The Charlotte City Council last week unanimously voted in favor of the Charlotte Area Transit System buying the 1.4 acres for $771,150. That property is currently home to a small community bus station, and CATS wants to stop paying annual land rent. In 2006, CATS spent $2 million building the Eastland Community Transit Center on the mall parking lot. The transit center is a nicely landscaped bus station, with eight shelters and a ticket booth. The center serves two main bus lines, the Albemarle Road Express and Route 9, which runs along Central Avenue and is one of the busiest in the city. It also serves three neighborhood shuttles. CATS has leased the property for $55,000 a year, and the city said the deal will pay for itself in 14 years because it will no longer have to pay rent. Despite the mall's closure in 2010, CATS said more people are getting on buses at the Eastland stop compared with 2007. The city hopes to eventually build a streetcar to the site, though that's unlikely to happen for at least 20 years.
Read more about the closing of the mall and its effects on the valuations used by the city for its purchase.
Changing hands of Eastland land | The Charlotte Observer Newspaper
