Affordable housing development planned for Aldersgate (free version)
Plus: Chinese Chamber changes name to be more inclusive; How to reap the post-storm free-mulch bonanza; 🎧 Podcast with an 'accidental banker'; A look at 'Dry January' and liquor sales
Good morning! Today is Friday, January 12, 2024. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
Today’s Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by Black Notes Project | Blumenthal Performing Arts (blumenthalarts.org). Orchestrally inspired, the Black Notes Project festival features Black artists spanning genres and geography. This indoor music festival is fun for everyone and hits Charlotte January 26-27, 2024.
Editor’s note: This is a shorter, free version of The Charlotte Ledger sent to people on our free sign-up list. The complete version for paying members went out 15 minutes ago. It included:
The complete story detailing plans to build low and middle-income housing for seniors and families on the campus of the Aldersgate retirement community, which has been under scrutiny by state officials because of financial troubles. We’ve got a look at details of the development — including renderings.
The full article explaining what led the Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce to change its name, and why that signals growth in Charlotte’s business community.
A landscaping pro-tip🌳 from a Ledger contributor who’s in the know on gardening about how to score free mulch — and why these post-storm days are a mulch bonanza. It could save you a few hundred dollars.
At The Ledger, our eyes are fixed👀 on giving you relevant, important, enjoyable-to-read information and insights that you won’t find anywhere else. Could we have followed Kamala Harris around Charlotte yesterday and reported out the same news nuggets that our capable fellow members of the media did? Of course.
But our mission is to give you news you won’t find elsewhere — so we’ll let others chase the pack-journalism-story-of-the-day while we deliver fresh, original articles. (Don’t worry, we have a brief at the bottom of today’s newsletter in case you’re wondering how the vice president spent her time in Charlotte.)
Paid subscriptions to The Ledger are $9/month or $99/year — which is much less than the value of, say, the mulch today’s newsletter directs you to for free. But in addition to tips on scoring free mulch, your Ledger membership gives you full access to every edition by email and on our website, including the complete Wednesday and Friday issues. (Details here — you can also sign up for a group subscription to add a second subscriber at no extra cost.) Mulch and authoritative info about Charlotte? That sounds like a winning combo!
The upscale east Charlotte retirement community plans to partner with a developer on low- and middle-income housing, which could help solve financial troubles
The majority of the mixed-income development planned for Aldersgate will sit along Shamrock Drive, in the northeast portion of the retirement community’s 231-acre campus. (Site plan taken from a presentation from last October by Aldersgate and the N.C. Department of Insurance, which the Ledger obtained through a public records request)
by Cristina Bolling
Plans are underway to build apartments for low- and middle-income seniors and families on the campus of the Aldersgate senior living community in east Charlotte, which is in the midst of recovering from financial troubles that led state officials to intervene last summer.
As The Ledger first reported, the N.C. Department of Insurance, which regulates the financial aspects of continuing care retirement communities like Aldersgate, issued an “administrative order of supervision” in August, saying the nonprofit was “insolvent or in imminent danger of becoming insolvent” and giving Aldersgate 150 days to address issues such as paying out entrance fee refunds owed to former residents and instituting a corrective action plan.
Records filed with the state showed that the NCDOI had been scrutinizing Aldersgate for months as the non-profit worked to overcome years of financial losses and what regulators described as financial mismanagement.
Building a housing development on the campus of a retirement community like Aldersgate is an unusual move for a continuing care community in Charlotte. But working with a developer to add affordable housing could be a way to help the retirement community get on more firm financial footing.
Aldersgate’s corrective action plan filed with the state included executing a plan for a mixed-income housing project on Aldersgate property, which would bring in needed money through either a sale or ground lease.
Groundbreaking is expected to happen in the spring or summer, said Brooks Shelley, chief brand strategy and community engagement officer for Aldersgate Life Plan Services.
According to documents obtained by The Ledger from a presentation Aldersgate gave to residents last fall, the plan to build 236 apartments consists of:
Related Ledger articles:
“State says Aldersgate is potentially ‘insolvent’” (🔒, Aug. 18)
“Aldersgate CEO says she's proud of steps to improve financial position” (Aug. 23, 2023)
“Inside Aldersgate, some residents aren’t sweating its finances” (🔒, Sept. 1, 2023)
Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce changes name to ‘Carolinas AAPI Business Alliance’ to promote inclusivity among Asian-owned businesses
The Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce is renaming itself the Carolinas AAPI Business Alliance to be more inclusive of non-Chinese Asian-owned businesses across North and South Carolina.
“We can be more inclusive and try to build up this type of alliance to combine all the resources for the Asian business community,” said Michael Wang, who serves as president of the business group. “AAPI” stands for Asian American and Pacific Islander.
In the aftermath of the storm, how to get free mulch
The storm this week caused a lot of damage to trees, but it also brought an unexpected gift to homeowners: free mulch.
If your yard is a sodden mess and you’re mulling an order of pine straw or bark chips, consider taking the cheap route. Here’s how:
DOES FREE MULCH SMELL SWEETER? Here’s the pile of fresh mulch Ledger contributor Amber Veverka scored this week. (Photo by Amber Veverka)
🎧 New podcast episode: U.S. Bank’s Dee O’Dell on banking, leadership and philanthropy
The Charlotte Ledger Podcast is back with its first episode of 2024 — a discussion with Dee O’Dell of U.S. Bank. He says he’s an “accidental banker” who moved to Charlotte about 20 years ago to join First Union/Wachovia.
Today, he’s the head of U.S. Bank’s business banking sales, a division that works with companies with between $2.5 million and $25 million in sales across the country, and he has served on boards of the United Way of Greater Charlotte, the Opportunity Task Force and many other Charlotte-area nonprofits.
