historic preservation
Cain Center will buy historic properties downtown
March 22. By Dave Yochum. Cain Center for the Arts has three parcels of land at the corner of School Street and Catawba Avenue under contract for an undisclosed amount. The prime site contains three folk Victorian-style homes, two of which the Cain Center will save. One of them will be used for a ceramic […]
Abigail Jennings lands top award from leading preservation group
Oct. 20. By Dave Yochum. Cornelius businesswoman Abigail Jennings received the Best All Around Preserver Award at the Golden Night of Preservation at the Duke Mansion in Charlotte this week. The CEO of Lake Norman Realty has been an advocate of historic preservation and served on the Historic Preservation Commission in Cornelius before it was […]
Preserve Mecklenburg moves to save historic houses on Catawba
HISTORIC PRESERVATION June 6. By Dave Yochum. Preserve Mecklenburg (PMI) has obtained a one-year option to purchase four parcels of land at the corner of School Street and Catawba Avenue, not far from the old agricultural building on the grounds of the Cornelius Elementary School where town officials hope to house a museum for local […]
Mill’s Market: High expectations for prime downtown real estate
Feb. 22. By Dave Yochum. The proposed Mill’s Market project in downtown Cornelius will be worth on the order of $60 million at build-out—a massive amount worthy of uptown Charlotte—that comes on top of the new $25 million Cain Center for the Arts. Developer Mark Miller says he wants Mill’s Market to raise the bar […]
Work to begin soon on tenant house, but commercial project delayed
Jan. 26. By Dave Vieser and Dave Yochum. There’s some good news and bad news regarding the ongoing construction at Alexander Farm, according to Jesse McInerney of Win Development, the Florida-based developer. First the bad news: “Due to some unfortunate delays we are likely not going to see buildings coming out of the ground in […]
Tenant house on the move
Aug. 19. The tenant house on Alexander Farm was making its way to the corner of Westmoreland and W. Catawba Thursday afternoon. The historic structure was jacked up and towed across a field to its new site. The tenant structure is significant because so few are left in a once-agricultural county where sharecropping was commonplace. […]
Historic building downtown faces partial demolition
June 3. By Dave Yochum. There may be no saving a historic downtown building whose roof collapsed earlier this week. State inspectors yesterday directed the property owner to remove the second story. Owner Corner Oak LLC could not be reached for comment, but they are consulting with contractors and Mecklenburg County as to how the […]
Roof of historic building falls in
June 1. By Dave Yochum. The roof of a century-old brick building at 21320 Catawba Ave. in Cornelius has fallen in. Separated by an empty lot from the new Cain Center for the Arts, the historic Smith Building has been unoccupied for years. No one was injured. The sidewalk in front and just to the […]
Newsmakers Breakfast—the first in 2 years—draws historically minded crowd
April 21. More than 60 citizens, business leaders and elected officials attended today’s Newsmakers Breakfast on Historic Preservation at The Peninsula Club. Hosted by Business Today and Cornelius Today it was the first Newsmakers Breakfast since the COVID outbreak began a little more than two years ago. Dynamics Panelists Dan Morrill, Abigail Jennings and Michael […]
Local history: The Alexander Farm
April 6. By Dan Morrill/Preserve Mecklenburg. J. Wilson Alexander (1887-1972) owned and operated a large cotton farm in Northern Mecklenburg. Cotton was a labor-intensive crop. It took a lot of people to plant, cultivate, and harvest cotton. Most of the labor was provided by sharecroppers and tenant farmers. They lived in modest houses on the […]
