Sunday’s UPoR has a long article on “Why Eastland went from bustling to bust.” It misses the mark.
It does not take nearly 2,700 words to explain what happened. Eastland’s downfall is really just basic economics: Retailing follows income and the eastside of Charlotte is no longer solidly middle class. And thus there isn’t enough money in the area to support that amount of retail square footage anymore. This is not a new development — stores have been closing along Independence, Albemarle Road, and Central for years. Eastland was the final blow, but the handwriting has been on the wall for a decade or more.
And why is east Charlotte lagging in income growth? The outdated housing stock — the homes in surrounding neighborhoods have effectively become starter houses — is the big factor that is extremely difficult to address and which is regularly ignored, including by the Observer.
