Charlotte City Council set to vote on $4 million Five Points affordable housing loan and land purchase
Vote scheduled on West Trade Street development near the CityLYNX Gold Line
Charlotte City Council is expected to vote Monday night, Feb. 23, 2026, on a proposal to provide $4.1 million in city funds to support a mixed-use redevelopment in the Historic West End’s Five Points area. The request seeks city participation to help produce 145 affordable housing units along West Trade Street adjacent to the CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar corridor.
The proposed city funding would be provided to Historic West End Partners, a local nonprofit working in the corridor surrounding Five Points. The organization has been assembling parcels along West Trade Street and has pursued a redevelopment concept that combines housing with neighborhood-serving commercial uses.
How the $4.1 million would be structured and what it would pay for
City materials tied to the agenda describe the request as a public investment combining resources from the city’s Housing Trust Fund and fee-in-lieu revenues—payments made by developers to access additional density under city rules. In this case, those funds would be used to support a land acquisition effort intended to unlock the broader development.
The project site has been described as the former Church’s Chicken location along West Trade Street, where the development team has already purchased part of the property and is seeking financing to acquire remaining land needed for the full plan.
- Proposed city participation: $4.1 million
- Affordable housing units tied to the request: 145
- Location: West Trade Street near the streetcar line in the Five Points area of west Charlotte
Broader development concept includes grocery and business space
Project descriptions presented publicly in recent weeks have outlined a redevelopment concept that extends beyond housing. Plans discussed in connection with the West Trade Street assemblage include a grocery co-op and small-business support space such as office or incubator uses, positioned as a response to longstanding retail gaps in the area.
Separately reported project planning for the same West Trade Street corridor has described a larger mixed-use buildout with hundreds of apartments at multiple price points and a full-service market in the 15,000-square-foot range. The 145-unit affordable component is tied to the city’s pending action and is part of the housing outcomes expected from the project’s early financing.
Context: the city’s affordable housing financing tools
Charlotte’s Housing Trust Fund is the city’s long-running mechanism for financing affordable housing, funded through voter-approved housing bonds and administered through the city’s Housing & Neighborhood Services department. The fund was established in 2001 and has been used to create or preserve thousands of affordable units citywide.
The city has also expanded use of fee-in-lieu revenues associated with density increases, which can be directed to affordable housing goals. The West Trade Street proposal combines those streams to support acquisition and pre-development steps that are often difficult to finance in rapidly appreciating corridors.
The council vote is expected to determine whether the city advances the West Trade Street project from land acquisition planning into the next stages of financing and development scheduling.
What happens next
If approved, the funding would position Historic West End Partners to complete remaining property acquisition and proceed with the next steps needed to advance the mixed-use plan. Public timelines discussed for the broader development have indicated construction could begin near the end of 2026, with subsequent delivery dependent on financing and permitting milestones.