Matthews-Mint Hill - Carolina Weekly Newspapers

Erickson
(continued from page 1)
Pleasant Plains Road, as collateral. A little
more than a year later, Erickson sought
protection in federal bankruptcy court in
Dallas, Texas.
More than a dozen people gathered
Oct.14 on the first floor of the Mecklenburg
County courthouse to hear auctioneer
Gilbert Swartzman tout the property as
a great development site and ask for bids.
When no one else stepped forward, Elizabeth
Zook, a Greensboro attorney representing
PNC Bank, finally announced the
bank would bid $3 million.
Swartzman, of GoIndustry DoveBid,
then did his best for a few rounds to get
someone to bid higher, finally declaring
the bank the winner. David Simpson, the
trustee for the property in the foreclosure
case, told those gathered that the sale is
not final for 10 days, during which someone
else could make a higher upset bid.
Tim Fincher stood silent nearby throughout
the short proceeding. Afterward, he
greeted a number of other Matthews residents
who came to watch. Fincher’s family
members sold the farmland – several parcels
– that Erickson put together before
the builder of luxury retirement centers
began taking deposits on one- and twobedroom
apartment homes.
Fincher still lives about a half-mile from
the site.
“We kept the family home place,” where
Kara Lopp/MMHW photo
The selling office of the planned Windsor Run retirement community has been demolished, but
the parking lot remains at the Erickson site off McKee Road in Matthews. PNC Bank bought the
abandoned property at foreclosure auction Oct. 14 for $3 million.
his parents still live, he said.
Fincher didn’t have a theory about what
will become of the land now.
Neither did Janet Anderson, who also
attended the foreclosure sale. Anderson
lives about a mile from the site and lobbied
hard with many of her neighbors for
the developer to make road improvements
and other concessions.
In the end, Erickson agreed to pay
$3 million for road improvements as well
as donate 20 of the 106 acres for a town
park. But with the foreclosure, neither
the park nor the road improvements have
materialized.
Matthews Planning Director Kathi
Ingrish said the park land donation and
many other conditions would apply only
if another company built exactly what
Erickson proposed. That’s unlikely, Ingrish
said, and the town staff expects to
eventually receive a new rezoning request
from the next developer.
“It doesn’t seem like we know any more
than we knew before” the Oct. 14 auction,
Anderson said this week. But that doesn’t
mean residents are in any way surrendering
their interest or influence in the land
and how it develops.
No matter what developer might buy the
property from PNC Bank, “it’s pretty clear
they have to build what was approved for
Erickson or go back to the town board,”
when residents will have a chance to give
their opinions, Anderson said. “… We are
definitely watching the property closely,
because it’s very important to all the residents.”
q
Tower
(continued from page 5)
Community
While the tower did eliminate the
“dead zone” on Cabarrus Road, police
then discovered a similar gap in service
near the intersection of Margaret Wallace
and Idlewild roads where the town’s
only apartment complexes are located.
Officials moved equipment attached to
the Mint Hill Volunteer Fire Department
station that wasn’t being used to the
apartment complexes a few months ago
to boost the signal strength of radio service,
Fire Chief Jeremy Russell said.
Welch said the equipment was purchased
about a year ago for “a few thousand
dollars,” but Russell – who handles
the town’s emergency communications
– said the equipment was part of the
original purchase. The town paid Wireless
Communications $2,500 to move
and install the equipment at the apartment
complex, Russell said. The town
also paid AT&T about $850 to lease a
line which transmits signals to the tower,
he said.
With the tower’s sale, emergency radio
service for Mint Hill will now be handled
by the Charlotte Regional Radio System
and the Pineville Police Department will
continue to provide the town’s dispatch
services, Hall said. The Charlotte system
creates interoperability between entities
such as police, fire and EMS in emergency
situations in the region. q
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Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly • Oct. 22-28, 2010 • Page 15