I only included the half of Brook Hill east of Tryon as it is significantly more urbanized. West of Tyron is largely mid-century low density project housing, but urban mixed-use developments are incrementally replacing parts of it. Fortunately 100 of the mid-century projects will be renovated and preserved as affordable housing, providing crucial affordable housing as the neighborhood continues to gentrify.
Brookhill is very young professional oriented and thus most of the residents are renters. But a sizable amount of 2-bed condos and 3-bed townhouses are filling in. Brookhill was historically a mid-century low century warehouse area with limited historic single family homes. Given its proximity to Charlotte’s new light rail, and parallel recreational trail, it became an ideal place for new urban apartments with lots of retail and food & beverage amenities. Given its proximity to the two light rail stations and the trendy South End neighborhood Brook Hill is arguably one of Charlotte’s top 5 urban districts. But the district has been rather haphazardly developed and thus lacks a strong sense of place and quality connectivity. It also lacks important urban amenities more conducive to families including larger single family homes, few parks, limited walkable schools and a lack churches, medical offices, a public library, and post office. Quality urban development is well on its way to transforming the previously autocentric South Blvd but Tyron Avenue remains very car oriented. But with more urbanization, Brookhill will continue to densify and urbanize hopefully with better comprehensive planning and placemaking. than the previous decade of development.
Click here to view my Brookhill neighborhood on my Flickr Page.
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Excellent public transit access including a light rail line running along the eastern edge of the district.
* Very convenient access to Uptown across all modes of transit. A well design bike/recreation trail runs alongside the transit line.
* Great retail amenities including a small format Lowe’s and smaller format hardware store, a Publix’s, several high end clothing and furniture stores, a couple drug stores, a large array of home good and furniture stores, and boutiques, a couple banks, and the Atherton Mall and great urban format mall with lots of amenities. Broomhill also contains a several dessert joints, several gyms, a miniature golf course,
* Excellent economic diversity and solid racial diversity as almost half of the population are minorities.
* Great cultural amenities including tons of restaurants, bars, several breweries and cafes, a couple art galleries, a couple live music venues.
* Tons of rental product but on the more expensive side. Studios sell anywhere btwn 1.5K-2K, 1-beds lease btwn 1.4K-3K, 2-beds btwn 2K-4K, and even a lot of 3-beds product, which lease btwn 2.5K-4K. Thankfully a couple 100 units from the 1950s Brook Hill village product development will be preserved.
* Lots of quality urban infill but almost all are larger block apartments with ample parking underneath creating not the best urban fabric nor imaginable neighborhoods. Still a lot of bland post WWII warehouses remain in Brookhill.
* Urban infill is certainly improving the urban massing on the district but plenty of autocentric uses remain especially along Tyron St. Urban design of the neighborhood is also not cohesive and each new apartment product seems to be on an island as opposed to messing with the neighborhood as a whole.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Only a couple dedicated bike stations on the edges of Brookhill.
* Streets do connect but very sinuous and often large blocks.
* Most of the population are young adults so not a ton of generational diversity.
* Missing places of worship, a post office, public library, and hospital or medical offices.
* Parks are limited in Brookhill to only a recreational trail and the southside recreational park on the southern edge of the neighborhood.
* Tree canopy is so so.
* Some for sale product but on the expensive side. Really no 1-bedroom condos. 2-bed product sells around 400K-500k. 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 500K-700K.
* No schools in the Brookhill boundaries but some small schools on the edges.
* Really no historic buildings left in the neighborhood.
* Pedestrian activity is so so.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 