He talks with Ledger editor Tony Mecia about how banking, philanthropy and leadership in Charlotte have changed over the last two decades; the role of banks and charities in building up Charlotte; the outlook for the economy; and more.
Career advice: O’Dell also offers this nugget of wisdom for people who want to succeed in the banking sector:
Always be curious and learning and thinking about things beyond the scope of exactly what your day job is. I think that is absolutely critical. And then building the connections, the social capital, connecting people and doing that for other people will ultimately lead you into connections with people who have wonderful things that you can learn and with whom you can do things in the community. And those can open up doors to other opportunities.
You can check out the full conversation here:
The Charlotte Ledger Podcast features conversations on local topics including business, nonprofits, education and more. It’s available on major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Check it out!
Sales at ABC retail stores are typically soft in January, which is traditionally the slowest month for purchases of liquor. Compared with the monthly average for the prior six months, sales in Mecklenburg in January 2022 fell 20%, and sales in January 2023 fell 24%, according to a Ledger analysis of state liquor sales data. The Mecklenburg County ABC Board averaged $14.2M in monthly retail liquor sales last year, including a spike to $20.6M in December, which tends to be the busiest month (easily).
You might be interested in these Charlotte events
Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:
FRI. JAN 19 - SUN. JAN. 28: Queen's Feast: Charlotte Restaurant Week at 100+ participating restaurants. Discover new dining destinations during Queen’s Feast, January 19-28. Find your favorites as 100 restaurants in 8 metro-area counties showcase their best with 3-course, prix fixe dining deals. View menus and make reservations at CharlotteRestaurantWeek.com. $30-$50.
THURS., JAN. 25: An 18th Century Evening, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Charlotte Museum of History. Experience a night of classical music in an intimate setting at the Charlotte Museum of History’s “An Eighteenth Century Evening” on Thursday, Jan. 25, featuring the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra performing works by Chevalier, Mozart, Handel and more. $35.
◼️ Check out the full Ledger events board.
➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.
GET YOUR 2024 OFF TO A STRONG START with The Ledger’s new free email series called “A Better You in 2024.” It’s a brief daily email over 12 days with actionable tips from Charlotte experts on how to improve yourself personally and professionally, in areas such as goal-setting, self-discipline, parenting, saving for college and sleeping more soundly.
In brief
Charlotte crime up in 2023: Charlotte’s crime rate rose 14% in 2023, fueled by a 120% spike in stolen vehicles — mostly Kias and Hyundais. Violent crime was flat, including an 11% drop in homicides. Police noted an “extremely alarming” rise in crimes committed by teenagers. (WCNC)
Republicans’ solutions for crime: State and local leaders including N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, Charlotte City Council member Tariq Bokhari and state Rep. John Bradford are collaborating on a legislative agenda to address crime in Charlotte. The focus includes reducing recidivism and youth crime, as well as concerns about people being released under low or no bonds. The three met in Charlotte this week and said they’re hopeful that increased interest in public safety can bridge divides between the Democrat-led city and the Republican majority in the statehouse. (Observer)
Panthers to play in Germany: The Carolina Panthers will play a game in Munich during the 2024 season. The game’s date, opponent and ticket information haven’t been announced yet. It’s the team’s second international game – they won a 2019 game in London against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Axios Charlotte)
Novant settlement: Many Novant Health patients are receiving emails about a class-action settlement related to having their health-related information disclosed to a third party because of internet tracking technology. A judge is set to sign off on the $6.7M settlement in June. The amount received by each patient depends on the number of claims. More info at www.nhprivacysettlement.com. (WSOC)
Fintech CEO buys house: AvidXchange CEO Michael Praeger and his wife bought a 4,500 s.f. house in Cornelius in December for $2.47M. The house “sits on a 1.2-acre lot with a pool and spa,” the Charlotte Business Journal reported. The Praegers own two other homes in Cornelius that are on Lake Norman, property records show.
Prosecutors say bond terms are ‘woefully inadequate’ for break-in suspect: Mecklenburg County prosecutors are objecting to the terms of release for a woman charged with breaking into 197 cars in the Dilworth and SouthPark areas. The woman, 19-year-old Hannah Freeman, was released on a $165,000 bond that was left unsecured by District Court Judge Jennifer Fleet, which means that Freeman was not required to pay any of the bond before release. In a court filing this week, prosecutors said the terms of Freeman’s release are “woefully inadequate to protect the community from the threat posed by the defendant.” (WBTV)
Charity rebranding: Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays, local non-profit efforts to fight food insecurity and deliver meals to the homebound, have rebranded under the name Nourish Up. Loaves & Fishes and Friendship Trays operated for decades as separate charities but aligned in 2021. (Nourish Up)
Veep in Charlotte: Vice President Kamala Harris visited Charlotte’s Eastway Middle School on Thursday and announced $285M in mental health funding, $12M of which is expected to come to North Carolina. At the school, she met privately with students affected by gun violence and sat on a panel about violence prevention and mental health. She later visited the restaurant Leah & Louise in Camp North End. (Observer, WSOC)
More storms on the way: A storm system is headed in Charlotte’s direction this afternoon and evening, bringing with it the chance of wind gusts of up to 30 or 40 mph and heavy rain. (WCNC)
Mom accidentally buys cannabis for 6-year-old son: A mother who thought she had bought a bag of frozen Skittles for her 6-year-old son from Common Market in South End said she felt terrified after discovering that the bag actually contained Delta-9 edibles, a legal form of cannabis. Her son spent six hours in an emergency room after complaining: “My mind is wobbly.” The store said it has improved signs to make it clear that the merchandise is cannabis, not candy. (WSOC)
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman