CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County and the Peebles Corporation are in a standoff over a contractual obligation for the Peebles Corp. to demolish the former education building near Marshall Park by the end of July.
The agreement is part of the Brooklyn Village development project. The developer, Donahue Peebles, says demolishing the building by the end of next month is impossible.
“We physically couldn’t do it if we wanted to,” he said. “If they put a gun to my head and said they were going to shoot me, they’d have to shoot me because I couldn’t do it.”
Peebles says there is no scenario where he will be able to tear down the old education building by the end of next month.
“It’s loaded with friable asbestos, something we did not understand the extent of and was not disclosed to us,” he said.
In April, Peebles sent a letter to the county saying the discovery of heavy contamination was unforeseeable and he asked for a year extension to demolish the building. He said the discovery was a “force majeure event.”
The county responded to the letter disagreeing.
“Rather than being “unforeseeable” BKV had actual notice of this very issue nearly seven years ago (if not before),” the letter said in part.
The existence of asbestos in the building is not a surprise. In 2010, Channel 9 covered the finding when CMS announced they were not going to remove it because they were moving out.
But Peebles says the extent of asbestos makes it legally and physically impossible to tear down this building by the end of the month.
The building has been long vacant and he says there should be no rush to get rid of it because it’s part of phase 2 of the Brooklyn Village project. This construction phase won’t start for 8 to 10 years.
“We’re very committed to the development,” he said. “We’re committed to Charlotte long term.”
The first phase of the project is at the former Bob Walton Plaza site. Peebles demolished the building. The latest plans call for two affordable housing apartment buildings with 250 units.
The county did not comment and is expected to meet with Peebles in the coming weeks.
WATCH: Vertical construction of Brooklyn Village won’t start until June 2026
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