Plaza Midwood Homes for Sale, Charlotte NC

Plaza Midwood

Description

Plaza Midwood is a neighborhood in the City of Charlotte, approximately one mile east of Uptown. It is named for The Plaza, a tree-lined boulevard running north from Central Avenue to Parkwood Avenue, and for Midwood, one of its larger subdivisions. The Plaza-Midwood neighborhood was created in 1973 from ten separate subdivisions.

The neighborhood association gives its boundaries as Hawthorne Lane on the west, Central Avenue on the south, The Plaza and Parkwood Avenue on the north, and Masonic Drive and Matheson Avenue on the east. It says its commercial district extends into Commonwealth-Morningside, Belmont and beyond, and that many realtors and businesses use the name loosely for the general area. Part of the neighborhood is also a local historic district, where exterior changes need approval.

I'm Yubeen Choi, a bilingual English and Korean agent with eXp Realty. This page doesn't list homes for sale. If you're looking at Plaza Midwood homes for sale, tell me your budget and the streets you're considering. I can send you current listings that match and check each house's historic district status before you make an offer.

Plaza Midwood's Historic District and What It Means for Owners

The local historic district

Charlotte has eight local historic districts. Plaza Midwood's was designated in 1992, after residents pushed for it in the early 1990s. It covers only part of the neighborhood. According to the neighborhood association, it is roughly the rectangle formed by The Plaza, Central Avenue, Pecan Avenue and Mimosa Avenue. On the City's zoning map, 2100 The Plaza carries the Historic District Overlay, N1-C(HDO), while 2817 Belvedere Avenue, in Club Acres, is zoned N1-A with no overlay.

Inside the district, changes to the outside of a building, including windows and doors, or to the property, such as fencing or tree removal, need a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) from the Historic District Commission (HDC). You need it before work begins, whether or not the project needs a building permit. Normal repair and maintenance, such as re-roofing with in-kind materials, generally doesn't need approval, but the City asks owners to confirm with HDC staff first. The commission has no jurisdiction over interior spaces unless their arrangement directly affects the exterior.

COA applications follow one of two tracks:

  • Minor projects, such as fencing, driveways, accessory buildings not visible from the right-of-way, and additions of less than a 50% increase in square footage. The commission can delegate approval of certain types of minor works to its professional staff.
  • Major projects, such as new construction, additions of more than a 50% increase in square footage, accessory dwelling units and painting previously unpainted brick. These are considered by the twelve-member commission, which meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 1 p.m., with applications due the first Wednesday of the month before.

A COA is valid for 12 months. For a building of special significance to the district, the commission can delay demolition for no more than 365 days. The current Design Standards were adopted in December 2021. The City's 2026 review records for Plaza Midwood include approved HVAC and storm-window applications, so check with HDC staff before assuming a small exterior project is exempt.

National Register listings and landmarks

National Register listing is separate from the local district. Victoria at 1600 The Plaza (National Register 1973), the VanLandingham Estate at 2010 The Plaza (National Register 1983) and the Bishop John C. Kilgo House at 2100 The Plaza (listed in 2009) are individually listed. North Carolina's State Historic Preservation Office says listing does not restrict a private owner unless the owner seeks a federal benefit such as a grant or tax credit.

The same office says properties in a local historic district generally aren't eligible for historic preservation tax credits unless the property or its district is also listed in the National Register. For an owner-occupied home listed individually or as a contributing building in a National Register district, homeowners may receive a 15% state tax credit for qualified rehabilitation. The work must meet the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, and the office reviews it. Owners of designated landmarks can apply for an annual property tax deferral of up to 50 percent, and several Plaza Midwood houses are designated landmarks.

Plaza Midwood Homes and Streets

A Historic Landmarks Commission report lists the developments that make up Plaza Midwood, including Oakhurst (1903), Logie Avenue (1909), Forest Circle (1909), Chatham Estates (1912), Club Acres (1920s), Midwood (1920s), Johnston Courts (1920s), Eastern Retreat (1947) and Masonic Drive (1951).

Starting in 1903, Oakhurst's developer sold lots and platted streets that include today's Clement, Pecan, School and Gordon. Chatham Estates was Paul Chatham's idea. In 1910, Chatham joined members of the newly formed country club to develop it. His plan put larger houses on The Plaza and more modest ones on side streets, with a streetcar line up The Plaza to the Charlotte Country Club. In 1912, according to historian Tom Hanchett, landscape architect Leigh Colyer laid out The Plaza with its median and the parallel Thomas and Nassau avenues. In 1918 the streetcar company defaulted. Building in the Chatham Estates area resumed in the 1920s, as cars became more affordable.

