HealthNews

Charlotte leaders press for answers on Atrium Health’s housing commitments

by Michelle Crouch and Charlotte Ledger, North Carolina Health news
October 21, 2025

By Michelle Crouch

Co-published with The Charlotte Ledger

City and county leaders in Charlotte said they are pressing for answers after a Charlotte Ledger/NC Health news article last week highlighted slow progress on affordable housing tied to the city’s new medical innovation district, The Pearl.

Some are also asking why the city’s contract with Atrium Health doesn’t legally require the hospital to fulfill all of the affordable housing commitments presented in 2021, when the city and county approved $75 million in public money for the district.

At the Oct.13 Charlotte City Council meeting, at-large council member Dimple Ajmera said the Ledger/NC Health news’ reporting raised concerns, and she asked for a report on how Atrium plans to follow through on its promises.

“We need a concrete timeline and measures in place for accountability,” she said.

In 2021, Atrium Health CEO Gene Woods emphasized the hospital’s commitment to affordable housing when he came before the city council to ask for $75 million in tax incentives for a parking garage and other infrastructure. 

At the time, public presentations indicated Atrium would include affordable apartments in The Pearl, donate a 14-acre site on North Tryon Street to the city’s housing authority and partner with the agency to develop more affordable housing there.

However, the housing has yet to materialize at either site, and the Ledger/NC Health news found that the city’s contract with Atrium, signed by an Atrium executive and Deputy City Manager Liz Babson, doesn’t legally require fulfillment of any of those commitments. 

Mecklenburg County commissioner Laura Meier called the revelation “disturbing and shocking.” 

“I’m not sure who’s to blame for that,” she said. 

City council member Renee Johnson said she was disappointed that city staff allowed the language in the agreement to be legally vague.

“We trusted them,” she said. “We assumed our intent would be executed. Our intent was affordable housing, and that’s what we were told would happen.”

Mayor stresses support for Atrium 

Charlotte city spokesman Jack VanderToll said in an email that the city attorney’s office reviewed the contract and “is satisfied that the executed contract is consistent with” the action item the council voted on in 2021.

The action item (pp. 10-11 of the meeting agenda) authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Atrium. An “explanation” on the agenda included the housing promises, but it does not appear to be part of the action item the council voted on. It is routine for the city council to authorize the city manager to negotiate agreements, often with the involvement of the city attorney’s office.

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VanderToll also wrote that the $75 million has not yet been provided to Atrium and that it is “contingent on Atrium’s fulfillment of its commitments.” He emphasized that the money will reimburse Atrium for public infrastructure and not affordable housing. “The $75 Million was not for a housing commitment,” he wrote. 

Mayor Vi Lyles did not respond to questions about why the contract didn’t require the building of affordable housing, which has been a top city priority. But she sent an email statement that said city staff “have been actively engaged and continue to work to address affordable housing” by working with Atrium and the housing authority. 

She stressed her support for Atrium: “Atrium Health is committed to affordable housing and has provided additional information to you if you have questions,” she said. “We’re glad to have these partnerships.” 

No housing yet — and no word on when it will be built

The first phase of The Pearl opened in July on 20 acres just outside uptown Charlotte. It features the Charlotte campus of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, a surgical training center and a growing number of medical technology companies. The district is already delivering on many of its goals: creating jobs, attracting medical technology companies and positioning the city as a hub for medical innovation. 

The Pearl sits on the site of Charlotte’s former Brooklyn neighborhood, a vibrant Black community erased by urban renewal in the 1960s and ’70s. Former residents and advocates have said that including affordable housing was supposed to be a step toward righting that history.

So far, however, there is no affordable housing at The Pearl or on the North Tryon Street site, and it is not clear when or where it might be built.

Atrium also has not yet transferred the North Tryon Street site to the housing authority, Inlivian. An Inlivian spokeswoman said the site was not being donated by Atrium but instead is part of a three-way land swap.

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Atrium did not respond to a request for comment last week but previously said it has fulfilled the commitments detailed in its contract with the city. 

In a letter to elected officials shared with the Ledger/NC Health news before the initial, Oct. 13 article published, Atrium Health executive Collin Lane said Atrium is “in talks with a developer to include additional affordable/workforce housing space in The Pearl as part of their project.” 

He also said Atrium has placed a deed restriction on the North Tryon land requiring future development to be for affordable housing, as required by the contract, and that the hospital and Inlivian now have a land deal. 

“Affordable housing projects take years to complete and, since we are not a developer, we cannot control the multiple variables that impact timelines,” Lane wrote.

Lyles said the city’s housing staff has been working with Atrium and Inlivian on a master plan for the area around the North Tryon site, “reimagining what affordable housing looks like on a larger scale.” 

Council members call for accountability

Johnson said the housing delays and weak contract language underscore a bigger problem at the city: Officials often do not monitor developers to ensure that they follow through on pledges tied to economic development incentives or zoning changes. 

The city needs to “do a better job of tracking these promises and holding developers accountable — not just Atrium, but all developers,” she said. 

Councilman Malcolm Graham said he wanted to do more research before commenting specifically on Atrium’s commitments, but he stressed that the city must take steps to ensure that developers stick to what they agreed to.

“There need to be check-ins to ensure that those commitments are being met,” he said.

Councilman Edwin Peacock, who wasn’t on the council in 2021, said he would like a council committee to examine whether Atrium is honoring its obligations “so we can look into it further and hear from all parties.”

“Promises made need to be kept,” he said.

County chair expects more details in three weeks

Mecklenburg county commissioners’ chair Mark Jerrell did not respond to a request for comment but acknowledged in an email to his board colleagues last week that commissioners have been hearing from residents in response to the Ledger/NC Health news story. 

He said he has requested a detailed update that he would share with the board. “The ETA for receipt will be approximately 3 weeks,” he wrote.

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County staff “has been and will continue to monitor the contract and commitments,” he said. 

He added that the project is a 10- to 15-year commitment, suggesting that it may take time for Atrium to deliver the promised housing.

‘Loopholes and back doors’?

County commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell was one of only two elected officials who voted against the tax incentive package for the district in 2021 (along with commissioner Elaine Powell). Rodriguez-McDowell said she voted no because she questioned whether the multibillion-dollar hospital system really needed the money. 

Now, she says she is disappointed — but not surprised — that Atrium hasn’t yet announced any plans for affordable housing or donated the land. 

She also expressed frustration that the contract tied to the $75 million public investment was signed only by Charlotte’s deputy city manager, not co-signed by anyone from the county, and doesn’t legally obligate Atrium to fulfill all of its public commitments. 

“It sounds like they are finding loopholes and back doors,” she said. “It’s not surprising because these guys have so much power, and they know how to wield it.”  

Commissioner Meier said Atrium’s affordable housing commitments were a “big component” that helped persuade county commissioners to vote yes on the public money in 2021. She said she and her colleagues will push for the housing to get built. 

“I know this board really well,” she said. “We’re not going to let this go.”

This article is part of a partnership between The Charlotte Ledger and North Carolina Health news to produce original health care reporting. You can support this effort with a tax-deductible donation. 

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