CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department is designing a new urban park in east Charlotte.
The roughly 5 acre park will be located on the site of the Eastland Yards development and the former Eastland Mall.
“It’s really a blank slate," Katie Lloyd, senior planner for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, said.
Now, city officials are asking for the community's feedback on the final design for the park.
Concepts for Eastland Park
Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation sees the former Eastland Mall site as a blank canvas, hoping to create new life in a part of Charlotte that is desperately in need of a park.
“The east side of Charlotte is a park-poor area of town, so it's one of 17 areas that we have recognized that we have gaps in access to public open space," Bert Lynn, capital planning division director for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, said.
“They want to see gathering spaces, they want to see active spaces, they want to see programmable spaces,” Lloyd said.
The county currently has two proposed concepts for Eastland Park, based on community input and site conditions.
Concept A is called "Naturally Linear" and Concept B is called "Playfully Connected."
Concepts for Eastland Park
Both options have different elements of design, but both focus on an element of play, including concerts, a neighborhood market and an ice-skating rink.
The landscapes are as diverse as the people who live in east Charlotte.
“As we are the city’s cultural hub here in east Charlotte, we don’t really have a gathering space for our culture to get together and celebrate, so this will be an exciting element to see come to fruition,” said Greg Asciutto, Chair of the Board of Directors for CharlotteEAST.
Meanwhile, the City of Charlotte is still deciding what will happen to the roughly 20 acres of unclaimed land after Tepper Sports announced it would no longer build a facility on the site for Charlotte FC. A racket sports facility and an entertainment venue are currently on the table.
The Park and Recreation design team will continue to work on finalizing plans for the park throug 2023 with the goal of starting construction in 2024. The community can provide feedback on which design they like more by June 10th here.
Lexi Wilson: Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.