The City calls Plaza Midwood the most architecturally varied of Charlotte's local historic districts, with styles from Victorian to mid-20th century. The Kilgo House's National Register nomination says 1920s bungalows predominate. In the 1920s, large Colonial Revival houses went up beside the country club, while bungalows and other Craftsman-style houses filled smaller lots along The Plaza and nearby streets. On his walking tour of The Plaza and Thomas Avenue, Hanchett describes bungalows, colonials and Tudor Revival houses intermingled with duplexes and quadraplexes, and singles out Thomas Avenue for its bungalows.

Designated landmarks show the range:

  • VanLandingham House, 2010 The Plaza (ca. 1914), an early and rare local example of the California bungalow, now an event venue. In his April 2023 update, Hanchett noted new houses going up along the edge of the estate.
  • Victoria, 1600 The Plaza, a late nineteenth century Queen Anne house that originally stood at Tryon and Seventh Streets in uptown Charlotte.
  • Charles E. Barnhardt House, 3217 Maymont Pl., combining Colonial Revival and Art Moderne styles.
  • Victor Shaw House, 2400 Mecklenburg Ave., a brick Colonial Revival house.

Condos, townhomes and apartments

This page doesn't list condos or townhomes for sale. The Plaza Midwood Merchants Association's Live in Midwood page features the Village at Commonwealth, with walk-up, townhome and rowhouse-style apartments. Its address, 1308 Lorna Street, is south of Central Avenue, so it sits outside the neighborhood association's boundary. If you want to buy a condo or townhome, I can search current listings in and around Plaza Midwood, and my pages on condos and townhomes in Charlotte cover what to check.

Central Avenue and The Plaza

The neighborhood's business district runs along Central Avenue. Long's Grocery opened in 1916 at Central and Pecan avenues, and a W.T. Harris grocery, which grew into Harris Teeter, opened in 1936. Merchants named this stretch Charlotte's "Miracle Mile" because residents could shop for basic necessities within their own neighborhood.

The Plaza Midwood Merchants Association supports businesses along the Central Avenue corridor, and its directory lists restaurants, shops and breweries. City Council approved the Plaza Midwood Social District on October 23, 2023. The City says it is currently Charlotte's only approved social district, operating Monday through Sunday, 10AM-10PM.

Commonwealth, a mixed-use development on the former Central Square shopping center site, broke ground in Fall 2021. Its website lists "383 Residences" over ground-floor retail and says a multifamily, office and hotel phase is in planning. For storefront and office space, see my Plaza Midwood commercial real estate page.

Plaza Midwood Library is at 1623 Central Avenue. The former Midwood Elementary School at 1817 Central Ave. is a designated landmark that opened in 1935 as Lawyers Road School. WSOC-TV reported on October 13, 2025, that Ares Management Corp. had acquired it and was planning to redevelop the site with apartments.

Getting Around

Central Avenue, Hawthorne Lane and The Plaza are the main streets. CATS Bus Route 9 runs along Central Avenue. The City's Northeast Inner Community Area Plan calls 9-Central the bus system's top ridership corridor and recommends improving 3-Plaza as a high-frequency route with 15-minute or better service.

The CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar does not reach Plaza Midwood yet. The 4-mile-long line has 17 stops, from French Street in the Historic West End through Center City to Sunnyside Avenue in the Elizabeth neighborhood, and is fare-free until further notice. Sunnyside Avenue station, beside the Hawthorne Lane bridge over Independence Expressway (US 74/NC 27), opened on August 30, 2021.

A Phase 3 extension is in planning. CATS proposes extending the system by six miles, with up to 17 additional stations in corridors to the east and west and key connections to the Eastland and Rosa Parks Community Transit Centers. Its Phase 3 fact sheet says the extension will connect Plaza Midwood. The City's East Inner Community Area Plan, adopted April 13, 2026, shows a proposed route east along Central Avenue with a stop at The Plaza. CATS reported in November 2025 that Mecklenburg County voters had approved a one-percent local sales tax for transportation, and it listed Gold Line streetcar expansion among the projects. CATS says plans are subject to change.

