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Charlotte-Douglas Airport to demolish historic Grier House in Steele Creek

Charlotte-Douglas Airport to demolish historic Grier House in Steele Creek
Charlotte-Douglas Airport to demolish historic Grier House in Steele Creek (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmark Commission)
(Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmark Commission)

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Douglas Airport is set to demolish a 200-year-old historic home in Steele Creek as part of its plan for growth.

The airport issued a demolition permit request on June 5 to demolish the William Grier House near Shopton Road, the Charlotte Observer reports.

The permit was issued, according to county records, but its status has not been finalized.

Demolition of the home, which airport officials told the Charlotte Observer will happen in the next six months, is a part of the airport’s plan to grow into the are below West Boulevard.

“The timing is very interesting,” Stephanie Lanse, a Steele Creek community leader, told the Charlotte Observer. “Here we are, again, about to lose another piece of history in Steele Creek for manufacturing and logistics. We aren’t against growth…But it just seems the airport is ripping apart history and the neighborhood for the sake of development.”

This is not the first historic building the airport has torn down. A year ago, it demolished the century-old Steele Creek Presbyterian Manse, the Observer reports. And on Friday, it tore down part of the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church.

The airport is currently discussing the purchase of two long-standing properties. Neither the Spratt-Grier Farmhouse nor the Byrum-Croft House is historic, but the Observer reports that they are considered to be notable community sites.

Purchasing the buildings would be with the intent to demolish, the Observer reports.


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