, a complex with more than 300 apartments was approved by the Charlotte City Council Monday night.
The 11.5-acre property sits between Tuckaseegee Road and Queen City Drive, just north of Charlotte Douglas International. Due to its location, it sits within the Airport Noise Overlay, which doesn’t ban residential development but does warn about potential airplane noise.
Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield continued to share concerns about building at the site. On the south side of CLT, many neighborhoods have been abandoned and rezoned to industrial uses due to noise stemming from the future fourth parallel runway.
For the apartments managed by Greystar Development East, Mayfield was the lone City Council member to oppose the rezoning.
“The long-term impact, I personally am not comfortable with,” she said. “Fast forward a decade or so or so later, we’re looking at tax dollars being part of mass-displacement event.”
Addressing the noise concerns, the developer has agreed to add additional insulation around the windows of the two southernmost buildings. They will have a Sound Transmission Class rating of 35.
“That’s great inside the unit, but if you step outside the building, it sets a bad precedent after spending thousands of tax dollars through the airport to buy out properties, motels, hotels, as well as single-family homes that are in airport overlay area,” Mayfield said.
Tiawana Brown, the district representative for the property, shared her support through a letter since she was not present Monday. Other council members said Brown’s support was key in their vote.
“Our job is difficult. We’re trying to balance supply of housing while addressing some of the community’s concerns,” Dimple Ajmera said. “We have to take some of that into consideration. This will definitely help provide additional housing that we need.”
The 306 units will be built across six buildings. The rezoning changes from mixed-use development (MUDD) to Neighborhood 2 Conditional (N2C), which is intended for multi-family dwellings with smaller setbacks.
The city’s Zoning Committee and Planning Department staff also approved the rezoning.
AI-based lawsuit
Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, the parent company of Greystar East, is among the developers named in a lawsuit filed in January by Attorney General Jeff Jackson. The suit alleges that six landlords are working together with an artificial intelligence software company to raise rents.
“North Carolinians are struggling to afford their rent as it is – we won’t stand for landlords and real estate companies making the problem worse to line their own pockets,” said Jackson. “I’m suing these landlords to make sure they play by the rules so North Carolinians can get fair prices for rent.”
Jackson’s office claims RealPage is allegedly creating a pricing algorithm in violation of antitrust laws and enriching themselves at the expense of renters, who end up paying inflated prices. His case alleges that these landlords communicated with RealPage and each other to share non-public information about rent prices, occupancy, strategies for setting rents, and discounts.
He took to social media to discuss the suit Monday in a video.
“Instead of competing against each other, they can quietly work together and replace competition with collusion,” he explained.
City Council has not acknowledged the lawsuit in either the rezoning presentation or vote.
In addition to Greystar, the other landlords named are Blackstone’s LivCor LLC, Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield Inc and Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, Willow Bridge Property Company LLC, and Cortland Management LLC.
Jackson filed the lawsuit alongside the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.
The Federal Trade Commission also filed a lawsuit against Greystar in January over alleged deceptive pricing practices.