Parks and Places

Midwood Park, at 2100 Wilhelmina Ave., is a county neighborhood park with a playground, tennis and basketball courts, a shelter, an amphitheater and a ballfield. Veterans Park, at 2136 Central Ave., is a county neighborhood park with a sprayground, an indoor pavilion, courts, a playground and a ballfield.

The Briar Creek Greenway runs from Arnold Drive to Masonic Drive along the neighborhood's eastern border. The County's Phase 2 extension, from Masonic Drive and Central Avenue to Morningside Drive, is projected to add 0.8 miles of greenway. It is in design, and the County says the construction schedule has not been determined.

The neighborhood association's annual events include a Home & Garden Tour on the first Friday evening and Saturday in May, Midwood Maynia in Midwood Park on the third weekend in May, and Fall Crawl on the final Saturday of October.

Buying or Selling in Plaza Midwood

Before you make an offer, I can check whether the parcel is in the historic district and whether the house is a designated landmark or in the National Register. The City publishes GIS data on historic district parcels and review records listing past applications by address, and I can pull both for any house you're considering.

Under the City's Unified Development Ordinance, the N1-A through N1-E zoning districts allow single-family, duplex and triplex dwellings on all lots, with lots of 10,000 square feet or greater in N1-A and 6,000 square feet or greater in N1-C. In the historic district, the overlay supersedes base zoning on exterior features, so new construction and accessory dwelling units still need the commission's review. Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement issues building permits separately.

Mecklenburg County's tax rate for fiscal year 2026-2027 is 49.27 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, and a Charlotte bill adds the City's municipal tax and any applicable solid waste fee. The County's next revaluation will take place in 2027.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools assigns every student to a school based on home address and publishes boundary maps by school year. Assignments can change, so check a specific address with the Find My Assigned School link on the CMS website, which opens the Mecklenburg County GeoPortal.

If you're selling, I can gather the district status, past COAs and landmark or National Register status before we list, so buyers can see what applies. A free home valuation is a good first step, and my guide to selling a home in Charlotte covers the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

This page doesn't list homes for sale. Tell me your budget, the streets and house styles you're considering, and any exterior work you plan, and I can send you current Plaza Midwood listings that match. Before you tour one, I can also check whether it is inside the neighborhood's boundaries and the local historic district.

The City calls Plaza Midwood the most architecturally varied of Charlotte's local historic districts, with styles from Victorian to mid-20th century. The Kilgo House's National Register nomination says 1920s bungalows predominate. Historian Tom Hanchett describes colonials and Tudor Revival houses intermingled with duplexes and quadraplexes along The Plaza and Thomas Avenue.

Part of it is. Charlotte designated the Plaza Midwood local historic district in 1992, and the neighborhood association describes it as roughly the rectangle formed by The Plaza, Central Avenue, Pecan Avenue and Mimosa Avenue. Inside it, exterior changes need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission. A few houses on The Plaza are also individually listed in the National Register, so check a specific address for both.

Yes, for most exterior work. You need a Certificate of Appropriateness before changing windows, doors or fences or removing trees, even when no building permit is required. Normal repair and maintenance, such as re-roofing with in-kind materials, generally doesn't need approval, but the City asks owners to confirm with Historic District Commission staff first. Interiors are outside the commission's jurisdiction unless their arrangement affects the exterior. New construction, accessory dwelling units and additions of more than a 50% increase in square footage are considered by the full commission, which meets monthly.

I don't publish a price range here. Sale prices change and depend on the house, the lot and its condition, and an old average can mislead you about a specific street. Tell me the streets and house styles you're considering, and I can pull recent sales of comparable homes so you can see what they actually sold for.

This page doesn't list condos or townhomes for sale. Tell me your budget and whether you want a condo or a townhome, and I can send you current listings in and around Plaza Midwood.

Not yet. The CityLYNX Gold Line ends at Sunnyside Avenue station in the Elizabeth neighborhood, beside Hawthorne Lane, and it is fare-free until further notice. A Phase 3 extension to the east and west is in planning, and the City's East Inner Community Area Plan, adopted April 13, 2026, shows a proposed route east along Central Avenue with a stop at The Plaza. CATS says its plans are subject to change.

Not because of the designation. North Carolina's State Historic Preservation Office says local historic district designation has no effect on local property taxes. Your bill is based on assessed value. Mecklenburg County's rate for fiscal year 2026-2027 is 49.27 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. A Charlotte bill also includes the City's tax and any applicable solid waste fee. Separately, the owner of a designated landmark can apply for an annual property tax deferral of up to 50 percent.

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