Tarheel911

Charlotte was in part settled by Presbyterians and the name of several roads were based on the end points of those roads. So Providence was named after Providence Presbyterian Church, Sharon Road after Sharon Presbyterian Church. Sharon Amity connects Sharon Presbyterian Church and Amity Presbyterian Church. Then you also have Sugar Creek, etc. I cannot speak to Independence and Freedom.

The main objections by the Church were around safety for child daycare pick up and drop off which sounds reasonable. This is the oldest uptown daycare program (going back to the 1950's) and is a core to the mission of the church. So traffic patterns that can directly impact operations were a concern. Daycare uptown is an asset to everyone especially after BAC closed its daycare. Secondly, the church obtained control of the parking areas a long time ago when there was very little investment in uptown as developers and others were focusing on the suburbs including the city government. Several churches left uptown for the suburbs as this church continued to reinvest in its location and uptown mission focus. Therefore it may not be equitable to force or encourage a long time investor in uptown to change strategies because development economics have changed over the past five years. Remember the church was the first church in uptown dating back to 1821. That being said, I believe the church will eventually develop the site for church use. BAC developed the Transamerica site and gave rights to parking for the adjacent church. In 1995 this seemed like a long term commitment from a long term uptown investor (BAC). But with the recent liquidation of BAC's uptown real estate it shows that a development partner's focus can change. This is not a slam on BAC but just an example that real estate portfolios change over time. So it can be difficult for a church that needs parking to enter into an agreement with a development partner and be assured that its parking will be available for another 100 years.