Owners near Uptown’s French Quarter seek infrastructure help ahead of stadium vote

CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Store owners near Bank of America Stadium anticipate to learn what Charlotte City Council leaders will decide on Monday in regards to the proposal to fund renovations at 800 Mint Street.

Some have asked city leaders to also consider an improvement plan for the infrastructure that surrounds the stadium where many of these restaurants, bars, and shops have sat for decades.

Kristian Pedersen owns multiple restaurants and pubs along Brevard Court, which is a roughly .3-mile trek from the stadium.

At Monday afternoon’s public hearing on stadium renovations, he told city leaders he was in favor of the renovations.

However, he also asked that they consider more infrastructure improvements to be made to the areas where foot traffic will be felt from the continued events at the stadium.

He said, “Think of the infrastructure surrounding the stadium . . . everything around [Bank of America stadium also matters, too.  And it matters a lot.  We live off the stadium at the end of the day.”

He referred to this sliver of the city as an “abandoned road,” and that restaurant owners have had to fund and perform routine maintenance on large cracks and potholes which have popped up.

Wednesday afternoon, he showed Queen City News some of those troubles.

Our cameras captured a large number of cracks that had been painted over, and potholes which have caused the ground of this historic part of the city to shift.

There was also a small, seven-inch hole in the ground right outside Valhalla Pub and Eatery, which Pedersen owns.

“This is right outside my front door. This is my only door,” he stressed. “that means that there’s water running underneath there and this means this could collapse at any point.”

Multiple business owners told Queen City News they had similar concerns and had seen multiple people trip and hurt themselves on the uneven ground.

They have also had to add all of the street lights and maintain those because the city has not addressed their request for street lamps along their court.

Owners said they’ve spent a few thousand dollars over the years to perform touch-ups, but asked city leaders to help them make improvements along with the stadium.

“When you build something that big and that glamorous, we’re going to get busier and therefore our liabilities become higher, “Pederson explained. “I mean, we are more than happy to pay portions of these things, but it’s not our street, we don’t own it.”

Pederson explained that he has tried to acquire a permit or guidance on how to move forward with making a request, but was told there was little he could do.

One city employee reportedly told him, “There’s nothing you can do. You don’t own the street. You need to go to the city.’ Well, the city abandoned the street.”

He said that as of Wednesday he has not heard from anyone with the city.